To kick off this Olympic year in style, Les Franciscaines presents the exhibition Sport, for the beauty of the gesture, an exploration of the sporting gesture in its physical, technical and spiritual dimensions.
An expression of the athlete’s genius, the grammar of the sporting gesture has always been a source of inspiration for artists, between power and mastery, grace and performance. The exhibition reveals this aesthetic of gesture, which strives for perfection through eight sporting disciplines: tennis, soccer, rugby, boxing, high jump, diving, archery and running.
To this end, Le sport, pour la beauté du geste brings together a selection of works of art, documentary images, models and photographs from the collections of INSEP (Institut national du Sport, de l’Expertise et de la Performance), the Musée National du Sport, the Centre Pompidou and the iconothèque of the newspaper L’Équipe. From the photographic canon that captures the truth of the gesture to the views of artists who idealize or even transcend it, the exhibition highlights the back-and-forth between sport and culture, two worlds that constantly enrich each other.
Curated by Thierry Grillet, former director of cultural diffusion at BnF, essayist and writer.