For sports fans, the work of Walter Iooss Jr. could be considered a slam dunk, a home run or a touchdown.
"His name they might not know, but once they start seeing these photos of Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali, I think they're gonna recognize some of them. He's been on over 300 Sports Illustrated magazine covers, so they've probably seen a few," said Bryn Schockmel, a curator at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
That's where sports and art are colliding like a guard taking a hard charge in the exhibition “The Perfect Shot: Walter Iooss Jr. and the Art of Sports Photography," on view through Sept. 4 on the downtown OKC museum's third floor.
Considered the largest retrospective ever fielded of Iooss' work,"The Perfect Shot" spans a half-century of his storied career, including 85 photographs taken in Cuba, Thailand and the former East Germany, as well as all across the United States.
Along with Jordan and Ali, the exhibit features images of legendary athletes like Serena Williams, Joe Montana, Tiger Woods, Jim Brown, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Arnold Palmer, LeBron James, Hank Aaron, Michelle Kwan, Johnny Unitas, Mary Lou Retton and Oklahoma's own Bart Conner.
Born in 1943, Iooss shot his first roll of film in 1959, at a New York Giants game with his father. Only two years later, he began working for Sports Illustrated, landing his first cover in 1963.
"His only professional training was just a six-week course when he was in high school. Then, his senior year, he put together his portfolio, which was mostly photographs of his friends playing sports, went to the Time-Life building in Manhattan and showed it to the assistant photo editor at Sports Illustrated. And they hired him," Schockmel said. "He was hired on spec at first and then got a full-time position. His first cover of the magazine, he was only 19 ... and he worked for Sports Illustrated for over 50 years."
The majority of photos in the exhibit are from the OKC Museum of Art's permanent collection, and most were acquired in 2019 and 2020. So, this is the first time they've all been on view at the museum.
"We've really grown the size and scope of our photography collection in the past three to four years. So, this was an opportunity for us to do a ... show of a true artist who's working in an art form that people don't often think of as an art form: sports photography," said museumPresident and CEO Michael Anderson.
"Through Walter Iooss' work you see a really incredible level of artistry and a consistency over the course of decades and decades of work."
Here are eight photos where "The Perfect Shot" lives up to its name:
1. 'High School Softball, Pella, Iowa' (1974)
Home of the Women's College World Series, Oklahoma City is definitely a softball town. It's appropriate, then, that even surrounded by star-studded images that a photo of a high-schooler clutching her bat with her head thrown back in frustration stands out so vividly.
"The exhibit is organized by emotion: anticipation, perseverance, triumph, disappointmentand reflection," Schockmel said.
"Not everyone coming is going to be a sports person; not everyone's going to necessarily know all these athletes or be able to relate on the sports level. But I felt like everyone could connect on a sort of emotional level. Because when I look at these photographs and I see the expressions on these people's faces, even if I've never swung a bat, I can relate to that feeling."
2. 'Bart Conner, Los Angeles, California' (1984)
A familiar face around his adopted hometown of Norman, Conner can be seen in his athletic prime hanging by one muscled arm from the horizontal bar in a photo Iooss took while documenting the 1984 Olympics.
Conner won a team gold medal as well as an individual gold on the parallel bars, earning a perfect 10 in the final for that event.
3. 'Michael Jordan, Highland Park, Illinois' (1992)
Iooss photographed Air Jordan dozens of times over the years, and the pair even collaborated on a book of photos, "Rare Air," in 1993.
With its dramatic shadows, the iconic "Blue Dunk" is one of the exhibit's key images, but the aerial, above-the-rim shot Iooss tookin Highland Park captures His Airness in a moment of intense concentration as he slams the ballhome.
For a generation of sports fans who grew up admiring MJ in the 1990s, the red, white and black of his Bulls uniform, echoed in the paint on the court, will instantly evoke strong memories.
4. 'Muhammad Ali vs. Erin Terrell, Houston, Texas' (1967)
The exhibit features four hard-hitting images of this single, pivotal fight in the Astrodome, where Ali won in 15 rounds to become the World Boxing Association Heavyweight Champion. Iooss' starkly elegant black-and-white images freezemoments in time and provideintimate looks at both competitors.
5. 'Greg Louganis, Mission Viejo, California' (1984)
Another of the photographer's 1984 Olympics series, one of the most striking images of the show spotlights Louganis, a celebrated diver, at his California training site. Iooss took the photo at twilight on a Fuji camera with a half-second exposure and Louganis illuminated by a strobe as he dove off the platform.
Because of high-speed plummet of Louganis' dive, the red sky and iridescent lights blurred. Iooss flipped the print upside down so that it looked like the gold medalist was "diving upward" and "out of the flames of Hell, like Dante's 'Inferno.'"
Iooss has frequently called it one of the greatest photos of his career, and it's not hard to see why.
6. 'Michelle Kwan, New York, New York' (1997)
Renowned for his stunning portraits as well as his exciting action shots, Iooss photographed the Olympic figure skater against a New York skyline featuring the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building.
The shoot took place on a smoggy, overcast day on a Manhattan rooftop, where Iooss and his team set up a plywood platform near the edge and topped it with black Plexiglas to achieve an icy reflection. Illuminated by a strobe light, Kwan's grace on skates helps make the illusion convincing.
7. 'The Catch, Dwight Clark, San Francisco, California' (1982)
An elite sports photojournalist must carry on even when his team suffers devastating defeat, and that's what Iooss did to capture one of his most memorable images at the end of the 1982 NFC Championship game between the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers. With less than a minute left in the fourth quarter, 49ers quarterback Joe Montana hurled a Hail Mary pass that Clark snagged in the end zone, securing San Francisco's berth in Super Bowl XVI.
After spending all season following the Cowboys, Iooss apparently was so heartbroken at Dallas' loss that he didn't even realize he had caught "The Catch" until the now-legendaryimage showed up a week later on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Iooss photographed every Super Bowl from the first in 1967 through 2020.
8. 'The National Anthem, Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois' (1985)
Not every great sports moment takes place on the field of play. Iooss got permission to shoot this particular ballgame from the scoreboard, where he would have a superb view of Wrigley Field.
That put him in the perfect place before the first pitch had even been thrown out to capture a moving image: From behind the scoreboard, he photographed the scorekeeper as he stood with his hat over his heart during "The Star-Spangled Banner."
ON VIEW
“The Perfect Shot: Walter Iooss Jr. and the Art of Sports Photography”
When: Through Sept. 4.
Where: Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive.
Information and tickets: okcmoa.com.
OKC MUSEUM CHANGES STORE
The Oklahoma City Museum of Art is moving its Museum Store into the space formerly occupied by the Museum Café.The new space's name is "MuseumStorex Ganache," and it will include a full bar with coffee, co*cktails, beer, wineand grab-and-go food options. Ganache will serve pastries, patisserieand sweet and savory items.
The Museum Store's soft opening launched May 28. Beginning June 17, the bar will be open for late-night eventsand serve beer and wine on the museum's rooftop.
The new space's grand opening is set for June 18 to coincide with the opening of the new exhibit "Chihuly Then and Now: The Collection at Twenty." For more information, go tookcmoa.com.
