While the Paris mascot was chosen well in advance, Shuss was designed in a hurry — his designer had just one night to prepare a submission. The 1972 Munich Games featured Waldi, a dachshund.

As wild and witty as that all was, Mr. Jones found his true creative voice when he arrived in Paris in the early 1980s — and that, too, is when the exhibition takes form. “There is Stephen ...