New York
fascinates modern impressionist LeRoy Neiman. That’s clear in the artist’s work. He has done portraits of New York Yankees greats Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and Roger Clemens. He’s painted the New York City Marathon and New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath handing off the football during Super Bowl III. Neiman has also captured some of the city’s famous locations — the
Brooklyn Bridge
, the Statue of Liberty, the New York Stock Exchange. Though he loves the Big Apple, his hometown does not serve as his only inspiration.
From Nov. 1 through September 2008, Cobalt Artworks (
614 W. Main St.
) is displaying numerous Neiman serigraphs (aka silkscreens), some of which will be on sale for upwards of $15,000.
It’s a “revolving retrospective,” the first of which is titled “LeRoy’s
Louisville
,” and the exhibit shows how diverse his work has been over his career. Neiman, 86, has painted scenes in
Rome
and
San Francisco
and
London
. Frank Sinatra was often his subject. In addition to
New York
athletes, Neiman’s sports paintings — which are his most famous — also depict the Olympics, Michael Jordan and Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway. Perhaps most interesting to Louisvillians, he has painted the Kentucky Derby, the Breeders’ Cup and Muhammad Ali multiple times.
“
Louisville
is one of no more than a half dozen cities that strikes a chord with me and has a certain romantic flavor that I find irresistible,” Neiman said in an e-mail to Ben Isaacs, Cobalt Artworks’ managing director. “Every couple of years I find myself in
Louisville
to fulfill some commission or other, to paint some athletic occasion.”
Isaacs and Neiman have been business associates and friends since the late ’90s, when Isaacs got the artist to do a
Derby
painting. It’s their relationship that gives Cobalt Artworks access to about 120 Neiman serigraphs. That same relationship also helped get Neiman on board to do the official painting for the 37th Ryder Cup, which will be held next Sept. 16-21 at Valhalla Golf Club.
Over the course of the exhibit, in celebration of the Ryder Cup, one of the gallery’s rooms will feature Neiman’s golf serigraphs of Tiger Woods, the clubhouse at St. Andrews,
Pebble Beach
’s 18th hole and plenty of others. Included are drawings Neiman sketched on golf pairing sheets. In addition to his Valhalla painting, Neiman also finished two other Ryder Cup originals: one of European team captain Nick Faldo and one of
United States
team captain Paul Azinger. The paintings will be auctioned in September, when Neiman visits
Louisville
, and the money will go to various charities. But that’s not the only thing Isaacs wants the exhibit to accomplish.
“There are generations who didn’t see LeRoy during the ’70s on television sketching at the Olympics or the Super Bowl. Part of my mission is to expose him to younger generations,” Isaacs says. “LeRoy invented sports art. People need to know what an American icon he is.”
Cobalt Artworks’ new
Main Street
location has been open since Labor Day, with hours from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Admission is free, though you will have to shell out some dough to get your mitts on a signed Neiman serigraph. Postcards and posters run $3.50 to $250. Call 584-0020 for more information or visit www.cobaltartworks.com.
