Women's Hockey Art

The best art about the game of hockey has been made by women.  Dolores Claman wrote the musical theme to Hockey Night In Canada.  Nancy Dowd wrote the script for Slap Shot.  This image by Lill Tschudi (1911-2001) entitled Ice Hockey (1933), with its sense of mass and energy, and its neat use of the scarred-up ice surface to suggest the circling action, is arguable the finest fine art print depicting the sport.  It certainly beats Robert Bateman's static goaltender.  You can find the image on the cover of Impressions of the 20th Century: Fine Art Prints From the V&A Collection, edited by Margaret Timmers and published by the Victoria and Albert Museum and Abrams in 2001, and on page 64 in an article by Julia Bigham.  Prepare yourself for a howler though.  JB is under the impression that the small black object hidden by the players' bodies is called a chuck.  Hold off on putting a franchise in London, England, Commissioner.  Douglas

Comments

[Chris Tucci]

I disagree.

The best hockey art piece ever created is Ken Danby's "At the Crease"... period. Danby was a master painter and no one has captured the essence of the game as well as he has before or since. "At the Crease" has been celebrated world wide and was even featured in the movie "Miracle".

[Douglas]

Well, perhaps I'm a little harsh, but you've got to bear in mind that if you grew up in Canada you've seen Danby's goalie about a hundred billion times, so the bloom is off it. Also, he comes out of a school of hyperrealism, so popular in Canada, in which objects pose and nothing ever happens. In a way it's a very Victorian kind of art, in so far as it's technically perfect, easily accessible and has a moral quality. I find it typical of Danby's method that he's taken an action-packed sport like hockey and boiled it down to a moment of stillness. I'd be a lot happier if there were five guys in that crease earning penalty minutes. Tscdudi's picture, though forty years older, is much more fresh and modern.