The SHAPE of the NFL Exhibition

The International Museum of Sport, Berlin.

January 2, 2023 to April 3, 2023

 

 

 

An Art Review:

The writer Owen Edwards has written a review of the exhibition which contains 68 enlarged prints (26 of which are included here).

Unlike our usual ability to recognize athletes in most other professional sports, our experience of professional football players keeps us at arm’s length; we don’t really see the players. Helmets with face guards and body armor prevent fans from knowing what their favorite athletes look like during a game. And even when a player takes off his helmet on the sidelines, his pads and uniform hide his physique.

With a remarkable show in Berlin, photographer Howard Schatz literally strips away this detachment and gives powerful new life to the old cliché, “Up close and personal.”

Schatz, an award-winning photographer best known for his work with athletes, dancers and the human body, uses his lighting skill and his genius for understanding human anatomy to go in a very different direction. He has invited an all-star lineup of NFL players to his New York studio and photographed them to exhibit the beauty of their extraordinary form, and musculoskeletal structure. He also directed them to powerfully execute the movements that reflect the intense demands of their particular football positions and functions, then printed the resulting dramatic photos larger than life – appropriate for his larger-than-life subjects. What appears on the walls of the International Museum of Sport is nothing less than a “ballet” of epic proportions.

Though great players – and Schatz has carefully selected some of the NFL’s best – can make what they do look easy (well, easy-ish), the fact is that this ease and fluidity demand extraordinary physical conditioning. Most of the awed visitors to the exhibition know little or nothing of American football, but Schatz creates magnificent imagery to demonstrate what great athletes look like off the field and under the armor of their uniforms. His portraits and “ action” images pay homage to countless hours of effort during the NFL season and off-season, a sensational salute to those who play one of the world’s toughest sports.

The Shape of the NFL Exhibition: Images installed in the museum