The history of women’s sport between the wars reveals the changing place of women in society.
For a long time, competitive sport was reserved for men. In the 1920s, it was a real challenge for women to take up athletics or soccer. These new athletes sparked a revolution in this exclusively male, conservative and often misogynistic world. These women have grasped the emancipating nature of sport. By encouraging it, heading up women’s societies and setting up international bodies to increase the number of competitions, they attracted the press to their new records and the public to them.
Each time, they tried to escape the male tutelage that governed the sport. They fought against the idea of the “weaker sex” and the medical arguments that forced them not to jump, run, throw… like men.
Pioneers of competitive sport, many of them have been forgotten, but their exploits and determination paved the way for today’s sportswomen.
This exceptional exhibition will showcase over 70 previously unpublished photographs from the archives of the Excelsior-Le miroir des sports newspaper (owned by L’Équipe) and the Roger-Viollet collections (held by the Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris).
Champions! The history of women’s sport between the wars.
A Roger-Viollet x L’Équipe collaboration
From June 13 to September 14, 2024
Free entry
Roger-Viollet Gallery
6 rue de Seine
75006 Paris
Information
Galerie Roger-Viollet
6 rue de Seine 75006 Paris
June 13, 2024 to September 14, 2024
