LeRoy Neiman 2014
My work satisfies me only when it measures up to the experience that inspired it. – Le Roy Ne iman ( 19 21 – 2 012 )
Franklin Bowles Galleries San Francisco New York
LeRoy Nei man 2014
In 2014 Franklin Bowles Galleries is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its 1974 founding in San Francisco! We are spending the year highlighting our long-term commitment to each of our artists and encouraging our collectors to come and celebrate with us! We began representing LeRoy Neiman in 1974 after a chance meeting; LeRoy walked into the San Francisco Gallery one afternoon and we ended up talking for hours at the Buena Vista Café two doors down the block. A friendship was born and continued to flourish over the years as our commitment to LeRoy was matched only by our collectors’ enthusiasm for his art. It has been a long and exciting partnership, and, although we lost LeRoy in 2012, we proudly continue to represent his work as the worldwide exclusive agent for the watercolors, sketches, and drawings owned by the LeRoy Neiman Foundation. In this capacity, we provide our collectors with unique access to perhaps the most extensive and important trove of art documenting the second half of the American twentieth century. From quick sketches done in the back of a cab to polished drawings of the exclusive scenes he found himself privy to, these are the works which show LeRoy as the consummate draftsman and cultural icon that he was. We are so excited to be celebrating our 40 years together. LeRoy’s spirit lives on in his incredible work, revealing how he saw the world in which he so loved to play. I hope you enjoy this special selection of work we have put together to honor our 40/40.
FRONT COVER:
Down the Stretch (detail) 1960 - see page 15 TITLE PAGE: Tony Bennett Fronting Basie Band (detail) c2010 - see page 36 -37 OPPOSITE: LeRoy Neiman with Franklin Bowles
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L e R oy N e i m a n LeRoy Neiman was far ahead of his time. The very opposite of the detached, retiring artist, he was involved during his distinguished career in many developments that now constitute key aspects of the history of post-World War II art. He made representative art when the art world mostly deemed only abstract art acceptable. He updated the Impressionist breakthrough—the depiction of contemporary leisure life—but while the Impressionists painted middle-class leisure, Neiman took an innovative route, depicting celebrities and spectacles. Yet he often included ordinary people, the audience and workers who made the spectacles he was depicting possible. In so doing, he figured out how to adjust art for a media world where television made celebrities the currency of everyday life. Through his association with Playboy magazine, and friendship with Hugh Hefner, he played a key role in gaining social acceptance for art to depict female nudity as enjoyable and exciting without it needing to be attached to a religious or classical figure as in almost all previous art history. This is a huge list of achievements. Contemporary Art is so tolerant and eclectic that we can easily forget how different the art world was that Neiman first encountered. Contemporary Art, the dominant category since the 1990s for classifying the art of our time, typically includes and welcomes the art produced by all artists still living or recently dead. By contrast, before Contemporary Art’s rise, it was often heated battles over new styles and their struggles for recognition that dominated, as in Impressionism, Cubism, Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism and Pop Art, in the nineteenth and most of the twentieth century. Each new style typically implied, or explicitly claimed in polemical fashion, that work done by artists in that style was superior to what other artists of the time were typically producing, a view often expressed in the context of a belief in an evolutionary progression of art. Neiman entered the art world in the 1950s and characteristically refused to conform. A crucial axiom of many styles at that time, with Abstract Expressionism as the newest contender, was disdain for “representative art,” expressed, for example, in the claim that when people looked at and liked (“appreciated”) abstract art, their experience was higher quality—more creative, richer, thoughtful, sublime—than the experience of those who viewed representative art. This claim was never supported with any real evidence drawn from examination of people actually viewing art. Neiman recounts in his autobiography, All Told, how he resisted: The style of the hour was abstract expressionism—Jackson Pollock, de Kooning, Franz Kline—but as hard as I tried, faces and figures would poke out at me from the surface of the canvas, saying, “Hey, look who’s in here, LeRoy, why are you trying to cover us up?” To hell with surrealism, futurism, or ab-exism! Even when I’d start a painting in abstract, there was a subject lurking: a face, a place, a scenario would seductively emerge…When I set out to paint realistically, I thought, “Now this really works!”…The art world I thought would be stunned. Figures materializing out of pools of color—who’d ever done that before? Neiman filled the void left by the flight from representation by depicting contemporary leisure life. One of the most innovative aspects of the Impressionists was their depiction of middle-class leisure. As the art historian, Meyer Shapiro, writes, “It is remarkable how many
OPPOSITE: The
Heiress 1986 Pen on Paper 7.5 x 10.5 in.
