“Let’s Play!” Exhibit Highlights Role of Sports and Games in Culture at Schmucker Art Gallery
By Charlie Miller, Staff Writer
“Let’s Play! Sports and Games in Art and Culture Exhibit in the Schmucker Art Gallery (Photo Eric Lippe/The Gettysburgian)
The Schmucker Art Gallery unveiled a new exhibit entitled “Let’s Play! Sports and Games in Art and Culture,” on Wednesday. The gallery opening included a gallery talk with student curators and a reception.
Members of the Art History Methods class, taught by Professor Yan Sun, gave a talk on pieces of art related to sports, games, or leisure that they found interesting. Each student analyzed how the artwork addresses a role that leisure and sport have in various cultures.
Photographs of legends such as Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan can be found alongside a sculpture of a Japanese “pleasure boat.” The exhibit looks at how the idea of taking a break or finding time to engage in physical activity is portrayed through art across the world.
Each year, Sun gives her students an opportunity to curate an exhibit based on a motif or subject that she selects.
Sun noted that the student-centered aspect was elevated this year because “this year was the first year that students wrote the introduction” of the program that each attendee of the unveiling received.
Each student discussed their piece of choice in front of the crowd, describing why they selected it and how it relates to the theme.
The first was Macey Cohen ’23, who chose a Chinese embroidery of an orchid pavilion from the Qing dynasty, depicting men playing a drinking game involved with poetry. She compared it to “A Rake’s Progress,” an engraving of a man in a gambling house who has lost all of his money.
The art within the exhibit reaches beyond just the limitations of sport to include any aspect of competition, game, or leisure. Each student provided a fascinating talk analyzing and comparing each piece, and they contextualized the pieces with their culture of origin.
Hagen Krebs ’23 chose two tennis-related pieces, one an engraving of a 19th century lawn tennis match in New Jersey, the other a photograph by Andy Warhol of Vitas Gerulatis, a star tennis player in the 1980s. Krebs juxtaposed the pompous, wealthy depiction of the lawn tennis match with the flamboyant, flattering image of Gerulatis, and how the differences represent a shift within the culture of tennis and the conduct of its players.
Paul Pelham ’23 chose three different photographs. One shows Japanese women (decked in traditional Japanese garb) of the 1890s playing “Hanetsuki,” a traditional game played with paddles. The photograph of the Japanese women is instead representative of the changing philosophies during the Meiji Restoration.
The other more modern photographs are of two great American athletes, Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali. The two photographs of the instantly recognizable figures, at the height of their talents in the heat of the moment, express the aura and celebrity that is accompanied with greatness in sport. The difference in meaning in the photographs presents the wide latitude that sports and games can have in their meaning and purpose in culture.
Kate Sallee ’25 and Devyn Wesolowski ’25 concluded the unveiling ceremony, as Sallee brought forth the concept of gender roles in Japan and how they were expressed in games and competition.
Sallee’s first photograph, entitled “Girls’ Pastimes in Japan” had an underlying diplomatic aspect, as it intended to entice foreign powers to trade by showing the similarities in games that Japanese and Westerners played, with the Japanese girls are playing a version of London Bridge.
Wesolowski continued with the theme of Japan, choosing a sculpture of a Japanese “pleasure boat” and a card game called “Karuta.”
Wesolowski’s analysis paralleled Sallee’s as both showed how gender roles in Japan were often expressed through games and competition. The card game Karuta included poems that intended to teach young children gender norms and their role in Japanese society.
Following the student talks, the exhibit was opened, with all of the pieces displayed in a green room, representing the fields and courts of sports.
The exhibit is on display from now until Mar. 3 at the Schmucker Art Gallery.
