Kicker Conspiracy - Esther

Paul Trevillion (1934-), Johan Cruyff, 2014

Any major international footballing tournament is met with excitiment in this household. The chance to sit about three times a day watching your favourite sport with little chance of being disappointed because most of the time you’re a neutral is not to be sniffed at. Scotland usually don’t make it into these sorts of things nowadays, which tends to make it more fun (neutral for more games), however in Euro 2020 (being played now) we have. My partner has an Italian passport & since Italy usually qualify, some games are more tense than others.

& as much as we both love art & both love football, we have to agree: there’s a lot of dreadful art made in the name of football. The point of football isn’t to draw it or paint it. There are times, I admit, when art doesn’t do a great job of some subjects because the subjects are art in themselves. Someone (possibly Frank Zappa – look it up if you fancy an online argument!) once said that talking about music was like fishing about architecture. It’s that kind of difficulty. Football is about being in the moment, doing the best you can at the time & looking for the best solution to solving a problem in a split second. Hard to capture in oil, I’m sure you’ll agree.

So how do artists solve the problem of depicting the Beautiful Game in art?

Thomas Webster (1800-1886), The Football Game, 1839

Webster goes with where it all starts. He painted genre scenes, often from village life, often of children. In his day, he was unsurpassed in popularity for these types of painting. Although this is the sort of dated image you could easily walk past in a gallery, it nevertheless shows some of the intense feeling & conflict the game can engender, even (or especially) in young players…

Felipe Barbosa (1978), Green Field, 2012

Barbosa goes with the remains of the game, recycling & repurposing his raw materials. Here, old footballs are opened out & flattened then cleverly colour-matched & sewn together. One man’s rubbish is another man’s art.

Michael Browne (1965?), The Art of the Game, 1997

More powerful than international rivalries, club rivalries are a mighty & confusing mixture of love & hate & Browne goes with idolatry. This painting would not please everyone, depicting as it does the players of a particularly successful era of Manchester United’s history. For my taste, the Roman Empire metaphor is bewildering & somewhat laboured, although we’re left in no doubt what the artist thinks. I’m not sure even the players involved would be happy with it particularly the Frenchman forced to wave the St George’s Cross…or the ones having to sit at his feet.

Elizabeth Thompson (Lady Butler) (1846-1933), A London Irish at Loos, 1916

Some go with sentimental. The Christmas Day armistice at which soldiers played an impromptu game of football in No Man’s Land is well known. As technically impressive as this image is, running with guns – as with scissors – is at best inadvisable.

Umberto Boccioni (1882-1926), Dinamismo di un Footballer, 1913

As he would do, Futurist Boccioni depicts football as movement. Despite its abstract nature this is in many ways one of the most believable & honest works on this list, given that players are constantly making decisions in an instant whilst on the move.

Stephen Lowry (1887-1976), Manchester City vs Sheffield United, 1938

Lowry represents the drudgery. The going to a game, arguing with fellow fans, grumbling about team selection, all in the monochrome of winter (no matter what your colours are) & all related anxieties. This is said to depict a particular game however, a Second Division match which City won 3-2. Lowry was a City supporter, so it makes sense.

Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson (1889-1946), Any Wintry Afternoon in England, (1930)

Mostly known for his war artist work, Nevinson here represents the game as anything but beautiful or inspirational. His interest in Cubism & Futurism is utilised but in the end we get the impression of a distinctly populist pastime he doesn’t much care for, even from the title. He was said to be a difficult man but you know, football’s not for everyone.

William Reginald Howe Browne (1897-1992), Wembley 1923, 1923(?)

Browne goes for the stadium. Football grounds are not built like this any more & crowds like this wouldn’t be allowed. Many artworks depicting stadia are truly horrible but this has a naïve quality that whilst giving the impression of an enormous crowd, still has a feel of humanity about it.

Georg Eisler (1928-1998), Hillsborough, 1989

This is one of the reasons football grounds aren’t built like that anymore. The Hillsborough Disaster was a truly horrific event where supporters were crushed, injured & killed. A series of catastrophic logistical decisions left 96 dead. This painting is hard to look at, depicting the ghastly events even spectators at home could see unfold. Fans try to help drag other fans to the less-packed areas above. I only include this work to honour those that lost their lives. As scandalous as the logistical errors were, more so were the accusations - by the police & sections of the media - of drunkenness & disorderly behaviour by fans on the day. Accusations by those whose duty it had been to protect the public. A duty they failed to carry out, with devastating results.

Lloyd Hamrol (1937-), Out of Bounds, 1992

Hamrol goes for the ball itself, in fact seven ten foot high balls. The park Out of Bounds is housed in is seen as part of the sculpture & is described as having “multiple focal points.” This description makes me think of an updated version of the “Spot the Ball” competition you used to see in the papers.

Du Jin (active 1465-1509), Chinese Ladies Playing Cuju, (?)

Unknown photographer, Mme Bracquemond, c. 1920

Thankfully, the women’s game has regained some of its popularity in recent times. I say regained because until the 1920s, women’s football in the UK was enormously in demand. At times, it outnumbered the men’s footballing crowds. The largest crowd was 53,000 for a 1920 game between St Helen’s Ladies & Preston’s Dick Kerr’s Ladies. Preston beat St Helen’s 4-0, fact fans. Women were banned from playing on English Football League grounds in 1921 as the game was “quite unsuitable for females…” The WFA was formed in 1969. In recent years, even Scotland’s Women have reached the group stages of both European Championships & the World Cup. 

Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Pele, 1978

Peter Douglas Edwards (1955-), Bobby Charlton, 1991

Kehinde Wiley (1977-), Samuel Eto’o, 2010

As football fans, we’re apt to slip into nostalgia. We all have our favourites & we like others to know who they are. Why else would fans wear colours? Football celebrities are therefore a powerful marketing commodity (I feel dirty even typing that…) In terms of art, there are a number of footballing legends that are frequently used. Many have a strongly identifiable look, lending itself to caricature, cartoon or even parody. European clothing company Copa are particularly good at producing witty footballing merchandise for the intelligent/discerning fan. My partner & me, for instance. Copa do well where others often fall short, trying too hard or not hard enough. These are three very different portraits depicting some famous living  players by artists that have chosen to go for the “personality.”

 

Dan Leydon, Cruijff: Pythagoras in Boots & Johan Cruyff 

What I like about Leydon’s works is that he tells us a little more about his subjects.

I leave the last word to Johan Cruyff, the greatest footballer & greatest footballing philosopher ever to play the game: 

Playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is.

(Thanks to G for the title suggestion).