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pictures we have in early Impressionism of informal and spontaneous sociability—breakfasts, picnics, promenades, boating trips, holidays—these urban idylls…present the objective forms of bourgeois recreation in the 1860s and 70s.” Yet while the themes of the Impressionists, prescient and avant-garde in the nineteenth century, still appeal to modern audiences, much of their appeal is now linked to their value as records of an earlier age. It is in Neiman’s work that we can find arguably the liveliest, most creative, and most socially-aware depiction of the leisure life of the post-World War II decades. Further, he applied vibrant color in depicting this spectacular imagery.
The idea that my paintings depict leisure and not work is just an illusion. In professional sports, all the athletes are working, and the officials are working, too. It's just the same as in the restaurant scenes that I paint, and in fine restaurants in fact. You go to New York's Four Seasons, Le Cirque, "21", any restaurant halfway expensive, people are working, making contacts. Everyone at "21" is at work—the checkroom person, the bartenders, the person who brings the water, the person who takes the plates away and there are the chefs, waiters, busboys. At a Washington, D.C. soirée, or charity ball, people are making contacts. They're not just enjoying themselves. Neiman also commented on the role of spectators and other ordinary participants:
Joe Namath, 1969
LeBron James, 2007
Neiman was carefully selective about which modern leisure he represented, and how. Consider the content of his drawings and paintings. Sporting events are a central leisure activity that he portrays. In this collection, we can see Joe Namath, drawn in 1969 when Neiman was artist-in-residence with the New York Jets in their historic Super Bowl championship season. Other notable examples of the sporting life are tennis phenom, Serena Williams, and basketball’s current megastar, LeBron James, captured in 2007 when he was still a Cleveland Cavalier. Another major topic is night-time leisure pursuits such as casino gambling, concert music, theater, opera, and bars. The subject of animals was a fruitful one for Neiman. Often linked to the leisure activity of the safari, since most are the kind of wild animals typically associated with that activity, Neiman confirms this connection, for when asked to explain how he selected the animals that he paints, he commented that they were almost all subjects he painted while on safari, “I've been to Africa twice. Most of the animals I painted are the ones I saw on safari.” A simple, deft portrait of an Elephant can be found in this collection, rendered in black ink. While Neiman depicts glamorous settings and people, his drawings and paintings often include ordinary people too. Alongside the heroes and celebrities are spectators, customers, and working people. In the bar, restauElephant, c1990 rant, and café scenes, there are anonymous customers as well as waiters, waitresses, and bartenders. Gran Caffe Lavena in Piazza San Marco (1996) shows a customer identified as Roberto chatting with bartender, Sabrina, during what Neiman annotates on the drawing as “a quiet night.” In the fight scenes are often a referee, trainer, and seconds. In the street scenes are passersby. In the casinos there are croupiers and anonymous gamblers. In the sailboat scenes are unidentified sailors. The bench and park scenes are full of ordinary people. That Neiman often depicts a broad range of social classes, and ethnic and racial minorities, is no accident. He is keenly aware of the workers who make the events possible: When I go to any kind of bash or social thing, I always notice the working guy right away, the limousine driver, the maitre d', the waiter, the hat check girl, the disc jockey and the hired musicians, because there are so many of them around. It's amazing how few artists come out of every generation that thought about all that… all that traffic out there.
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Serena Williams, 2002
Race tracks and prize fights, rich, poor, everyone mingles together. Boxing and horse racing you have all the levels. And everyone talks to everyone else. When I paint, I paint the whole strata. This is surely an important reason why Neiman appeals beyond wealthy collectors to middle and working-class people. Viewers can imagine themselves at the prestigious occasions Neiman likes to depict, especially since he avoids the slightly mocking, ironic view of popular culture implicit in some Pop Art. In these ways, Neiman adjusted art for a media world where television, and now the internet, makes celebrities and spectacles, often sporting, the currency of mainstream life. Neiman was also in the vanguard of artists escaping what he dubbed “the old prewar [sexual] prudishness.” Until roughly the mid-nineteenth century, artists could generally depict naked women only if they were clad in antiquity or religion or were allegorical—called Venus, Sabine, Truth and so forth—to be acceptable. Even after that, until the era of Playboy and Neiman, female nudity could scarcely be depicted as a spectacle to be enjoyed. Neiman’s friend, Hugh Hefner, founded Playboy in 1953, and quickly installed Neiman as artist-in-residence, to depict the magazine’s mixture of thoughtful journalism and fun. Neiman’s first assignment was illustrating a short story called “Black Country” by Charles Beaumont, about a jazz Nude with Mask c1985 Conte Crayon on Paper 18 x 24 in. musician who committed suicide, which got Playboy its first prestigious prize: Gold at the Chicago Art Directors Awards. In 1956, Neiman came up with his famous Femlin, a frisky, mostly-naked female figure, which he drew in many variants for Playboy throughout his life. In this exhibition, Nude with Mask (1985) appears unambiguous in its evocation of sexual pleasure. 7
