LeRoy Neiman
LeRoy Neiman
LeRoy Neimanwas an American artist known for his brilliantly colored, expressionist paintings and screen prints of athletes, musicians, and sporting events...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPainter
Date of Birth8 June 1921
CitySaint Paul, MN
CountryUnited States of America
attitude ambition self
I always stayed in tune with my own ambitions and attitudes and I'm still my intractable old self, for better or worse.
men doors
I hold doors open for all the women. Men can open the doors for themselves.
athlete past years
I've met and sketched most of the great athletes from the past five decades and their movement, grace and energy have kept me captivated over the years. That's what the ancient Greeks first saw and that's what caught my interest.
eating my-favorite beauty-of-life
Eating is one of the great beauties in life. One of my favorite recreations... eating with friends, the service, the ambience.
dream art sleep
No, I never had any dreams. The process of art is a dream in itself. The artist just doesn't... you work out something. It's yours. You don't have to go to sleep to do that. You do that on the canvas.
imagination
Imagination comes of not having things.
passion creating
I love the passion you go through while you're creating.
people painting spectators
The people who love my paintings, that respond to them the most, they're spectators, they're not viewers.
thinking drawing able
I draw all the time. Drawing is my backbone. I don't think a painter has to be able to draw, I just think that if you draw, you better draw well.
responsibility worry important
The most important thing is to just do it. If I work at a higher level I have responsibility to do better than what I've done before. Sometimes the best happens - beyond possibility. Just do it. Can't worry about it.
hours turns
As I turn 91... I have to admit my hours at the easel have diminished.
careers wife lovely
My lovely wife Janet has been in a few paintings. She is basically a reserved woman who has never sought the limelight. She has always been there throughout my career and continues to be at my side.
stars feet band
It has been difficult to hold onto many paintings but I have retained a few. Possibly the current favorite is titled 'Big Band' completed in 2005. It measures 13 feet x 9 feet. It has 18 nearly life size recognizable portraits of the biggest jazz stars that I knew and saw perform in the 1950s, '60s, '70s, '80s and includes Wynton Marsalis.
successful artist roosters
I played an artist in a comedy called 'Rooster.' It was a zany film by Glen Larson, a friend who produced several successful television series including 'Magnum PI.