LEROY NEIMAN (1921-2012)

LeRoy Neiman (1921-2012) is an American artist known for his paintings and screen prints of athletes, musicians, celebrities and sporting events, in his distictive style, which is a combination of Abstract Expressionism, Impressionism, Action Painting and Fauvist use of color.

Neiman is one of the greatest American artists, according to his New York Times Obituary, alongside Norman Rockwell and Andrew Wyeth.

Andy Warhol called Neiman " the most important Pop artist of his time” and exhibited with him in LeRoy Neiman, Andy Warhol : an exhibition of sports paintingsat the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art in 1981.
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Neiman created illustrations for Playboy, Sports Illustrated, Harper's Bazaar and dozens of other well-known magazines.

In his later years, he established the LeRoy Neiman Foundation and donated nearly $20 million – a perhaps unprecedented amount for a living artist – to art institutions as well as to programs that helped disadvantaged young artists around the United States.

Neiman's art appealed to people far beyond the walls of museums and avant-garde galleries: it captured the attention and affection of people who were impassioned players in the American dream of toil, sweat, and success.

Since Neiman's passing in 2012, his appeal continues to grow:

The Smithsonian’s Museum of American History has just renamed their cafe the LeRoy Neiman Jazz Cafe, including his monumental Big Band jazz original in their permanent collection.

Neiman was included in the prestigious exhibit for American artists associated with Columbia University at the Inside Out Museum in Beijing, increasing his international recognition.

Neiman had a one-man retrospective called Sports traveled around America's major universities that initiated at Louisiana State University.

Neiman is in the permanent collections of 144 museums worldwide, including the Hermitage Museum, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museum of Modern Art, New York and San Francisco, Philadelphia Museum of Art and Whitney Museum of American Art and was exhibited at the Hammer Galleries, New York and the Franklin Bowles Gallery, New York and San Francisco.