Neiman was at as many spectacles and key occasions as any living artist, and sketched everything he attended, often making multiple drawings at the same event. He drew continually, partly to avoid boredom, and often used the front and back of a page from his sketchbook for two different drawings. He frequently went on drawing after an event was over. On the back of his drawing of Arthur Ashe (1992), sketched at an award ceremony, is a drawing of the turbaned taxi driver who brought Neiman home after the event. Some works he gave away to the subjects of the sketches, but he kept the vast majority, and even when he gave a drawing away he typically retained the rest of his compositions. For example, Mick Jagger (1975) and Pavarroti (1980) are each part of sets of which one was intended for the subject, while Neiman kept the others himself. The drawings currently in Neiman’s studio constitute one of the great artistic records of people and events of the last decades. Arthur Ashe, 1992
Mick Jagger, 1975
Neiman’s 2012 passing in Manhattan, aged 91, was inevitably an occasion for assessing his place in the pantheon of great artists. The New York Times, in a front-page tribute, that included a color photograph of the artist, compared him to Norman Rockwell and Andrew Wyeth. Art historian Richard Brilliant located him in multiple traditions—Dutch and German artists in the 16th and 17th centuries, when popular prints were widely accepted and whose popular subjects in paintings fill our museums; Italian artists of the 18th and 19th centuries, who created works for an international clientele, depicting contemporary Italian life in the countryside, Rome and Venice—works which have been avidly sought ever since; and the Ashcan School, represented by Robert Henri, George Bellows and Reginald Marsh, who portrayed American life in works that fully captured the spirited, worthy engagement in the drama of daily life experienced by ordinary individuals. Brilliant concluded in Five Decades: Neiman's formidable achievement is increasingly apparent. While much of the art world eschewed representative art, he created, depicted, and made his own an entire field, the spectacle of American public life and its delightful participation in the avid pursuit of paid leisure. Neiman is indeed a pivotal figure who has given us one of the most important accounts of art and culture over the last six decades. Now that the art world acknowledges that the movement away from representative art was a detour rather than the one, true path, there can be no doubt that Neiman stands as one of the great artists of his time. – David Halle, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles
Luciano Pavarotti, 1980 8
All quotes, unless otherwise referenced, come directly from interviews the author conducted with LeRoy Neiman.
French Harvest 2000 Charcoal and Pastel on Watercolor Paper 29.5 x 44.25 in.
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The Chukker 1961 Acrylic on Canvas 10.75 x 8.75 in.
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Polo Players 1960 Acrylic and Enamel on Board 10.75 x 8.75 in.
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Ball Bridge, Dublin 1960 Ink, Felt Pen and White-Out on Paper 5 x 6.5 in.
Saratoga Back Track 2003 Felt Pen and Red Conte on Paper 9.25 x 13.5 in. Big A 1973 Charcoal and Acrylic on Paper 11.5 x 8.25 in. Show Jumpers c1990 Ink and Felt Pen on Paper 13.5 x 15 in.
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Down the Stretch 1960 Acrylic and Enamel on Board 11.6 x 10 in.
Funny Cide I 2003 Ink and Pastel on Paper 11.75 x 11.25 in.
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Alysheba 1987 Felt Pen and Colored Pencil on Paper 12.5 x 9.5 in.
Funny Cide II 2003 Marker and Ink on Paper 12.5 x 14.5 in.
Backside Churchill Downs 1997 Felt Pen on Paper 10.5 x 15 in.
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Hawthorne Cicero 2006 Felt Marker on Paper 8.5 x 12 in.
Little Rider 1978 Marker on Paper 12 x 15.5 in.
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My paintings are founded upon visualization rather than upon vision, and upon organization of elements rather than upon reproduction of a presumption. The spectator looking at a painting of mine must deal with the orchestration of broken colors. My paintings are a chaos of color, an intermingling of colors; they slant, halt, spiral, jump, and highlight. They are used to attract and delineate—the same patch of color in one case will identify and in another will merely form atmosphere.
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Blue Horse 1977 Marker, Gouache and Felt Pen on Paper 11.25 x 14 in.
2 Horses, 1 Man 1978 Marker, Colored Pencil and Pen on Paper 17.75 x 24 in.
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Secretariat with Blanket c1975 Marker and Felt Pen on Paper 11 x 14 in.
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OPPOSITE:
Horse and Jockey 1976 Acrylic on Paper, Mounted 4.5 x 4.75 in. RIGHT:
Paddock at Royal Ascot 1961 Oil on Canvas 36 x 25.75 in.
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Green Colt (Cheval Vert) 1977 Watercolor Pencil and Felt Pen on Paper 10.25 x 12.5 in. Cowboys 1984 Felt Pen and Crayon on Paper 15 x 12.75 in.
