His way with paint is unmistakably of this decade," says The New Republic of fashionable fine artist LeRoy Neiman, who has chosen as his forte the kaleidoscopic dazzle of the city scene. Bars, gambling casinos and race courses are his raw material, and considerable fame and acclaim are accruing to him as a perceptive portrayer of the sophisticated life. "This artist picked a smart specialty," wrote Meyer Levin (art savant and author of Compulsion), "and he's really good."
Neiman came to pick his smart specialty as a result of some story illustrations and other drawings commissioned by this magazine: we sent him to the gaming tables to illustrate The Deal and The Crack of Doom; and to smart bistros like the Pump Room to do the art work for such fashion pieces as Formal Wear. These and similar excursions into urban elegance excited Neiman, stimulated him to go on from there and paint the big, eye-smiting pictures for which he is rapidly becoming famous -- pictures bristling with bottles and babes, croupiers and cash registers. "All of this is painted in what looks at first like a very slapdash manner," says nationally known art critic Frank Getlein. "It's anything but that. At 10 feet, everything falls into flawless perspective."
LeRoy's mushrooming reputation as a serious painter and his chores as an instructor at Chicago's Art Institute have not prevented him from continuing to brighten these pages with his work: recently, he illustrated Jack Kerouac's The Rumbling, Rambling Blues, Hoke Norris' City Fables, John Wallace's Party Girl and last month's fashion feature on vests. For another example of his unique talent, turn to the Party Jokes page in this issue and in most any other issue -- our "femlins," those miniature misses who cavort between the gags, also spring from the busy brush of LeRoy Neiman.
Neiman's glittering Pump Room Bar grew out of a fashion illustration for Playboy which he sketched on the spot at the posh Chicago oasis.
The artist in his studio, which is in the very heart of the metropolitan night club belt.
Roulette, above, is reminiscent of Neiman's illustration for The Deal, a story of vicissitudes in Vegas. Mixologist, below, is one of his many bar paintings. Another such, Casino, now touring Europe, copped both the popular and professional jury prizes in the 1957 Chicago Artists' Show. Neiman paintings won top awards in the Twin Cities Exhibition (1953) and Minnesota State Show (1954). Relatively unknown when he started working for Playboy, he is now selling furiously to well-fixed art patrons.
Roulette, above, is reminiscent of Neiman's illustration for The Deal, a story of vicissitudes in Vegas. Mixologist, below, is one of his many bar paintings. Another such, Casino, now touring Europe, copped both the popular and professional jury prizes in the 1957 Chicago Artists' Show. Neiman paintings won top awards in the Twin Cities Exhibition (1953) and Minnesota State Show (1954). Relatively unknown when he started working for Playboy, he is now selling furiously to well-fixed art patrons.
Horses and horse racing are among LeRoy Neiman's favorite subjects. Here, he has caught the glamor of the Paddock Parade.
