Here we go!

The Robert Riger Living Trust enters a new phase: the consolidation and organization of Robert’s complete body of work into something we call Robert Riger Classic Sport. 

The collection encompasses his photography, yes, but also many of his original lithographs, some informal (never published) graphite and water color sketches, other original drawings, his writing, and masses of memorabilia that he accumulated in the course of his career. We pull it all together in a lovely gallery space in Tuscumbia, Alabama.  I attach pics of the space-in-progress. There’s only about a fifth of the collection there now. The rest - currently in storage in Los Angeles - should be available for pick-up early next year, depending on the stupid virus. I had a chance to do a quick review of the LA work last February, just before things shut down. There is some pretty amazing stuff out there.

That said, there is some pretty amazing stuff here already: A couple of football plays diagrammed on the back of Robert’s plane ticket by Vince Lombardi, as referenced by David Maraniss in his book When Pride Still Mattered on page 254, as a for instance? Or a drawing Robert did of Joe Namath in New York Magazine, the page torn out from the magazine and signed by Joe himself? An extraordinary range of original photographic prints of his classic images, many signed, some with cropping and print quality notes. Many framed photographs and drawings that he personally prepared for one of his many exhibits. And so much more.

We have a huge project ahead of us, not only with inventory and organization, but with the valuation of it all. We will be launching an Ebay store for some things. (Prints from his Shell series, framed Sports Illustrated covers with his drawings and photographs, Olympic press bibs, etc.) We also plan a store to link to this site for photo and other gift purchases. Once we have his “vintage” photographs valued, we will work with curators and galleries on those sales. And then there are the original lithographs of some of his classic illustrations…

Finally, we work to implement a print-to-order service for fans wanting a particular image that we might not have in stock. Part of the consolidation/organization effort - an inventory of the negatives he’s left behind.

In the meantime - welcome to the Robert Riger Classic Sport blog! I hope to keep admirers of Robert’s work up to date with our ongoing projects, and to post regular Riger images that parallel the current sports calendar. We work hard, for instance, to be social-media-ready for next summer’s Olympics in Tokyo. (Robert shot every Summer Olympic games from Rome in 1960 to Barcelona in 1992.)  Closer in time -  the delayed Preakness runs next weekend on October 3. In my next post, I’ll preview it with some of his race photographs. And a lovely “portfolio” series called The Art Of Race Riding - drawings and text from an Eddie Arcaro Sports Illustrated piece in the fifties.

As promised, a few shots of The Gallery as it comes together. (Also a tease of the Lombardi play diagrams. They deserve a blog entry in their own right, and will get one!) Lots of work to do. I’d love to hear from you, with any questions, comments, ideas or even memories of what Robert’s work may have meant to you. Please feel free to let me know of specific requests/interests. I’ll do my best to find an image or two for you! 

More soon,

Dawn (Aberg),  RRLT Trustee