The History

The Origin of the Idea of Peace in the Modern Olympic Movement

The Olympic Games took place in ancient Greece 293 times from 776 B.C. up to 393 A.D., i.e. over a period of almost 12 centuries, in contrast to modern times without interruption.

The term “peace” was not used in ancient Greece with the Panhellenic Games, but the Greek word Ekecheiria (ekeceiria), which etymologically means “truce”. Marc GOLDEN in his brand
new Lexicon “Sport in the Ancient World from A to Z” gives the following explanation:

“Truce (Greek ekecheiria, hieromenia, spondai ). A period before and after Greek festivals during which the territory of the host city was inviolate and competitors, spectators and others had safe passage to and from it. The beginning of the truce was proclaimed by emissaries (spondophoroi, theoroi) to the major centres of the Greek world. The period of the truce varied. For the Olympics, it grew from one to
two months on either side of the festival; for the Pythian Games, it extended for a full year. In these cases and others, violations occurred. A writeron tactics even recommends attack during a festival and the Altis at Olympia was the site of a pitched battle during the festival in 364. It was sufficiently well known by the mid-fifth century to be used to schedule sacrifices on far-off Selinus, Sicily.”

The ancient Greeks would use the word “eirene”describing the modern term “peace.” In 1795 the great German philosopher Immanuel Kant published his treatise “On Eternal Peace” (“Zum
Ewigen Frieden”). His conception of peace embraced philosophical, historical, legal and political aspects.

In the 19 th century the idea of worldwide peace became part and parcel of general humanistic thinking. There were first attempts to put these ideas organizationally into practice.

As the real beginning of the modern peace movement must be considered Bertha von Suttner’s (1843-1914) novel “Die Waffen Nieder” (Down with Weapons) published in 1889 and translated into many different
languages.

Peace organizations were founded in many countries in Europe, a strong organization in Great Britain and the USA, with people of all walks of life being active members.

Pierre de Coubertin’s Concept of Peace

Pierre de Coubertin (1863-1937)

As a young man, in 1892, Coubertin had the idea of renewing the ancient Olympic Games, which duly took place in Athens in 1896. Whereas his educational aspirations had additionally been confined to France, the success of these first Olympic Games marked, for COUBERTIN, the internationalization of his educational visions, where his main priority at first was the idea
of peace among nations.

“Wars break out because nations misunderstand each other. We shall no have peace until the prejudices which now separate the different races shall have been outlived. To attain this end, what better means than to
bring the youth of all countries periodically together for amicable trials of muscular strength and agility? “ (Coubertin)

The quotation above shows his notion of peace. In these ambitions he was influenced by his paternal friend Jules Simon. Simon h ad been a co-founder
of the Interparliamentary Union, established in Paris in 1888, and the International Peace Bureau, founded in 1892.

80% of the honorary members of the IOC founding Congress 1894 in Paris were members of national peace movements. Five of those won later Nobel
Peace Prices.

Coubertin was convinced that peace education could only be effective if theoretical learning was accompanied by personal experience. Olympic sport was the very means to achieve this aim. Sport in the sense should become an instrument to reform economy and politics and thus society as a whole: “The Olympic Games will be a potent, if indirect factor in securing universal peace”.

Pierre de Coubertin was primarily a pedagogue and his foremost aim was to reform education. In 1925 he was one of the founders of the World Pedagogical Union (Union Pégagogique Universelle/ U.P.U.) compiled a “Charter of Educational Reform” and in 1926 he founded an “International Center of Sports Education” (Bureau International de Pédagogie  sportive/B.I.P.S.). His great achievement was to combine and interweave
sports, education, and the idea of world-wide peace. Influenced by his experiences during several visits to England, especially by the study of Thomas Arnold’s (1795-1842) conception of education, Pierre de
Coubertin demanded ethical and moral values together with physical training – sports being the basis and initiating source. Coubertin’s programme of modern sports education did not originate in ancient Greece
but in the system of English public schools. The idea of universal peace was predominant in his thoughts on the beginning, a misunderstanding of the ancient notion of peace by Coubertin. The modern Olympic Games conceived by Coubertin were built on the three pillars: elite sports, ethics and peace.

