Skip Navigation

We are closed today.

Bob Martin: Serena

Bob Martin (British, born 1959). Serena, 2004. Color photograph. Courtesy Bob Martin

Contact us at exhibitions@brooklynmuseum.org if you are interested in bringing this exhibition or others to your institution.

Who Shot Sports: A Photographic History, 1843 to the Present

Who Shot Sports: A Photographic History, 1843 to the Present, guest curated by distinguished photographic historian Gail Buckland, highlights sport photographers and their place in the history of photography, not merely sports history.

As the exhibition demonstrates, the finest sports photographers, their skills honed from years of practice, are capable of capturing a fleeting moment and making it memorable, often from a surprising or revealing point of view. Driven to freeze action and portray what the naked eye alone cannot see, sports photographers have played a leading role in the evolution of camera and film technology.

Featuring more than 200 photographs Buckland has chosen for their aesthetic, cultural, and historical significance, the exhibition includes images of many different sports from nations around the globe. The period it covers—1843 to the present—makes it the most thorough exhibition of sports photographers ever organized. The exhibition will be divided into sections that focus on themes such as the beginnings of sports photography, the Olympics, solo and team sports, portraits, life off the field, and fans. In its breadth and beauty, Who Shot Sports captures its subject’s universal appeal.

Who Shot Sports: A Photographic History, 1843 to the Present is organized by the Brooklyn Museum with guest curator Gail Buckland. A companion book published by Alfred A. Knopf is planned to accompany the exhibition.

Tour Schedule with Dates

Grand Rapids Art Museum, Michigan

October 28, 2018–January 13, 2019

Allentown Art Museum, Pennsylvania

May 4–July 29, 2018

Olympic Museum, Lausanne, Switzerland

May 25–November 19, 2017

Tampa Museum of Art, Florida

February 5–April 30, 2017

Brooklyn Museum, New York

July 15, 2016–January 8, 2017