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Horse Kisses Jockey c1990 Felt Pen on Paper 12.5 x 15 in.
Horse, Jockey and Trainer 1979 Marker and Felt Pen on Paper 11.5 x 8 in.
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Belmont Stakes 1969 Acrylic and Enamel on Board 49 x 109 in.
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Portrait of Cordero Jockey Oil on Board 24 x 18 in.
Wynton Marsalis 1996 Colored Pencil on Paper 11 x 9 in. Wynton at the White House 1993 Felt Pen on Paper 13.75 x 11 in.
Bob Brookmeyer at Blue Note 2003 Marker on Paper 10 x 13.75 in. 29
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Black Tie Sax 2000 Chalk and Conte on Paper 14.75 x 12.5 in.
B.B. King on New Year's Eve 1997 Felt Pen on Paper 7 x 4.25 in.
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Benny Powell at Blue Note 2003 Marker on Paper 13.5 x 10 in.
Sinatra II 1992 Felt Pen on Paper 5.5 x 4.25 in.
Sinatra I c1990 Blue Ink on Paper 13 x 16.5 in.
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Sinatra, ‘It was a very good year’ 1979 Ink on Paper 10 x 5.5 in.
Tony Bennett Fronting Basie Band c2010 Watercolor and Colored Pencil on Paper 5 x 20.5 in.
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LeRoy Neiman with Sammy Davis Jr., Bob Hope and Neil Diamond
Portrait of Sammy and Piano 1966 Felt Pen and Ink on Paper 13.25 x 15.25 in.
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Isaac Hayes in Yellow Hat 1999 Felt Pen and Acrylic Paint on Sheet Music 11 x 8.5 in.
Beach Boys, Taj Mahal 1996 Ink and Felt Pen on Paper 11.5 x 14 in.
Marcus at Yoshi’s in Oakland, CA 2006 Colored Pencil and Marker on Paper 12 x 18 in.
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Willie Nelson 2000 Pen on Paper 12.5 x 9.75 in.
Prince on the Today Show 1997 Felt Pen and Ink on Paper 10.75 x 14 in. 42
Tina Turner c1980 Black Pencil and Felt Pen on Paper 14.5 x 12 in. 43
Barry Weissler at the Café Luxembourg Bar 2001 Felt Marker, Felt Pen and Collaged Paper on Paper 11 x 14 in.
Bar at Campton Place in San Francisco c1995 Felt Pen on Paper 15 x 13.5 in.
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L’Escale St. Tropez c1990 Pastel and Colored Pencil on Paper 17 x 18 in.
Commodore Hotel Restaurant 1975 Marker and Pen on Paper 12 x 14.75 in. Restaurant Violinist 1984 Felt Pen on Paper 15 x 9.25 in.
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The Golden Apple 1990 Ink, Marker and Acrylic on Paper 14.5 x 11.75 in.
Hotel Nacional de Cuba 1999 Felt Pen and Ink on Paper 15 x 11.25 in.
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Harlequin at Cesare Club in Verona 1994 Pen, Colored Pencil and Charcoal on Paper 14 x 10.75 in.
At the Bar 2007 Pen on Paper 5.25 x 4.5 in.
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Central Park Foliage at the Boathouse 1997 Marker and Pen on Paper 5.5 x 4.5 in.
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If painting wasn’t fun for me, I wouldn’t do it.
L’Auberge de l’Ill 1986 Felt Pen and Watercolor Pencil on Paper 13 x 18 in. 50
LeRoy Neiman at Café de Flore, Paris
Chardonnay’s at Marriott on Long Island 1984 Marker and Pen on Paper 9.25 x 13.25 in.
The Remington, Houston 1983 Colored Pencil and Marker on Paper 10.5 x 7.25 in.
10,000 Champagne Corks 1972 Felt Pen, Watercolor, Ball-Point Pen and Collaged Champagne Labels on Menu 15.75 x 20 in. 52
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LEFT:
Flowers at Rhapsody in the Tropicana, Las Vegas 1984 Marker and Felt Pen on Menu 8.5 x 11 in. BELOW: Bar at Regine’s in New York 1981 Marker, Watercolor and Pen on Menu 13 x 17.5 in.
Cigars and Brandy after Dinner at Les Ambassadeurs Club, London 1983 Marker on Menu 19 x 13.5 in.
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New Orleans Rooster 1976 Ink, Marker, Colored Pencil, Pastel and Watercolor on Menu 17 x 11.25 in.
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Wine by the Glass, San Francisco 1983 Marker on Menu 9 x 4 in.
