LeRoy Neiman Quotes

Quotes about:

• It's not the act of arrogance to draw, it's humbling - you must use your God-given talent. And of all the people I sketch, in most cases I feel I have to measure up to the subject.

  LeRoy Neiman

  People, Arrogance, Use

  45 Copy quote

• Imagination comes of not having things.

  LeRoy Neiman

  Imagination

  5 Copy quote

• It's a nice feeling to go out in the world and look for excellence - the best in man. My subject is very valid. It's about people, and about life.

  LeRoy Neiman

  Nice, Men, People

  4 Copy quote

• I don't know if I'm an impressionist or an expressionist. You can call me an American first... I've been labeled doing neimanism, so that's what it is, I guess.

  LeRoy Neiman

  Style, Firsts, Call Me

  "LeRoy Neiman dies aged 91", www.theguardian.com. June 20, 2012.

  7 Copy quote

• The businessman says 'If I don't do it first, somebody else will.' The artist says 'If I don't do it first, nobody else will.'

  LeRoy Neiman

  Artist, Firsts, Businessman

  "Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

  4 Copy quote

• I love the passion you go through while you're creating.

  LeRoy Neiman

  Passion, Creating

  4 Copy quote

• Ive zeroed in on what you would call action and excellence... Everybody who does anything to try to succeed has to give the best of themselves, and art has made me pull the best out of myself.

  LeRoy Neiman

  Art, Giving, Excellence

  15 Copy quote

• The big shock of my life was Abstract Expressionism - Pollock, de Kooning, those guys. It changed my work. I was an academically trained student, and suddenly you could pour paint, smear it on, broom it on!

  LeRoy Neiman

  Guy, Students, Paint

  52 Copy quote

• 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.

  LeRoy Neiman

  Athlete, Past, Years

  4 Copy quote

• You can't take yourself too seriously.

  LeRoy Neiman

  Humour

  7 Copy quote

• There's no greatest moment in the arts. It's a life; it's a continuity thing. You can't have a great moment because it's spiritual. It's a belief; it's a calling. If you're an artist, doing your own thing on your own, it's while you're doing it that counts. It's a process. If you get too elated, you can get too depressed.

  LeRoy Neiman

  Spiritual, Art, Calling

  7 Copy quote

• When I paint, I seriously consider the public presence of a person - the surface facade. I am less concerned with how people look when they wake up or how they act at home. A person's public presence reflects his own efforts at image development.

  LeRoy Neiman

  Home, People, Effort

  LeRoy Neiman (1974). “Art & lifestyle”

  7 Copy quote

• Eating is one of the great beauties in life. One of my favorite recreations... eating with friends, the service, the ambience.

  LeRoy Neiman

  Eating, My Favorite, Beauty Of Life

  64 Copy quote

• You know what I like about San Francisco? The women are beautiful, fashionable and smart. San Francisco is one of the only cities I like to visit. I love New York and Chicago - I studied there, and L.A. has the same people as New York.

  LeRoy Neiman

  Beautiful, New York, Smart

  4 Copy quote

• But 'Playboy' was liberating. I was drawn to it and went for it full throttle.

  LeRoy Neiman

  Playboy, Throttle, Liberating

  Leroy Neiman (2013). “All Told: My Art and Life Among Athletes, Playboys, Bunnies, and Provocateurs”, p.121, Rowman & Littlefield

  11 Copy quote

• 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.

  LeRoy Neiman

  Thinking, Drawing, Able

  7 Copy quote

• The people who love my paintings, that respond to them the most, they're spectators, they're not viewers.

  LeRoy Neiman

  People, Painting, Spectators

  4 Copy quote

• I had a go at changing history - maybe not all by myself - I fought at the battle of Normandy, I slogged through the Ardennes, and I celebrated the liberation of Paris on the streets with beautiful French girls throwing flowers at me. I said good-bye to my first true love and discovered what I really wanted to do with my life.

  LeRoy Neiman

  Beautiful, Girl, Goodbye

  Leroy Neiman (2013). “All Told: My Art and Life Among Athletes, Playboys, Bunnies, and Provocateurs”, p.28, Rowman & Littlefield

  4 Copy quote

• 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.

  LeRoy Neiman

  Dream, Art, Sleep

  4 Copy quote

• I hold doors open for all the women. Men can open the doors for themselves.

  LeRoy Neiman

  Men, Doors

  4 Copy quote

• Throughout my life, cigars have played different roles for me. They fit easily and well in the various stages and experiences Ive had -- like a companion, almost. If youve smoked a long time, as I have, they become part of you.

  LeRoy Neiman

  Long, Different, Roles

  4 Copy quote

• I always stayed in tune with my own ambitions and attitudes and I'm still my intractable old self, for better or worse.

  LeRoy Neiman

  Attitude, Ambition, Self

  Leroy Neiman (2013). “All Told: My Art and Life Among Athletes, Playboys, Bunnies, and Provocateurs”, p.121, Rowman & Littlefield

  4 Copy quote

• I've got the public. I don't care about the critics. I did at one time. I don't any more. I did when I needed compliments. But if you get a lot of compliments, you don't need a critic to tell you, 'This should be done another way.'

  LeRoy Neiman

  Compliments You, Needs, Done

  4 Copy quote

• Boxing is my real passion. I can go to ballet, theatre, movies, or other sporting events... and nothing is like the fights to me. I'm excited by the visual beauty of it. A boxer can look so spectacular by doing a good job.

  LeRoy Neiman

  Jobs, Real, Passion

  4 Copy quote

• It has been difficult to hold onto many paintings but I have retained a few.

  LeRoy Neiman

  Painting, Selling, Difficult

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