Poster for the 1984 Summer Olympic Games held in Los Angeles, California
Poster for the 1984 Summer Olympic Games held in Los Angeles, California
Usage conditions apply
- Description (Brief)
- Jennifer Bartlett’s poster is part of a fifteen poster set commissioned by the Los
- Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (LAOOC) for the Games of the XXIIIrd
- Olympiad in 1984. The signed limited edition (750) prints were created by both internationally known American artists and young emerging local artists selected by the Committee to commemorate the Games, and Los Angeles’ and the United States’ unique contribution to the contemporary art scene.
- The modern Olympic movement, founded by Baron de Coubertin, emphasized the development of a ‘total person’ and included art and a cultural Olympiad as a creative complement to athletic demonstrations. Posters have acted as a primary expression of the Games since the modern revival in 1896; each represented by an official poster. They have also served as announcements, souvenirs, fine art prints, and visual reminders throughout the history of the Olympics, ancient and modern.
- Bartlett (1941- ) was born in Long Beach, California and completed her BFA degree nearby at Mills College. She received her MFA from Yale, working under professors such as Claus Oldenburg, Richard Serra, and fellow LA poster contributor Robert Rauschenberg. Developing her trademark style soon after graduation, Bartlett continues to exhibit steadily and has work in many public collections including the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
- Best known for her paintings combining abstract and representational styles, Barlett’s poster offers a cross-hatched representational drawing of a track and field athlete – pre-Fosbury Flop – and an abstract painterly swimmer. Both of these styles and mediums reflect the motion inherent in each of the sports.
- The 1984 Summer Olympics, also known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad were held in Los Angeles, California with 140 countries participating. These Games were boycotted by fourteen countries, including the Soviet Union because of America’s boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. American Carl Lewis won four gold medals in track and field while Joan Benoit won gold for the U.S. in the first women’s marathon. Mary Lou Retton dominated women’s gymnastics becoming the first American to win the gymnastics all-around competition and the American men won the gold in the gymnastics team competition. With the addition of women’s only events of rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming and the addition of women’s events in track and field, shooting and cycling, women athletes were just beginning to see results from Title IX legislation of twelve years prior. The United States won the medal count with 174.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- poster, summer olympics
- date made
- 1984
- Physical Description
- paper (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 36 in x 24 in; 91.44 cm x 60.96 cm
- ID Number
- 1985.0297.18.12
- accession number
- 1985.0297
- catalog number
- 1985.0297.18.12
- Credit Line
- Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (through Carol Daniels)
- subject
- Sports
- Olympics
- Olympic Summer Games: Los Angeles, 1984
- See more items in
- Cultural and Community Life: Sport and Leisure
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
Nominate this object for photography.
Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.
If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.