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Sommelier Serge Dubs 1986 Marker, Felt Pen, White-Out and Gold Paint on Paper 18 x 13 in. Harlequin at L’Antica Perosa Ristorante in Bergamo 1988 Watercolor and Felt Pen on Paper 15 x 13 in.
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George Burns: Chicken and French Fries 1982 Felt Pen on Paper 13 x 15 in.
Glenn Close 1986 Felt Pen on Paper 13.75 x 12.5 in. Clint Eastwood 1982 Marker on Paper 13 x 9.75 in.
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Eddie Murphy 1986 Watercolor Pencil and Pastel on Paper 14 x 12 in.
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Martha Graham, American Provincials 1985 Watercolor on Paper 10.5 x 7.5 in.
Martha Graham c1990 Watercolor on Paper 11.5 x 7.5 in.
Guiseppina Grassini c1990 Pastel on Paper 16 x 22 in. 61
Fukuoka Geisha 1991 Watercolor and Crayon on Paper 20 x 16 in.
Woman in Yoga Poses c1980 Watercolor and Pencil on Paper 24 x 18 in.
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Ballerina Stretches 1983 Charcoal, Acrylic and Watercolor on Paper 24 x 18 in.
There are times when art functions best at a level of the commonplace ...My art is there, for the people—the artist surrounded by the truth in which he grew and lives. The artist paints his own range of feelings about a situation—not a facsimile but the moving spirit of a scene, creating his own environment.
LeRoy Neiman at F.X. McRory’s in Seattle
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35” 24” 35” c1990 Marker on Paper 7.5 x 4.5 in.
Ariane Anastassopoulos, Club Méditerranée 1969 Felt Pen and Ink on Paper 15.75 x 12 in.
Bedscape 1981 Felt Pen and Pencil on Paper 19.25 x 24 in.
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Pink and Blue Nude 1975 Watercolor Pencil and Watercolor on Paper 30 x 22 in.
Gitta, Hyde Park, London 1970 Felt Pen on Paper 7 x 5 in.
Pink Champagne Sipper 2006 Pen on Paper 9 x 7.5 in.
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Exclusively Yours c1995 Felt Pen on Paper 11.5 x 15.75 in.
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OPPOSITE:
Bunny Discotheque Oil on Canvas 72 x 72 in.
Femme 1974 Charcoal on Paper 24.25 x 19 in.
Watching TV 1977 Pencil and Colored Pencil on Paper 8 x 4.25 in. Sun-Tanned Couple on Rio Beach c1990 Marker and Pen on Paper 6 x 3.5 in
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Bunnies Playing Pool 1968 Acrylic and Enamel on Board 36 x 24 in.
Copa Showgirl with Dimples 1984 Watercolor and Colored Pencil on Paper 13.25 x 10.5 in.
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Nude on Chair 1975 Felt Pen on Paper 14.5 x 12 in.
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Malibu Blonde 1984 Pastel on Paper 15 x 13 in.
Woman in Hat 1977 Pencil and Colored Pencil on Paper 12 x 7.5 in. 76
Seated Nude (“Confidential�) 1980 Ink and Acrylic on Paper 17.5 x 9.25 in.
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Showgirls c1970 Acrylic and Watercolor Pencil on Paper 18 x 16 in.
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Texas Chic c1980 Watercolor, Marker, Felt Pen and Acrylic on Paper 18.75 x 11.5 in.
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Woman and Her Dog at the Monte Carlo Sporting Club 1976 Marker and Felt Pen on Menu 11.75 x 8 in.
Dancer in ‘Hallelujah Hollywood,’ Ziegfeld Theater 1976 Felt Pen on Paper 14 x 11 in. Green Dancer II 1983 Watercolor and Pastel on Paper 11 x 7 in.
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Green Dancer I 1983 Pastel and Acrylic Wash on Paper 16.75 x 9.75 in.
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18 th Century Couple 1983 Watercolor, Pastel and Colored Pencil on Paper 11 x 13.75 in. Tropicana Girl 1983 Marker, Pastel and Colored Pencil on Paper 13.5 x 15.25 in. 82
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My style, technique, and attitude are inseparable. I am seldom at the mercy of quiet or the tranquility of silence. That is, I am able to function amid noise and human activity, under circumstances that would madden another artist.
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OPPOSITE:
The Chase 1966 Acrylic and Enamel on Board 10.5 x 6 in. RIGHT:
Passistas 1982 Acrylic and Enamel on Board 14 x 10 in.
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OPPOSITE:
Las Brisas de Havana 1999 Watercolor, Pastel and Charcoal on Paper 19 x 18 in. RIGHT: Showgirl on Swing at the Copa in Las Vegas 1982 Acrylic on Paper 24 x 18 in.
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Amani Toomer, Giants #31 c1995 Marker on Paper 12.5 x 11 in.
