The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art has two new exciting sports-related exhibitions opening today: All-Stars: American Sporting Prints from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams and The ESPY Collection.
In conjunction with the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art will present two complimentary sports-related exhibitions. The first—focusing on sports in America from the late 19th century to the 1980s—is All-Stars: American Sporting Prints from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams. This exhibition will examine a number of America's favorite past times through the eyes of visual artists. At the same time, this exhibition will provide an intriguing look at American social history and will illustrate how the increase in leisure time in the United States during the 20th century led to the growth of popular sports and to artists' representations of sports.
In 73 prints by more than 60 artists, 30 different sports will be presented in the full spectrum of printmaking processes. Many of the major artistic styles of the past century will also be represented, from Realism to Cubism, and Surrealism to Abstraction.
The second exhibition features The ESPY Collection, which was begun in 2002 when photographer Rick Chapman was asked by ESPN to create a series of portraits of the recipients of the ESPY Awards. What resulted is a riveting collection of 40 photographs of some of the most fascinating US sports figures of our time.
Ranging from traditional portraiture to innovative and enlightening works that capture the sitter's personality, this limited-edition series of black-and-white photographs will allow viewers to see many of their favorite sports heroes in a completely new light. From Muhammad Ali to John Elway and Jack Nicklaus, a broad range of sports figures will be included in this exhibition.