Evaluating and looking back on the Games of 1896 Coubertin writes in more realistic tones:

“ One may be filled with a desire to see the colors of one’s club or college triumph in a national meeting, but how much stronger is the feeling when the colours of one’s own country are at stake!
It was with these thoughts in mind that I sought to revive the Olympic games. I have succeeded after many efforts. [I hope] it may be a potent, if indirect, factor in securing international peace.”

In his early writings, he refers to international sporting encounters as “the free trade of the future” seeing the participating athletes as “ambassadors of peace” even though by his own admission he still had to take care, at the time of the founding of the IOC in 1894, not to say too much about this, not wanting – as he says in a document that has come down to us – to ask too much of sportsmen or to frighten the pacifists. With his ideas of peace,
however, Coubertin associated an ethical mission which, then as now, was central to the Olympic Movement and – if it were to succeed – had to lead to political education. On the threshold of the 20th century, Coubertin
tried to bring about enlightened internationalism by cultivating a non-chauvinistic nationalism.

The Notion of Peace in the Olympic Charter

Society, world-political relations and ethical norms etc. have changed gradually or radically since Coubertin, but the Olympic Charter of today still comprises as an essential part Coubertin’s philosophy. He
has described his imaginations concerning the relationships between sport, Olympism, and peace in the Olympic Charter. From the nine Fundamental Principles the following two are especially relevant:

Art. 3. “The goal of Olympism is to place everywhere sport at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to encouraging the establishment of a peaceful society concerned with the preservation
of human dignity. To this effect, the Olympic Movement engages, alone or in cooperation with other organizations and within the limits of its
means, in action to promote peace.”

Art. 6. “The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practised without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit,
which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.”

The Olympic rings combining the five continents are also a symbol of peace and international understanding; the colors symbolizing the colors  of all national flag are indirect representing the world wide nations. 

Peace Education

The field of peace education varies from studying the causes of human violence to studying the causes of war. The study of human violence involves the human psyche and aspects of aggression, while the study of war focuses on the behaviour of armies and nation-states. In between these two poles lies a vast academic domain that included the study of conditions of survival, problems of communication, international relations, legal theory and environmental awareness.

Whether working to achieve immediate or long-range objectives, peaceeducation has ten main goals formulated by I. Harris:

1. To appreciate the richness of the concept of peace
2. to address fear
3. to provide information about defence systems
4. to understand war behaviour
5. to develop intercultural understanding
6. to provide a future orientation
7. to teach peace as a process
8. to promote a concept of peace accompanied by social justice
9. to stimulate a respect for life and
10. to end violence.

The famous English author H.G. Wells (1866-1946) stated the urgency of peace education in his famous statement, that human beings are embarked upon “a race between education and catastrophe”.

According to O. Grupe and the author the following pedagogic educational concepts can be described from Coubertin’s ideas:

1. the self-awareness through sports
2. the harmony of physical and spiritual training
3. the idea of human perfection with the help of physical achievement
4. sports deliberately based upon ethics as the leading principle
5. respect for and tolerance of competitors
6. understanding brought about by sport practice
7. the idea of peace and international and interracial understanding
8. The promotion of emancipatory developments in and through sports.

Within the peace education field, human rights education is normally viewed as a subject of peace education. Yet the Declaration adopted at the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna 1993 views human rights
education as an all-embracing concept. Article II.d of the Declaration runs as follows:

“Human Rights Education should include peace, democracy, development and social justice, as set forth in international and regional human rights instruments in order to achieve common understanding and awareness with
a view to strengthening universal commitment to human rights…The proclamation of a United Nations decade for human rights education in order to promote, encourage and focus these educational activities should be considered.”

This way of defining human rights education causes it to overlap with peace education.

Peace Education as Learning Principle in School Education

All idealistic objectives and goodwill proclamations are useless if they are not effectively put into practice. Gandhi’s quotation shows the way by emphasizing the necessity of starting peace education with
the young ones. Ethical principles should be acquired, based upon and tested in everyday life and therefore in different social contexts. For man as a social being educational objective is the realization of the
notion of peace.

As to school education the following principles will help to promote
peace:

1. practice of personal courage,
2. respect of the dignity of others,
3. acknowledgement of religious values,
4. responsible use of freedom,
5. fight against prejudices,
6. fairness,
7. tolerance and
8. intercultural understanding.

Children must learn to solve quarrels without violence.

