LeRoy Neiman at 100: A Selection of Drawings and Prints

Exhibition Dates: September 8 - October 24, 2021

In honor of the centenary year of American artist LeRoy Neiman, this exhibition brings together works on paper from the LeRoy Neiman and Janet Byrne Foundation and the LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies which showcase the artist's range of imagery as well as his extraordinary draftsmanship. Neiman is best known for capturing the country's favorite pastime activities in dynamic images of sporting events, concerts, and café scenes. He was incredibly prolific and worked in a variety of media including painting and printmaking, but he was most devoted to drawing. A sketchbook always in hand, Neiman made hundreds of drawings of cultural icons including Frank Sinatra and Muhammad Ali, both of whom he counted among his friends.

Throughout his career, he was a regular on the sidelines of every major boxing match and baseball, football or basketball game, faithfully sketching the dramatic movements of the athletes. While Neiman became synonymous with sporting imagery, he also made drawings chronicling the social and political zeitgeist of his time. A group of these lesser-known yet striking images are on view in addition to drawings of legendary sports figures Arthur Ashe, Wilt Chamberlain, and Serena and Venus Williams as well as conductor Leonard Bernstein, and acclaimed novelist James Baldwin, among others.

LeRoy Neiman at 100: A Selection of Drawings and Prints is open to members of the Columbia University community Monday - Friday from 9 am - 5 pm. Please feel free to email us or call 212-854-7641.