Art competitions at the 1948 Summer Olympics

Art competitions were held as part of the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, Great Britain. Medals were awarded in five categories (architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture), for works inspired by sport-related themes.^[1] These were the first Olympic Games following the devastation of World War II, and tensions between nations remained high, with much debate about the inclusion of Germany, Italy, and Japan.^[2]

The art exhibition was held at the Victoria and Albert Museum from 15 July to 14 August, and displayed works of art from 27 countries. The literature competition attracted 44 entries, and the music competition had 36 entries.^[3]

The art competitions included multiple subcategories for each of the five artistic categories.^[4] The judges declined to award any medals for dramatic works in literature, and no gold medals in another five subcategories. Alex Diggelmann of Switzerland won both a silver medal and a bronze medal for two different entries in the applied arts and crafts subcategory, a feat unlikely to be duplicated in any event in the current Olympic program.

These were the last Games in which art competitions were held, after being in the official program for all Games since 1912.^[5] At a meeting of the International Olympic Committee in 1949 it was decided to hold art exhibitions instead, as it was judged inappropriate to permit professionals to compete in the art competitions while only amateurs were permitted to compete in sporting events.^[6] Since 1952 a non-competitive art and cultural festival has been associated with each Games.