Scrimmage: Football in American Art from the Civil War to the Present
January 20, 2017 - May 13, 2017
Buy Tickets
About
Scrimmage: Football in American Art from the Civil War to the Present
Scrimmage features 78 artworks, dating from the 1850s to 2014, that take as their subject various aspects of the game of football. Some works, such as Frederic Remington’s Touchdown, Yale vs. Princeton, are straightforward depictions of the early days of the sport, while others offer more ambiguous commentaries on football’s meaning in the larger society. For instance, Mark Newport’s Heroes Past, questions the role of masculinity in the sport by hand beading football cards; combining masculine icons with a traditionally “feminine” medium, while Shaun Leonardo’s Bull in the Ring, also explores male identity by revealing the violence of the game. Geoff Winningham’s Super Bowl (Houston) from 1972 turns from the field to the stands, showing a row of Vikings fans in their horned helmets cheering on their team, with the Goodyear blimp floating above them.
Rather than presenting a history of the sport, Scrimmage raises questions about sports, art, and their roles in our history and culture, revealing attitudes and transitions in American life over the past 150 years. Works by artists such as Winslow Homer and J.C. Leyendecker illustrate the concept of the “strenuous life” championed by President Teddy Roosevelt, while works by Andy Warhol and Red Grooms embody the cult of the celebrity athlete that is so prominent today. Other artists address issues of class, ethnicity, gender and violence as they relate to the sport of football.
On view January 21-May 14, 2017
Presented at the Figge with the support of the Thomas A. and Mary Waterman Gildehaus Memorial Fund, Tom Figge, and Jeff and Lynda Eirinberg.
Scrimmage has been organized by Linny Frickman at the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art at Colorado State University at Fort Collins in partnership with Danielle Knapp at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon, Eugene.
Frederic Remington (American, 1861-1909), Touchdown, Yale vs. Princeton, Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, 1890, Yale 32, Princeton 0, 1890, oil on canvas, Yale University Art Gallery, Whitney Collections of Sporting Art, given in memory of Harry Payne Whitney (B.A. 1894), and Payne Whitney (B.A. 1898) by Francis P. Garvan (B.A. 1897); M.A. (Hon) 1922, Courtesy of the University Art Museum, Colorado State University, and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon
Companion Events
Thursday, February 2
Opening reception & Curator Lecture with Linny Frickman
Thursday, February 23
Social hour & Figge One-Minute Film Contest: Friday Night Lights
Thursday, March 9
Social hour & Author Talk with Dr. Thomas Oates
Thursday, April 20
Social hour and Exhibition Talk: Dr. Jaime Schultz
Thursday, May 11
Social Hour and Exhibition Talk: Brett Biebel
Exhibition Tours
1:30 p.m. Sunday, February 12
1:30 p.m. Saturday, February 25
1:30 p.m. Saturday, March 18
Sunday April 14th