Conclusion

It is precisely the relationship between nationalism and international peace – a one-sided one hitherto, because invariably regarded as a contradiction in terms – that forms the challenging peace ethos and fascination of Olympism. From the beginning, Coubertin’s sights were set upon interplay between nations united by enthusiasm for peace and an internationalism that would
set a ceremonial seal on their peaceful ambitions.

Coubertin’s plans thus extended from the outset beyond the organizing of Olympic Games every four years. He wanted mankind in the 20th century to experience sport in the harmonious interplay of physical and intellectual
skills, so that – set in an artistic, aesthetic frame – it would make an important contribution to human happiness.

www.thesportjournal.org

The History of the BADA

The British Antique Dealers’ Association (BADA) is the trade association for the leading antique dealers in Britain. Since its foundation in 1918 BADA has set the standard for trading in the antiques business. Its main aim is to establish and maintain confidence between its members and the public, both in buying and selling.

www.bada.org

The History of LAPADA

The golden chandelier symbol displayed in a window or at a fair, is the sign of membership of LAPADA, the Association of Art & Antiques Dealers. Since its inception in 1974, LAPADA’s membership has grown to over 600 members making it the largest association professional art and antiques dealers in the United Kingdom. The majority of its membership is UK based although LAPADA  currently has 50 members in 16 other countries. Membership is open to those who meet the Association’s requirements as to experience, quality of stock, knowledge and Passion in their field. Members cover virtually every discipline from antiquities to contemporary fine art.

The LAPADA President is The Earl Howe, The Chairman is The Lord Chadlington.  Sarah Percy-Davis is Chief Executive, and the LAPADA staff  include Therese D’Alton, Emma McVittie, Ann Kiddell, Deborah Rhodes and Emily Wynne-Jones.

LAPADA was the first antiques trade association to introduce a Code of Practice, the purpose of which is to reassure the public and give them confidence when they make a purchase from a member. All members have agreed to abide by this strict Code of Practice and in the unlikely event of a dispute, the Association’s free Conciliation Service.

In addition to the protection afforded by the Code of Practice, all art and antiques dealers (unlike auctioneers whose Conditions of Sale protect them) must comply with consumer protection laws. The LAPADA Code of Practice also ensures that all items for sale in a member’s shop or at a fair must be clearly and correctly labelled including the price: LAPADA members are not permitted to use confusing codes.

When you buy from a LAPADA member you will be given a written invoice stating their trading name, address and telephone number, date of sale, brief description of the item(s) – including the approximate date, any major restoration or alteration to the item since original manufacture – and the price paid.

The Cotswolds Antiques Dealers’ Association (CADA)
The Thames Valley Antiques Dealers’ Association (TVADA)
The Petworth Antiques Dealers’ Association (PAADA)
The Portobello Road Antique Dealers Association (PADA)
Kensington Church Street Antiques Dealers Association
West of EnglandAntique Dealer’s Association (WEADA)

Published with kind permission of Emma McVittie – Fair organiser of Lapada – Berkeley Square. Thank you !

www.lapada.org

The History of AWAD

The Association of Women Art Dealers aims to provide a professional support network resulting from monthly meetings, regular masterclasses for members, networking events and online presence & facilities. Current AWAD membership types include Founder (all places taken), Individual (up to five Director memberships per gallery) and International. Currently, members are predominantly based in London and throughout the United Kingdom, however, many members deal and work worldwide.

The Association was started by Susan Mumford – an AWAD member herself – in 2009, in an effort to help fellows in the commercial art world. Several years on, AWAD is a thirty-strong organisation with business regularly being passed between members and collaborations frequently being realised. This is in addition to AWAD participation in International Art Fairs (most recently the Watercolours & Works on Paper Fair and the International Art & Antiques Fair, Olympia, both in London in 2011).

AWAD highlights its support of members at all points in one’s career, ranging from senior established professionals to start-ups (the latter receiving invaluable mentoring from established peers).

www.womanartdealers.org

The History of CINOA

CINOA stands for Confédération Internationale des Négociants en Oeuvre d’Art. It can be loosely translated as “the international federation of art and antique dealer associations” or even “the United Nations of dealer associations”. The acronym and the Belgian registered non-profit organisation for which it stands, were founded in 1935, and celebrate the 75 anniversary.