Joe Namath 1969 Crayon, Ink and Felt Pen on Paper 15 x 12.75 in.
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Smith-Aikman 1994 Felt Pen on Paper 10.25 x 13 in.
Lawrence Taylor c1990 Felt Pen and Watercolor on Paper 15.75 x 13.5 in.
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Hideki Matsui 2003 Pastel and Charcoal on Paper 19 x 13.75 in.
Dusty Baker, Manager of SF Giants, Playoff at Shea Stadium 2000 Felt Pen on Paper 13.75 x 10.25 in.
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Jim Abbott 1993 Ink and Felt Pen on Paper 15 x 12 in.
Johnny Bench and Tony Perez 1970 Ink and Felt Pen on Paper 18 x 15 in.
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Ichiro Suzuki of the Mariners c2000 Marker on Paper 8.75 x 7 in.
Alex Rodriguez c2000 Marker on Paper 6 x 12.75 in.
The Pitcher with the Ball 1999 Felt Pen on Paper 13.5 x 9.75 in. 92
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Hendricks c1990 Felt Pen and Watercolor on Paper 15.5 x 12 in.
San Francisco Seals 1989 Felt Pen and Acrylic on Paper 15 x 11 in.
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Will Clark 1989 Ink and Felt Pen on Paper 19.25 x 17 in.
Dave Winfield c1990 Felt Pen on Paper 12.75 x 9.5 in. Barry Bonds 2000 Felt Pen on Paper 14 x 10 in.
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Gary Carter at Bat 1985 Ink and Felt Pen on Paper 11.5 x 7.5 in.
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Indy 500 1994 Pen on Paper 10.75 x 14 in.
Richard Petty 1991 Acrylic, Graphite, Felt Pen and Colored Pencil on Paper 9.5 x 7.5 in.
Jack Pegues, Denver Grand Prix 1990 Felt Pen and Spray-Paint on Paper 13.5 x 15.25 in. 98
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Finish at Indy 1982 Acrylic and Enamel on Board 48 x 48 in.
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Basketball Fight 1976 Felt Pen and Watercolor on Paper 9 x 11.5 in.
LeBron James 2007 Felt Pen on Paper 14.75 x 10 in. Jordan, Madison Square Garden 1989 Ink and Felt Pen on Paper 12.5 x 9.5 in.
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Bill Walton c1980 Felt Pen, Pastel and Watercolor on Paper 16 x 9.5 in.
Arthur Ashe 1992 Ink on Paper 5.75 x 4 in. BELOW:
Andre Agassi at U.S. Open 1994 Marker and Pen on Paper 10.5 x 7.75 in.
Serena Williams 2002 Pastel on 2 Pieces of Paper 13.5 x 13 in.
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Bud Collins in the Chair 1994 Felt Pen on Paper 12.5 x 10.5 in. Chris Evert 1973 Felt Pen on Paper 15 x 12 in.
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Jackie Joyner at Jessie Owens Dinner 1988 Felt Pen on Paper 7 x 4.5 in.
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Glen Hall, Hockey Player 1966 Oil on Board 24 x 12 in.
Gary Morris Fly Fishing in the Delaware River 1996 Felt Pen, Watercolor and Pencil on Paper 13 x 14 in. 107
Tiger Woods, Winged Foot Driving Range 1997 Felt Pen and Watercolor on Paper 13.25 x 15 in. Greg Norman and Craig Stadler at the U.S. Open Baltusrol 1992 Felt Pen on Printed Matter 10 x 14.25 in.
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Tammie Green and Marie Laure de Lorenzi c1990 Conte, Pastel and Acrylic on Paper 22 x 18 in.
Vijay Singh 2005 Pastel and Charcoal on Paper 25 x 19 in.
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Himalayan Ascent 1983 Oil on Canvas 20 x 42 in.
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Boxer (front) c1985 Pencil on Paper 8 x 3.25 in. (image at far right is on the back)
Blue Boxing (front) c1990 Pastel and Marker on Paper 11 x 15 in. (image below is on the back)
Boxer’s Corner c1990 White Pencil on Paper 10.75 x 8.5 in.
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Much of my life has been spent involved with and observing people at play. It is a pleasant world to inhabit. The people in sport—and by that I mean those involved in leisure, as well as games—reflect the times and society, and they perform in the open, where we can judge their errors and weaknesses. They are people who have no secrets.
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Fringe Tomar 2000 2000 Acrylic, Watercolor and Pencil on Paper 17.25 x 14.75 in.
Poker Scenes 2007 Pastel, Acrylic, Marker, Pen and Colored Pencil on Paper 19.5 x 25.5 in. 116
Desert Inn Baccarat 1979 Acrylic, Pastel, Marker, Felt Pen and Colored Pencil on Paper 18 x 24 in. 117
Place Concorde 1975 Felt Pen on Paper 13.5 x 15 in.
