Based on the material of the first Soviet sports films about football (“Goalkeeper”, “Center of Attack”) and boxing (“Boxers”, “The First Glove”), the article examines the specific features of the visual representation of Soviet sports in feature films of the 2nd half of the 1930-1940s. The comparison of the Soviet athletes' film images offered by these films to the mass audience with their reflection in painting is based on the material of the works of A.A. Deineka and Yu.I. Pimenov, who turned to the image of the same sports in their work. It is concluded that the emphasis on the aesthetics of a trained muscular body, characteristic of the works of Soviet artists from the OST group (The Society of Easel Artists), practically finds no parallels in Soviet sports films of the pre-war period. Possessing above all the right moral guidelines, the main character of the Soviet sports cinema was distinguished by pleasant appearance and an athletic figure in general, which, however, was not deliberately demonstrated. In the post-war period, the Soviet comedy about boxing “The First Glove” was able to demonstrate to some extent the aesthetics of Soviet sports, expressed both in the beauty of a trained body, and in a wide palette of various sports, and in mass spectacular sports events.
history of sports; Soviet sports; Soviet cinema; sports cinema; Soviet painting; A.A. Deineka; Yu.I. Pimenov; visual studies.