Poster for the 1984 Summer Olympic Games held in Los Angeles, California
date: label: date made
content: 1984
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Billy Al Bengston’s poster is part of a fifteen poster set commissioned by the Los
label: Description (Brief)
content: Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (LAOOC) for the Games of the XXIIIrd
label: Description (Brief)
content: 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.
label: Description (Brief)
content: 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.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Billy Al Bengston (1934- ) was born in Dodge City, Kansas, later moving to California to attend Los Angeles City College and eventually California College of Arts & Crafts in Oakland and the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. The recipient of many grants and commissions, Bengston’s work can be found in many public and private collections including the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Bengston’s design of the Olympic rings and “L.A.” are whimsically perched on top of a pedestal inscribed at the base with 1984. It is often noted that although Bengston carefully crafted a masculine image, his art, as seen in this poster, could be quite delicate in its approach. The Los Angeles based artist was also included in two additional exhibitions of the Games: “Art of the States” and “Art in Clay 1950s-1980s”.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The 1984 Summer Olympics, also known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad were held in Los Angeles, California with 140 countries, 5,263 men and 1,566 women athletes 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.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: web subject
content: Sports
label: level of sport
content: Olympics
label: related event
content: Olympic Summer Games: Los Angeles, 1984
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Sport and Leisure
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (through Carol Daniels)
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1985.0297.18.10
label: accession number
content: 1985.0297
label: catalog number
content: 1985.0297.18.10
objectType: label: Object Name
content: poster, summer olympics
label: Object Name
content: poster, olympics
label: Object Name
content: poster
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 36 in x 24 in; 91.44 cm x 60.96 cm