The Wall Street Journal featured the American Sport Art Museum and Archives (ASAMA) and its collection of artwork from renowned sports artists across the globe in July.
The Journal, which is the largest newspaper in the United States with a circulation of 2.1 million, highlighted the works of Leroy Neiman held at ASAMA. Neiman, known as the father of contemporary sports art, died June 20 at age 91.
Neiman was named the Academy’s 2007 Sport Artist of the Year and currently has seven serigraphs displayed in a small gallery at the Academy’s sport art museum in Daphne, Ala. Other sports artists, such as Raomon Parmenter, Ferenc Németh, Mina Papatheodorou-Valyraki, Tafa, Bart Forbes, James Ridlon, Charles Billich and Rick Rush, are also mentioned in the Wall Street Journal feature story.
“In short, the art here, breathtaking and complex, is far above the kitsch found in stadium suites and halls of fame,” states the article written by Wall Street Journal reporter Mark Yost.
The article also reports: “While Neiman’s works are reason enough to come here, the rest of the collection at this relatively obscure museum is equally impressive. It not only houses the largest collection of sports art in the country, but is one of the more unique exhibition spaces.”
A version of this article, “The Art of the Athlete,” appeared July 17, 2012, on page D5 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal. It also appears online and you can read it by clicking here.
The sport art museum, which has nearly 1,700 pieces in its collection, is open free to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. It houses arguably the largest sport art collection in the world.