LeRoy Neiman Quotes

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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

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Imagination comes of not having things.

LeRoy Neiman

Imagination

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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You can't take yourself too seriously.

LeRoy Neiman

Humour

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

LeRoy Neiman

Passion, Creating

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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.

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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

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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”

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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

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

LeRoy Neiman

People, Painting, Spectators

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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

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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.

LeRoy Neiman

Careers, Wife, Lovely

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

LeRoy Neiman

Men, Doors

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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.

LeRoy Neiman

Responsibility, Worry, Important

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Some people try to paint in my style. Some simply sell pirated copies of my work. Some claim to be my publisher or agent or even my exclusive representative, when they are not.

LeRoy Neiman

People, Style, Trying

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As I turn 91... I have to admit my hours at the easel have diminished.

LeRoy Neiman

Hours, Turns

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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

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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

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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

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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.

LeRoy Neiman

Successful, Artist, Roosters

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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.

LeRoy Neiman

Stars, Feet, Saws

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LeRoy Neiman

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Born: June 8, 1921
Died: June 20, 2012
Occupation: Artist
Cite this Page: Citation

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