Leroy Neiman, (American b. 1922), is another popular artist, like Salvador Dali and M.C. Escher, who is generally not taught in any Art History course. Unlike Dali & Escher, Neiman is still alive and active, and lives in New York City.
The Playboy Connection
Neiman went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois. Neiman’s early career was as an illustrator for a department store in Chicago where he worked next to a young copywriter named Hugh Hefner. When Hefner began Playboy magazine in 1953 he didn’t forget his talented friend, and Neiman’s artwork continues to be featured in Playboy today.
Is He an Artist?
While technically an illustrator, Neiman’s prints, paintings, and serigraphs are bought, sold, and collected to the tune of over $10 million (US) dollars per year. Neiman is not just an illustrator, he is a one-man corporation. Does Neiman’s financial success mean that he is a successful artist?
Street Cred
To establish Neiman’s street credibility, it is necessary to look at his entire body of work, something that can be very time-consuming because he is so prolific. It is also a pleasure to review the work of Neiman. There is a veritable chronicle of America that spans fifty years and includes portraits of celebrities such as Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra, John Lennon, The Beatles, and Marilyn Monroe. There are portraits of world leaders, Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon, Robert F. Kennedy, and Nelson Mandela.
Sports and Drawing
Then there are the sports paintings. Neiman has lovingly chronicled baseball, basketball, boxing, horse racing, as well as surfing, soccer and the rodeo.
Neiman’s forte is not solid drawing. Some might say that Neiman’s splashy color and loose drawing are his weakest points. He can be heavy on style and light on substance. Though make no mistake, he has the ability of incredible draftsmanship such as in this portrait of James Beard the chef. This line in this drawing has all the funky looseness of a Toulouse-Lautrec.
Color And Movement
Neiman is perhaps best known artistically for two elements of design: movement and color. Perhaps that is why Neiman’s sports paintings truly are some of his best. In this serigraph from 1977, Basketball Superstars, shows a fun arrangement of basketball ballet dancers that seem to fly into the tangerine and yellow sky. The figures are graceful, the color is dynamic and adds to the excitement of the moment. Neiman clearly understands that sports, athletes, and feats of physical prowess express the pride and dignity of the human body and experience.
While Leroy Neiman may not be everyone's cup of artistic tea, the range and quality of his work give him full Artist status. As an ironic aside, it is interesting to note that this Playboy illustrator and artist recently celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary with his wife, Janet.
Check out Leroy Neiman's his official site here.
