Why Sport?
Sports give us the opportunity to practice, with fun and on a manageable scale, the things that help us survive: self-discipline, the development of skills through perseverance and hard work, the acceptance of rules and fair standards of conduct during competition, the ability to confront adversity, maintain hope and ultimately prevail or fail with dignity and honor. These elements of character, learned through sports, carry over to the “real world” and influence how we behave as individuals and nations. The Duke of Wellington is claimed to have once said that “the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton” – a confirmation that competitive sports contribute to the formation of a nation’s character. Why Sport Art?
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Why Namos?
NAMOS was founded in 1959 in New York City by Germain G. Glidden, a portrait artist and champion squash player with a strong belief in sport and art as universal languages understood and appreciated by all people. In the years since, the National Art Museum of Sport has carried out a two-pronged mission: to encourage sport artists in their efforts to create sport art, and to collect, preserve and share through exhibits the best examples of sport art it can acquire. In carrying out this mission, NAMOS is a bridge of understanding between two worlds, introducing art to the world of sports and sport to the world of art. |
We know sports inspire strong passions – think of the traditions of the Olympics, reaching for the sports section first, fans and fanatics at football and soccer games, tennis before lawn care, golf widows and weekend athletes playing in the rain. Who has not appreciated the beauty of a fit body or a perfectly executed athletic move, or felt the joy or angst of our own or our team’s winning or losing – coming through in the clutch or choking? 
Sport art helps us understand our relation to sport, and of sport to life. Look at the pictures in this page: art shows beauty (Myron’s discus thrower) and art reveals character (Robert Kaufman’s Dempsey portrait). Art captures emotion: the anxiety of competition, the joy of winning, the agony of defeat. It depicts internal conflict: the pitting of honor and sportsmanship versus the desire to win, or the struggle to maintain resolve in the face of overwhelming odds, pain and fatigue. Art connects us with our history and allows us to witness famous events in which famous athletes made time stand still. All of us are personally and vicariously acquainted with such experiences in our forays into sport. Good art gives us new ways of seeing these things in others, and thus offers insights into ourselves.
In its nearly 50 years of existence, NAMOS (The National Art Museum of Sport) has encouraged the creation of sport art and has collected more than 800 pieces showcasing the heroes and heroines of basketball, boxing, baseball, golf and tennis–over 40 sports in all. Through permanent and special exhibits, this collection evokes the excitement and variety of a sporting life, allowing sportsmen and fans alike to thrill at the passions such a collection can stir.