LeRoy Neiman (LeRoy Joseph Runquist), (born June 8, 1921, St. Paul, Minn.—died June 20, 2012, New York, N.Y.) American artist who achieved tremendous popularity and commercial success through his vividly coloured impressionistic paintings that documented public life. Neiman, who was best known as a sports artist, worked with pen and ink, felt-tip markers, watercolours, and enamel house paint, which he applied in rapid strokes. His flamboyant image, characterized by white suits, a huge handlebar mustache, and an ever-present cigar, was as recognizable as his painting style.
After serving in World War II as a cook and a painter of stage sets, Neiman studied (1946–50) on the GI Bill at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and taught fashion illustration and figure drawing there during the following decade. He also sketched for magazine fashion ads, but his big break came in 1954 when Hugh Hefner recruited him for Playboy magazine. This began Neiman’s 50-year career as a pinup illustrator.
Neiman frequently sketched or painted while positioned on the sidelines of sporting events, including Super Bowls and boxing matches. He covered the Olympics five times, beginning with the 1960 Olympic Winter Games (Squaw Valley, Calif.), and was named an official artist for the Winter Games in Lake Placid, N.Y. (1980), and in Sarajevo, Yugos. (now in Bosnia and Herzegovina; 1984), and for the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Incredibly prolific, Neiman also rendered portraits of celebrities (including boxer Muhammad Ali, quarterback Joe Namath, maestro Leonard Bernstein, and poet Marianne Moore) and historical events, including the 1980 Democratic National Convention, for which he was the official artist. His memoir, All Told: My Art and Life Among Athletes, Playboys, Bunnies, and Provocateurs, was published in the weeks before his death.(Encyclopædia Britannica)
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