CINOA’s aims are to encourage high ethical standards in the trade, facilitate legitimate circulation of art works throughout the world, and disseminate practical information on the art market. Today it is made up of 32 art and antique associations from 22 countries and embraces some 5000 members worldwide, almost doubling in size since 1981. Dealers cover a wide array of specialties from antiquities to contemporary art. Many countries are represented by more than one national association. Membership of CINOA is based on associations which bind their dealer members to adhere to reputable standards of quality and expertise. Membership of CINOA by an individual can only be through a national association.

One of CINOA’s major functions is to assist national associations in dealing with their trade issues. Here, international co-operation is very important. Issues are often paralleled in more than one country, and in any case frequently impact significantly on others. For instance the application of VAT on imported goods sold on the European (EU) market benefitted the US art and antique market, and adversely impacted on London as a major trading centre relying on imports. Another recent example has been the introduction of Droit de Suite (DdS), the artist’s royalties payment scheme. It too affected the EU, but not the US. It has also been “copied” and adapted, where it is better known as Artist’s Resale Royalties (or ARR).

Another and more current issue is the US embargo on the import of a wide range of Chinese cultural heritage items – at the request of the Chinese Government. The novelty of such a situation is that, rather than banning the export of its patrimony, one country has sought cooperation of another country asking it to bar the import. US acquiescence to the Chinese request was predicted by the US delegation at the 2006 CINOA Conference (in Utrecht). It was duly implemented, as expected, in the very last gasp of the Bush administration in 2009. Will China now ask for similar restrictive action by other nations and will others copy the Chinese move? An international federation of interested parties is very important in monitoring such situations.

Quite apart from these significant issues, since 1935 numerous other factors affecting the world of trading in art and antiques have been introduced. These include VAT (Australian GST), CITES (which restricts export and import on endangered species including Ivory), and Unidroit regulations (the international harmonisation of commercial laws). To this can be added a host of domestic complexities such as the introduction of the buyer’s premium at auction, and the onerous regulations for traders and dealers (eg the “Kent Bill” in UK). In a market, challenged by increasing regulations, both nationally and internationally, it is clear that the future holds plenty for national associations to cope with. CINOA will play an important communication and information role in this respect as well as providing an international voice.

CINOA is also pro-active in the art and antiques dealing world. It was under the auspices of CINOA, and in particular its then President Jean Cailleux, that the first international Art Theft Conference took place in Paris in 1977. This was attended by 150 people including police force representatives from eight countries. CINOA has also held exhibitions in the world’s major museums, including the Musée des Artes Décoratifs (Paris 1954), The V & A (London 1962), The Historical Museum (Amsterdam 1970), and The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York 1975). In 1976 CINOA instituted a prize awarded for an academic publication or a remarkable contribution to furthering cultural preservation. To reflect today’s evolving market place and geographical coverage, CINOA has been building on their website which provides a virtual shopwindow for CINOA, its members and affiliated dealers.

www.cinoa.org

The History of Olympia

The site of Olympia in Hammersmith Road was once the famous Vineyard Nursery, established in 1745 by James Lee and Lewis Kennedy.

The nursery, extending over six acres, introduced many new plants into is country, notably the fuchsia and the standard rose tree.

In 1885 the newly formed National Agricultural Hall Company purchased the freehold with the intention of building and operating the country’s largest covered show centre.

The architect Henry Edward Coe designed the hall with its soaring barrel roof and seating for 9,000.

Olympia opened on December 26, 1886, with a spectacular performance by the Paris Hippodrome Circus, culminating in a thrilling Roman chariot race.

For the 1891-92 season Olympia hosted the most ambitious exhibition ever to be produced at that venue.

Venice in London was designed by the impresario Imre Kiralfy for Joseph Lyons, who held the catering concession. A network of canals, complete with gondolas, streets of houses, shops and cafes occupied part of the space.

The remainder was filled with seating in front of a lake and huge stage on which a grand ballet was performed twice daily by 1,000 dancers.

The next year the magnificent scenery and multitude of performers were utilised for the visually stunning Constantinople followed closely by The Orient.

Other entertainments in the early years included Barnum’s three-ring circus, roller-skating, cinema screenings, wrestling and boxing matches.

In the winter of 1902-03 Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West show was the last of the long-running spectaculars.

Many well known events were annual fixtures at Olympia from the beginning of the 20th century, including the Motor Show, the Royal Tournament, the International Horse Show and the Ideal Home Exhibition. All shows were suspended during the First World War when Olympia was requisitioned as an army clothing store.

One of the longest running Christmas shows from 1920 to 1965 was Bertram Mills’ Circus and Fun Fair.

