Art competitions at the 1936 Summer Olympics
Art competitions were held as part of the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Medals were awarded in five categories (architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture), for works inspired by sport-related themes.[1]
The art exhibition was held in a hall of the Berlin Exhibition from 15 July to 16 August, and displayed 667 works of art from 22 different countries. Additionally, the literature competition attracted 40 entries from 12 countries, and the music competition had 33 entries from 9 countries.[2]
The art competitions at the 1936 Games were similar to the 1928 and 1932 Games, with medals being awarded in multiple subcategories for each of the five artistic categories.[3] The judges declined to award any medals for three subcategories, and no gold medals for another three subcategories.

Art competitions were part of the Olympic program from 1912 to 1948.[4] At a meeting of the International Olympic Committee in 1949, it was decided to hold art exhibitions instead, as it was judged illogical to permit professionals to compete in the art competitions but only amateurs were permitted to compete in sporting events.[5] Since 1952, a non-competitive art and cultural festival has been associated with each Games.
Architecture
Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
Architectural design | ![]() Skiing Stadium |
![]() Reich Sport Field |
![]() Sporting Centre in Vienna |
Municipal planning | ![]() Reich Sport Field |
![]() Marine Park, Brooklyn |
![]() Municipal Planning and Sporting Centre in Cologne |
Literature
Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
Lyric works | ![]() "The Runner" |
![]() "Profili Azzurri" |
![]() "The Discus" |
Dramatic works | none awarded | none awarded | none awarded |
Epic works | ![]() "Avoveteen" |
![]() "For the Top of the World" |
![]() "Dysk Olimpijski" |
Music
Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
Solo and chorus | ![]() "Olympic Vow" |
![]() "Olympic Cantata, 1936" |
![]() "The Runner" |
Instrumental | none awarded | none awarded | none awarded |
Orchestra | ![]() "Olympic Festive Music" |
![]() "The Victor" |
![]() "Mountain Suite" |
Painting
Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
Paintings | none awarded | ![]() "Runners at the Finishing Line" |
![]() "Ice Hockey" |
Drawings and water colours | none awarded | ![]() "Four Sketches for Frescoes" |
![]() "Classical Horse Racing in Japan" |
Graphic art | none awarded | none awarded | none awarded |
Commercial graphic art | ![]() "Arosa I Placard" |
![]() "“International Automobile Race on the Avus" |
![]() "Yachting Club Certificate" |
Sculpture
Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
Statues | ![]() "Sulky Driver" |
![]() "Decathlon Athlete" |
![]() "Wrestling Youths" |
Reliefs | ![]() "Hurdlers" |
![]() "Ball" |
none awarded |
Medals | none awarded | ![]() "Medals" |
![]() "Equestrian Medals" |
Medal table
At the time, medals were awarded to these artists, but art competitions are no longer regarded as official Olympic events by the International Olympic Committee. These events do not appear in the IOC medal database,[6] and these totals are not included in the IOC's medal table for the 1936 Games.[7]
Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | 5 | 5 | 2 | 12 |
2 | ![]() | 1 | 4 | 0 | 5 |
3 | ![]() | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
4 | ![]() | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
![]() | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
6 | ![]() | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
7 | ![]() | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
8 | ![]() | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
9 | ![]() | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
![]() | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
![]() | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
Totals (11 nations) | 9 | 12 | 11 | 32 |
Events summary
Architecture
Designs for Town Planning
The following architects took part:[8]
Rank | Name | Country |
---|---|---|
1 | Werner March, Walter March | ![]() |
2 | Charles Downing Lay | ![]() |
3 | Theodor Nußbaum | ![]() |
AC | Erwin Ilz, Hans Pfann | ![]() |
AC | Franz Peydl, Josef Schilhab | ![]() |
Architectural designs
The following architects took part:[9]
Rank | Name | Country |
---|---|---|
1 | Hermann Kutschera | ![]() |
2 | Werner March | ![]() |
3 | Herbert Kastinger, Hermann Stiegholzer | ![]() |
AC | Costantino Costantini | ![]() |
AC | Johann Rezac | ![]() |
Further entries
The following architects took part:[10]
Literature
Epic works
The following writers took part:[11]
Rank | Name | Country |
---|---|---|
1 | Urho Karhumäki | ![]() |
2 | Wilhelm Ehmer | ![]() |
3 | Jan Parandowski | ![]() |
Lyric works
The following writers took part:[12]
Rank | Name | Country |
---|---|---|
1 | Felix Dhünen | ![]() |
2 | Bruno Fattori | ![]() |
3 | Hans Helmut Stoiber | ![]() |
Unknown event
The following writers took part:[13]
|
|
|
Music
Compositions for orchestra
The following composers took part:[14]
Compositions for solo or chorus The following composers took part:[15]
|