St. George's Hanover Square Gardens, London 1982 Marker, Watercolor and Collaged Leaves on Paper 13 x 15 in.
Dancing on the Water at Bethesda Fountain 1999 Pen on Paper 6 x 5 in. Woman on Swing, Pushed by Harlequin 1976 Watercolor and Acrylic on Paper 18 x 24 in.
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Venetian Masks c1990 Acrylic, Charcoal and Watercolor on Craftboard 21.5 x 29.5 in.
African Glory Lily c1990 Watercolor on Paper 15.5 x 15 in.
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Harlequin and Woman in Westhampton 1997 Pen on Paper 10.5 x 14.25 in.
Venetian Clown with Monkey at St Mark's Square Clock Tower c1990 Pen and Felt Pen on Paper 20.5 x 26 in.
Las Vegas c1990 Pen on Paper 10 x 13.5 in.
Palazzo Erizzo in Monaco c1990 Pen on Paper 14.5 x 9.5 in.
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St. Tropez View c1990 Marker and Felt Pen on Paper 10 x 13 in.
Fontainebleau, Miami Beach 1964 Pastel and Colored Pencil on Paper 18 x 14.5 in.
The Casino at Tijuana 1988 Marker and Watercolor on Several Glued Pieces of Paper 19 x 23 in.
View from the Gropius Building, London 1966 Ink, Felt Pen and Watercolor on Paper 9.75 x 15 in.
View from Room 456 at the Paris Ritz c1985 Pencil on Paper 11.75 x 17 in. 125
I have always favored scenes of lavish and glamorous occasions; the Fox Hunt 1969 Acrylic and Enamel on Board 42 x 60 in.
turbulent life with every moment filled to the brim. If one hits the target, the work will be exuberant and have its own lively, highly-charged personality. Having adjusted to these excesses, I work at a matching pace.
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Three Dogs c1980 Pen on United Air Stationary 7 x 5.5 in.
Fox Hunt in Sussex, England 1975 Marker on Paper 13 x 16.5 in.
Penny 1982 Pen on Paper 14.5 x 13 in.
Elephant c1990 Marker on Paper 15 x 13 in. Macbeth the Macaw 1981 Pastel on Paper 20 x 13 in.
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Harlequin Couple 1985 Watercolor and Colored Pencil on Paper 10.5 x 13.5 in.
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Harlequin Dancing at Mardi Gras, New Orleans 1999 Marker, Pen, Pencil and Colored Pencil on Paper 11 x 8.5 in.
OPPOSITE:
Harlequin on Carousel 1983 Watercolor, Pen and Ink on Paper 13 x 14.25 in.
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Carousel 1958 Oil on Canvas 14.25 x 16 in.
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I have painted and sketched in casinos, hotels, bars, massage parlors, steam baths, in the salons of elegant restaurants—and sometimes their galleys—on battlefields and football fields, in law courts and tennis courts, in pool rooms and swimming pools, from the decks of luxury liners and yachts and the doorways of skid-row missions.
LeRoy Neiman with Hugh Hefner
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Suit of Lights 1960 Oil on Board 48 x 36 in.
Toreador and Bull 1988 Acrylic and Enamel on Board 6 x 10.75 in.
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Index 10,000 Champagne Corks 18 th Century Couple 2 Horses, 1 Man 35” 24” 35” African Glory Lily Alex Rodriguez Alysheba Amani Toomer, Giants #31 Andre Agassi at U.S. Open Ariane Anastassopoulos, Club Méditerranée Arthur Ashe At the Bar B. B. King on New Year's Eve Backside Churchill Downs Ball Bridge, Dublin Ballerina Stretches Bar at Campton Place in San Francisco Bar at Regine’s in New York Barry Bonds Barry Weissler at the Café Luxembourg Bar Basketball Fight Beach Boys, Taj Mahal Bedscape Belmont Stakes Benny Powell at Blue Note Big A Bill Walton Black Tie Sax Blue Boxing Blue Horse Rolls-Royce Bride 1984 Ink and Felt Pen on Paper 13.25 x 15.5 in. 140
53 82 20 66 120 93 14 88 105 66 105 48 32 16 12 62 44 54 96 44 102 41 67 27-28 32 13 103 33 112 20
