The Perfect Shot will feature over 80 sports photographs – ranging from a girl striking out at a high school softball game to NFL players winning the Super Bowl – that highlight the universal emotions that athletes the world over know well. The exhibition will be divided into five sections: Anticipation, Perseverance, Triumph, Disappointment, and Reflection. Featured sports include basketball, baseball, football, gymnastics, boxing, golf, tennis, and swimming.
Walter Iooss Jr. spent over 5 decades photographing athletes for Sports Illustrated, starting with his first assignment at the age of 17. The partnership led to hundreds of memorable magazine covers and the opportunity for Iooss to work with and befriend some of the greatest athletes of the last half-century, including Muhammad Ali, LeBron James, Cathy Marino, Bart Conner, Serena Williams, Joe Namath, and Arnold Palmer.
One of the relationships Iooss developed, over many years, was with legendary basketball star Michael Jordan. Iooss shot Jordan dozens of times and the pair collaborated on a book of photographs, Rare Air, in 1993. The Perfect Shot includes a number of iconic photographs of Jordan.
Credit: Walter Iooss Jr., “The Blue Dunk,” Michael Jordan, Lisle, Illinois, 1987. Archival pigment print, 14¾ x 22 in. Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Gift of Chetan Patel in honor of the Museum’s 75th anniversary, 2019.221. © Walter Iooss Jr.
