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Gallery corridor with lit floor vitrines opening onto the red John Wayne The Patriot bay, three uniform costumes under the quote “Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.”

JOHN WAYNE: THE GENUINE ARTICLE

Nashville

John Wayne: The Genuine Article was a ticketed, multi-room exhibition on the life and career of John Wayne, created with the Wayne family from the photographic biography of the same name. It opened at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville as part of the resort’s A Country Christmas season. The rooms — Inventing John Wayne, Western Man, Our Glorious Industry, John Wayne The Patriot, For The Fans and Family Moments — set his letters, telegrams and handwritten notes against screen-worn costumes, hats and boots, with video, interactive elements and custom audio throughout, and a retail shop at the exit.

FISHKO Inc. team members conceived, designed, and produced the exhibition, translating the book into a physical environment. The team handled all aspects of curation, production, and operations, including custom fabrication and enclosures.

The exhibition’s gold title wall at the entrance, Gaylord Opryland Resort, Nashville.
The Cowboy Wardrobe in the Western Man room: four screen-worn costumes on a plinth with lit vitrines of spurs and boots.
The Inventing John Wayne room: orange walls, early portraits, family photographs and a vitrine of childhood documents.
The “Wear a hat like the Duke” wall: original one-sheets, production stills and felt hats, one hung at Wayne’s 6′4″ height.
Navy photo-wall corridor with a run of lit document vitrines.
Green room with three flags hung from the truss — a Wild Goose burgee, a weathered US flag and a service flag — over family and on-set photographs and a guitar.
The For The Fans room: wall quote from a letter to a fan, photographs and a lit vitrine of correspondence.
Vitrine of fan mail: hand-addressed envelopes, 1970s postmarks and a string-tied parcel.
Early-career wall in the Inventing John Wayne room: two large portraits, a text panel and a vitrine.
Wall-mounted acrylic vitrines of neckerchiefs, hats and boots in the Western Man room.
Visitors at the USC football section of the Inventing John Wayne room; a USC cap in the vitrine.
Title wall seen from the entrance with the retail shop visible at right.
The Cowboy Wardrobe with a visitor reading the wall text.
Title wall from the entrance, opening morning, with the Inventing John Wayne room at left.
Inventing John Wayne room: the “He never took anything for granted” wall and a vitrine with a USC football helmet.
“The walk, the talk, the style” projection wall showing a film clip.
The “Wear a hat like the Duke” wall seen from the room’s corner.
Western Man room: large cattle-drive still, production photographs and a vitrine.
The Cowboy Wardrobe mannequins from the side with the orange hat wall behind.
Batjac Productions road case displayed in the teal room.
Navy corridor with photo wall and vitrines, opening morning.
Room with framed posters, photographs, a video screen and vitrines.
John Wayne The Patriot: the “This is a great country, with great people in it” wall with military photographs.
Lit wall vitrines of letters and documents.
Orange room with family photographs and vitrines, dressed with a Christmas tree for the resort’s A Country Christmas season.
Green room with a John Wayne quote, photographs and a vitrine.
The exhibition’s retail shop: T-shirts on pipe racks, shelving and merchandise.
© 2026 FISHKOINC, LLC