Bob Brookmeyer at Blue Note Boxer Boxer’s Corner Bud Collins in the Chair Bunnies Playing Pool Bunny Discotheque Carousel The Casino at Tijuana Central Park Foliage at the Boathouse Chardonnay’s at Marriott on Long Island The Chase Chris Evert The Chukker Cigars and Brandy after Dinner at Les Ambassadeurs Club, London Clint Eastwood Commodore Hotel Restaurant Copa Showgirl with Dimples Cowboys Dancer in ‘Hallelujah Hollywood,’ Ziegfeld Theater Dancing on the Water at Bethesda Fountain Dave Winfield Desert Inn Baccarat Down the Stretch Dusty Baker, Manager of SF Giants, Playoff at Shea Stadium Eddie Murphy Elephant Exclusively Yours Femme Finish at Indy Flowers at Rhapsody in the Tropicana, Las Vegas
31 113 112 104 75 71 134-135 125 48 52 84 105 10 55 59 46 74 24 80 119 96 117 15 90 59 131 70 73 101 54 141
Fontainebleau, Miami Beach Fox Hunt Fox Hunt in Sussex, England French Harvest Fringe Tomar 2000 Fukuoka Geisha Funny Cide I Funny Cide II Gary Carter at Bat Gary Morris Fly Fishing in the Delaware River George Burns: Chicken and French Fries Gitta, Hyde Park, London Glenn Close Glen Hall, Hockey Player The Golden Apple Green Colt (Cheval Vert) Green Dancer I Green Dancer II Greg Norman and Craig Stadler at the U.S. Open Baltusrol Guiseppina Grassini Harlequin and Woman in Westhampton Harlequin at Cesare Club in Verona Harlequin at L’Antica Perosa Ristorante in Bergamo Harlequin Couple Harlequin Dancing at Mardi Gras, New Orleans Harlequin on Carousel Hawthorne Cicero The Heiress Hendricks Hideki Matsui 142
123 127-128 129 9 115 63 14 16 97 107 58 69 58 106 47 24 81 81 108 60 121 49 57 132 132 133 17 4 95 90
Himalayan Ascent Horse and Jockey Horse Kisses Jockey Horse, Jockey and Trainer Hotel Nacional de Cuba Ichiro Suzuki of the Mariners Indy 500 Isaac Hayes in Yellow Hat Jack Pegues, Denver Grand Prix Jackie Joyner at Jessie Owens Dinner Jim Abbott Joe Namath Johnny Bench and Tony Perez Jordan, Madison Square Garden L’Auberge de l’Ill L’Escale St. Tropez Las Brisas de Havana Las Vegas Lawrence Taylor LeBron James Little Rider Macbeth the Macaw Malibu Blonde Marcus at Yoshi’s in Oakland, CA Martha Graham Martha Graham, American Provincials New Orleans Rooster Nude on Chair Nude with Mask Paddock at Royal Ascot
110-111 22 25 25 47 92 99 40 98 106 91 88 91 103 50 45 86 122 89 102 17 131 76 41 61 61 55 74 7 23
Palazzo Erizzo in Monaco Passistas Penny Pink and Blue Nude Pink Champagne Sipper The Pitcher with the Ball Place Concorde Poker Scenes Polo Players Portrait of Cordero Jockey Portrait of Sammy and Piano Prince on the Today Show The Remington, Houston Restaurant Violinist Richard Petty Rolls-Royce Bride San Francisco Seals Saratoga Back Track Seated Nude (“Confidential”) Secretariat with Blanket Serena Williams Show Jumpers Showgirl on Swing at the Copa in Las Vegas Showgirls Sinatra I Sinatra II Sinatra, ‘It was a very good year’ Smith-Aikman
122 85 130 68 69 92 118 116 11 29 39 42 52 46 99 140 95 12 77 21 104 13 87 78 34 35 35 89
Sommelier Serge Dubs St. George's Hanover Square Gardens, London St. Tropez View Suit of Lights Sun-Tanned Couple on Rio Beach Tammie Green and Marie Laure de Lorenzi Texas Chic Three Dogs Tiger Woods, Winged Foot Driving Range Tina Turner Tony Bennett Fronting Basie Band Toreador and Bull Tropicana Girl Venetian Clown with Monkey at St Mark's Square Clock Tower Venetian Masks View from Room 456 at the Paris Ritz View from the Gropius Building, London Vijay Singh Watching TV Will Clark Willie Nelson Wine by the Glass, San Francisco Woman and Her Dog at the Monte Carlo Sporting Club Woman in Hat Woman in Yoga Poses Woman on Swing, Pushed by Harlequin Wynton at the White House Wynton Marsalis
56 118 122 139 72 109 79 130 108 43 36-37 138 83 121 120 124 125 109 72 97 43 56 80 77 62 119 30 30
SPRING 2014 Project manager: Emilee Enders / Catalog design: D. Lee Myers / Artist photos: Lynn Quayle / Art photography: Scott Saraceno 143
THESE
2 PAGES: Finish at Indy (detail) 1982 - see page 101 / BACK COVER: Showgirl on Swing at the Copa in Las Vegas (detail) 1982 - see page 87
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