For many people, sports can be more than an activity, it’s almost a religion.
That can be evident from the many different athlete expressions in the Ellen Noël Art Museum’s current exhibition “The Perfect Shot: Walter Iooss Jr. and the Art of Sports Photography.”
The exhibition, which illustrates the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, is currently on display at the Ellen Noël Art Museum’s temporary location at the Presidential Archives until Aug. 11.
Museum hours are 12-5 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday and 12-8 p.m. Thursdays. The museum is closed on Mondays and holidays.
Over his extensive career, photographer Walter Iooss Jr. has worked with some of the greatest athletes of the past sixty years, capturing the moments of triumph and defeat that athletes and non-athletes know well.
The exhibition is organized into five sections of universal emotions: anticipation, perseverance, triumph, disappointment and reflection.
These sections allow visitors to find the common threads that transcend athletic genres and athletes.
“This exhibit takes you through five different emotions, typically related to both humanity and in sports,” Ellen Noël associate curator and registrar Colton Manchester said. “Looking through those five emotions, Walter gives us an opportunity to feel the emotions that we had when we played sports but also the universal human emotions.”
Born in 1943, Iooss cultivated his passion for photography from an early age.
He shot his first roll of film at the age of sixteen during a New York Giants game with his father.
A few short years later he landed his first cover for Sports Illustrated in 1963. Iooss established himself a prolific photographer for the magazine and photographed the first fifty-three Super Bowls.
His work has been featured on over three hundred covers.
“The significance of this exhibit, Walter Iooss Jr. has been in the world of photography forever,” Manchester said. “Everyone loves him and his photos have been on magazine covers since he was 17. Being able to bring this to Odessa is great, considering this community has a rich sports tradition, especially with football. It’s amazing to share the beauty and the work of Walter Iooss with the community.”
Some of his famous photos that are featured in the exhibit include baseball legend Sandy Koufax, Michael Jordan and, one that Dallas Cowboys fans probably would like to forget, the famous “the catch” photo of San Francisco 49ers’ receiver Dwight Clark in the NFC Championship Game in Jan. 1982 at Candlestick Park.
Manchester said the exhibit has received a positive reception from guests.
“It’s been great,” Manchester said. “We had an older couple that came to see this exhibit and they were around to see some of these moments while they were happening … to see locals come in and connect with these moments in time is incredible.”
The exhibit is not just for those who are sports fanatics or those interested in sports photography.
“This isn’t an exhibit purely about sports photography,” Manchester said. “Even if you don’t feel passionate about certain sports or sports photography, you’re going to find things to connect to this exhibit. This is art in the way that displays human emotion. It’s something we can all relate to.”
If you go
- What: “The Perfect Shot: Walter Iooss Jr. and the Art of Sports Photography”
- When: On display until Aug. 11.
- Where: Ellen Noël Art Museum (Presidential Archives).
