Figure Skating and the Arts: Eight Centuries of Sport and Inspiration

A look at how figure skating has evolved through its 800+year history, including its art, medals, figurines, skaters’ costumes, and other memorabilia.  The grace, speed, and beauty of ice skating has inspired painters and sculptors, graphic artists and photographers, film makers and choreographers of spectacles, and the designers of skates and costumes, medals, programs and posters, advertising dolls, and decorative objects. With 321 images, trace figure skating’s eight centuries of history. See the impact it has had on the visual and performing arts, from early depictions of animal bones tied to the feet to facilitate movement over frozen streams and lakes to the latest precision-engineered blades used by Olympic champions and the birth of contemporary free-style skating. Fans of figure skating, memorabilia collectors, and historians will treasure this in-depth look at this popular activity.