I came from a world of five-cent cigars and whiskey drinking. You were supposed to clean your plate and finish the whole cigar. - LeRoy Neiman
LeRoy Neiman (1921-2012) was one of the best known, and most recognized, artists of the twentieth century. He worked as an illustrator for Playboy magazine for more than fifty years.
His Man at Leisure column gave him entree to social and sporting events around the world. Neiman could be seen on TV at events like the Olympics, dressed in white suits and sporting a giant Salvador Dali-like mustache, holding a paintbrush in one hand and a cigar in the other.
Neiman’s popularity increased when he was televised as he painted the action during the summer and winter Olympic games from 1972 in Munich to the 1984 games in Los Angeles. He also made regular appearances on ABC’s Wide World of Sports and was given cameo roles in three Rocky movies after he painted Sylvester Stallone.
The artist was honored this year by the Tampa, Florida-based J.C. Newman Cigar Company, with a limited-edition cigar called the Leroy Neiman 2023 Collectors Edition. The cigar was unveiled at the Premium Cigar Association Annual Convention in Las Vegas in July.
A limited edition of 500 boxes, with 20 cigars in each box, was produced. On the inside lid of each box is a lithograph of Neiman’s 1978 painting Irish-American Bar, a popular place that he frequented in New York. The same painting is print-wrapped on each cigar. The inside bottom of each box is lined with a print of Neiman’s paint-spattered New York studio floor. The cost of each cigar is $20 or $400 a box.
The project is a collaboration between the cigar company and the Neiman Foundation, with all profits going to support arts education in public schools, especially in the area of the J.C. Newman El Reloj factory in Ybor City, Florida.
Leroy Neiman and his wife, Janet Byrne Neiman, were very generous and supportive of arts education. Thanks to their magnanimous endowment, the LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies was founded at Columbia University in 1996. The Center provides education and materials and technology to students as well as established artists.
On September 7, the LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies is setting up a screen printmaking studio at the rotunda at the Guggenheim Museum. Visitors will be able to produce their own artworks and will have after-hours access to the current exhibits.
References:
Garrett Rutledge. J.C. Newman Honors Cigar-Loving Artist LeRoy Neiman. Cigar Aficionado. July 5, 2023.
Vittoria Benzine. J.C. Newman Cigar Co. Celebrates Famed Artist Leroy Neiman. Maxim. July 1, 2023.
William Grimes. LeRoy Neiman Dies at 91; Artist of Bold Life and Bright Canvases. The New York Times. June 20, 2012.