The New Hall (later renamed the National Hall), built on the Hammersmith Road frontage after the demolition of houses in West Kensington Gardens, opened in 1923 and Bertram Mills later ran it as ‘The World’s Greatest Dance Hall’.

The Empire Hall (now Olympia 2) was constructed to house the British Industries Fair in 1930 and London’s first multi-storey car park was opened on the Maclise Road side in 1937.

Olympia, now best known for its trade fairs, stands as a lasting monument to Victorian entrepreneurship.

www.lbhf.gov.uk

The History of Portobello Road

Portobello Market has become one of the most famous tourist destinations in the world.

Many of the Pubs, Antique Arcades and Streets around and about the area have exotic sounding names – few people realise that they are mostly historic, the area of Portobello was originally a farm, which was named after Puerto Bello in the Caribbean in memory of Admiral Vernon who captured the town in 1739.

Since then the area has become built up with houses, shopfronts and the street market, however pub names such as the Portobello Gold and the Portobello Star (navigation) are references to those heady seafaring days off the Spanish Main. One of the Antiques Arcades is known as the Admiral Vernon.

In more recent history, the film Notting Hill has made an alternative history in a way, people want to visit the market because it was the location of a film they have seen.

http://www.portobellomarket.org

The History of Greenwich Market

An ancient village on the banks of the Thames, steeped in Royal history, Greenwich has long been home to a Royal Charter Market which was originally assigned to the Commissioners of Greenwich Hospital on the 19th December 1700 for 1,000 years.

Originally housed on the site of the West Gate of the Old Royal Naval College, it began to spread into the neighbouring area in the 1800’s and its dark streets and alleys were difficult and dangerous to control.

As part of a drive to clean up the river frontage and to bring Greenwich’s buildings up to standards more in keeping with the Royal Hospital (now the Old Royal Naval College), the market was moved to its current position and the first cobble stones laid. Three roofs were built to protect the market from the elements. In 1831 the market contained traders selling live and dead meat, fish, eggs, butter, poultry, fruit and vegetables. On its periphery lay peddlers selling goods such as china, glass and earthenware. Today you can still see some of the original slaughterhouses for cattle and stables for horses.

In 1845 the licensee of the Admiral Hardy pub was given permission to convert the large room over the newly built arch on College Approach into a small theatre with a tiered balcony at one end. The inscription on the arch still reads:

“A false balance is an abomination to the Lord but a just weight is his delight”

The Commissioners of Greenwich Hospital spent a considerable sum moving and building the new market, and so in 1849 Parliament passed an act that enabled the Hospital to regulate and manage the markets – adding to the power of the original charter. The new act enabled the Hospital to collect rent from tolls and for stalls as well as to create bye-laws:

CAP. XXVIII.

An Act to enable the Commissioners of Greenwich Hospital to regulate and manage the Markets held at Greenwich in the County of Kent. (26th June 1849.)

“Whereas His Majesty King William the Third by His Letters Patent, dated at Westminster the Eighteenth day of July One thousand seven hundred, did give and grant to the Right Honourable Henry Earl of Romney, his Heirs and Assigns, free, lawful, and absolute Right, Power, Licence, and Authority, for him, his Heirs and Assigns, to have, keep, and enjoy, at the Villa of East Greenwich in the County of Kent, Two Markets upon Wednesday and Saturday in every Week forever………”

By the 1900′s the timber roof was in a dangerous state of disrepair and was replaced by the current steel trussed and glazed roof in 1908, when the slaughterhouses were also closed. In 1905 the market bye-laws were changed to enable trading six days a week with the exemption of Sundays, Christmas day and bank holidays.

At the end of World WarI horse traffic declined and the stables were used for storage. After World War II the wholesale fruit, veg, meat and fish stalls of Greenwich Market went through a gradual period of decline until the 1980s.

The 1980s saw a revival in the fortunes of Greenwich Market; the first arts and crafts market opened on 14th May 1985, inspired by the flourishing example of Camden Lock, and from 1987 the shops around the markets periphery were let to new tenants largely in the craft business.

www.greenwichmarket.net

The History of The Antiques Trade Gazette

This week the ATG celebrates it’s 2000th issue. Fourty years of reporting on the world of fine Art and Antiques.

Happy Birthday to all at the ATG from the Art, Antiques and Design Blog.

www.antiquestradegazette.com