Reading’ the Athletic Physique of Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky: A Case Study of the Visual Body History of Politicians

A photo of the Austrian politician Bruno Kreisky participating in fitness sports demonstrates the potential of visual sports history. Kreisky was one of the most important Austrian politicians in the twentieth century. However, he was not a great athlete. Nevertheless, during his time as chancellor, he did sometimes exploit the potential of sport photos for political purposes. The question is asked what meanings are attached to the athletic visual representation of the politician Bruno Kreisky and how these can be interpreted in terms of visual history. Clearly, the nature of the portrayal and its associated meanings differ significantly from those of other well-known images, such as that of the hypermasculine Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Kreisky presented himself as a health- and body-conscious politician, and thus as a modern figure. It has been demonstrated that the ways in which politicians use sport to present themselves vary greatly in terms of their formal, structural, and content-related aspects, as well as their respective historical contexts. Taking sports photography more seriously, i.e. improving ‘visual literacy’, therefore enhances the understanding of the intersection between sport and this particular political arena.