Exhibitions

Current Exhibitions

Apr 12, 2025 - Sep 13, 2025
The Art of the Angle

Apr 11, 2025 - Sep 13, 2025
Intrepid Audubon: The Birds of America

Apr 12, 2025 - Sep 13, 2025
Drawn to Nature: 300 Years of Natural History Illustration

Jan 11, 2024 - Jan 16, 2026
Big Race: The Contemporary Vision of Clarice Smith

Jan 1, 2024 - Dec 31, 2025
Highlights from the Permanent Collection

Virtual Exhibitions

The National Sporting Library & Museum is excited to present on-line 360° virtual tours of current and past exhibitions. Virtual exhibitions are free of charge, overcome the physical barrier to access, and expand our mission to preserve and promote turf and field sports. To support the development of free virtual tours and other mission-driven programming at the NSLM, please consider making a donation for the continuation of meaningful online experiences.

Jack Boul: Timeless Landscapes

Since 1951, Jack Boul (American, b. 1927) has lived and worked in the Washington, DC, area. He found inspiration for his artwork in the now-disappearing Virginia and Maryland countryside. The artist painted en plein air for much of his career…

Honoring the Point: The Gwynne McDevitt Sporting Dog Collection

A 56-artwork version of this exhibition is on view at the American Kennel Club Museum of the Dog from April 2–August 31, 2025.

In the spring of 2023, the National Sporting Library…

Big Race: The Contemporary Vision of Clarice Smith

The focus gallery, Big Race: The Contemporary Vision of Clarice Smith, contemplates the impact that Clarice Smith’s (American, 1933–2021) artistic vision had on equine art. Four compelling paintings by the artist are on loan to…

Highlights from the Permanent Collection

A changing display of paintings, sculpture, works on paper, and objects from the National Sporting Library & Museum's Permanent Collection is presented in the Museum opened in 2011. The collection is installed in the historic wing…

Theodore Roosevelt’s Sporting Universe

Opening on October 12, the Library’s Forrest E. Mars, Sr. Exhibit Hall will spotlight Theodore Roosevelt—one of the greatest sportsmen and naturalists of his day—and several of his like-minded allies, who worked together to ensure…

Survival of the Fittest: Envisioning Wildlife and Wilderness with the Big Four, Masterworks from the Rijksmuseum Twenthe and the National Museum of Wildlife Art

Survival of the Fittest: Envisioning Wildlife and Wilderness with the Big Four, Masterworks from the Rijksmuseum Twenthe and the National Museum of Wildlife Art is curated by Adam Duncan Harris, Grainger/Kerr Director of the Carl Rungius Catalogue…

Romantic Bronzes from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Romantic Bronzes showcases more than 30 extraordinary works by the 19th-century French sculptor Antoine-Louis Barye that Mrs. Nelson L. St. Clair Jr. generously donated to Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) over the past 20 years. Each of…

Endurance: Secretariat’s Triple Crown at 50

2023 marks the 50th anniversary of Virginia’s most famous racehorse, Secretariat, winning the Triple Crown (1973). This feat had not been achieved since Citation in 1948. Secretariat's triumph captivated America, and its memory has become…

Identity & Restraint: Art of the Dog Collar

Since before the dawn of history, we have forged a strong bond with dogs—from hunting companions to sporting breeds as well as faithful pets. The dog collar is a symbol of the evolving relationship between humans and canines. The variety of styles…

A Decade Afield: Celebrating 10 Years of the NSLM’s Museum

The NSLM is celebrating a milestone anniversary with a retrospective exhibition opening June 3, 2022. A Decade Afield: Celebrating 10 Years of the NSLM’s Museum, will feature highlights from the Museum’s collection of fine…

Storied Friends: Marguerite Henry and Wesley Dennis

Storied Friends: Marguerite Henry and Wesley Dennis explores the literary partnership that brought Misty, Sham, and many other equine friends into the hearts of youths everywhere. For over two decades the pair published fifteen…

2020 Hindsight: 40 Years of the American Academy of Equine Art

Begun in Middleburg, VA, in 1980 and now based in Lexington, KY, the American Academy of Equine Art’s (AAEA) founding members were some of the top sporting painters and sculptors of the day: Jean Bowman, June Harrah, Henry Koehler, William…

Field Notes | Walter Matia

The National Sporting Library & Museum is excited to announce an indoor/outdoor bronze sculpture exhibition, Field Notes | Walter Matia, by contemporary artist Walter Matia. His study of biology, early work as a taxidermist, successful…

Recent Acquisitions: Bronzes by Diana Reuter-Twining

Visit the National Sporting Library & Museum and see two new acquisitions by contemporary artist Diana Reuter-Twining (American, b. 1951). On display in the Intro galleries of the permanent collection are Equipoise and Maestro.…

Tucker Smith: A Celebration of Nature

Tucker Smith: A Celebration of Nature and accompanying catalogue present a retrospective of the work of American artist Tucker Smith. Featuring more than 75 original oils, this exhibition is a true survey of the painter's life’s…

A Horse of Course: The Equine Image in Art

A Horse of Course: The Equine Image in Art is a traveling educational exhibition organized by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts as part of the Virginia Statewide Partnership Program. It features 12 photographic reproductions of iconic works…

Thrill of the ‘Chace: Steeplechase in Art

TO ENTER FULLSCREEN VIEW, CLICK RECTANGLE AT TOP RIGHT OF GALLERY.

First run from church steeple to church steeple in Ireland in the 1750s, steeplechasing, its early alternate spelling “steeplechacing,” has…

Recent Acquisitions: Benson and Pleissner

TO ENTER FULLSCREEN VIEW, CLICK RECTANGLE AT TOP RIGHT OF GALLERY.

In the spring of 2020, the National Sporting Library & Museum (NSLM) received five important works of art by two well-known 20th-century sporting artists: Frank Weston…

In Bronze: Herbert Haseltine

TO ENTER FULLSCREEN VIEW, CLICK RECTANGLE AT TOP RIGHT OF GALLERY.

Join us in welcoming two new acquisitions by Herbert Haseltine: Percheron Stallion: Rhum and Percheron Mare: Messaline and Foal. These one-third life-size bronze sculptures…

Angling in Special Collections

TO ENTER FULLSCREEN VIEW, CLICK RECTANGLE AT TOP RIGHT OF GALLERY.

The Angling in Special Collections exhibition features books, ephemera, and art focused on angling from the National Sporting Library & Museum's collections.…

Phyllis Mills Wyeth: A Celebration

TO ENTER FULLSCREEN VIEW, CLICK RECTANGLE AT TOP RIGHT OF GALLERY.

A memorial exhibition celebrating the life of Phyllis Mills Wyeth (November 13, 1940–January 14, 2019) features a selection of portraits created by her husband, contemporary…

Leading the Field: Ellen Emmet Rand

In 1936, on the heels of painting an official presidential portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Ellen Emmet Rand held a solo exhibition. Though she had been a professional portrait artist for over three decades, this show was a departure from the…