Leroy Neiman Olympic Art

You are likely to find exactly the piece of leroy neiman olympic art you’re looking for on 1stDibs, as there is a broad range for sale. You can easily find an example made in the Expressionist style, while we also have 2 Expressionist versions to choose from as well. If you’re looking for an item from our selection of leroy neiman olympic art from a specific time period, our collection is diverse and broad-ranging, and you’ll find at least one that dates back to the 20th Century while another version may have been produced as recently as the 21st Century. When looking for the right choice in our collection of leroy neiman olympic art for your space, you can search on 1stDibs by color — popular works were created in bold and neutral palettes with elements of gray, beige and brown. Finding an appealing object in our assortment of leroy neiman olympic art — no matter the origin — is easy, but Leroy Neiman each produced popular versions that are worth a look. Artworks like these — often created in screen print, digital print and felt pen — can elevate any room of your home.

The price for a piece of leroy neiman olympic art in our collection starts at $75 and tops out at $6,999 with the average selling for $2,808.

LeRoy Neiman, born LeRoy Runquist, is best known for his vibrantly colored paintings and screen prints, which draw on Impressionism and Pop Art and frequently feature portraits of athletes and musicians as well as depictions of sporting events. He is renowned for creating art during live coverage of the Olympics and other major American and international sports competitions. He once commented, “I use (bold) color to emphasize the scent, the spirit, and the feeling of the thing I’ve experienced.” 

Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Neiman showed an early aptitude for drawing. After returning home from WWII, he studied at the Saint Paul School of Art and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), where his classmates included Robert Indiana and Leon Golub. Upon graduation in 1950, he began teaching at SAIC.

In 1953, his oil painting Idle Boats won first prize at the Twin City Show, where the Minneapolis Art Institute purchased it. Neiman’s reputation quickly grew, and museums such as the Carnegie Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington purchased his works.

In 1954, Neiman’s famous association with Playboy magazine began to take shape. Hugh Hefner commissioned Neiman to create an illustration for this fledgling magazine, and his piece won the 1954 Chicago Art Directors Award. This led to a relationship with Playboy that lasted five decades and included Neiman writing and illustrating the “Man at His Leisure” section and the creation of the well-known “Femlin” — a female nymph wearing only opera gloves, stockings and high heels — which appeared on the “Party Jokes” page in every issue since 1955.

In 1970, the 5th Dimension commissioned Neiman to create a cover illustration for the pop group’s album Portrait. In 1994, he created the illustration used for the playbill and the immense Broadway mural for the musical Busker Alley. He was inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the highest honor of the state of Illinois, the Order of Lincoln, in 2009. 

Today, you can find Neiman’s works in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Indianapolis Museum of Art (Newfields), among others. 

On 1stDibs, find LeRoy Neiman prints, drawings, paintings and more.