Artist: LeRoy Neiman
Title: Woman Weight Lifter / Vasily Ivanovich Alekseyev (from The Munich Suite, 1972 Olympics)
Year created: 1972
Medium: Hand-Signed Limited Edition Serigraph on Paper
Signed by the artist
Edition: AP (Artist's Proof)
Height (inches): 20
Width (inches): 23.5
This piece is framed.
Includes a certificate of authenticity.
Description of piece: This highly collectible early Neiman work celebrates and commemorates World Record Olympic Gold Medalist Vasily Ivanovich Alekseyev in the Men's Super Heavyweight Weightlifting competition at the 1972 U.S. Summer Olympics, held in Munich, Germany. While humorously titled "Woman Weight Lifter", this very classic Neiman cleverly depicts Alekseyev as he watches a woman lifting weights. - There was no women's weightlifting competition at the 1972 Olympics!
Alekseyev, competing on the Russian team, captured the Gold Medal for Men's Super Heavyweight Weightlifting. Called a "Soviet sports legend" by the Russian Weightlifting Federation, and "one of the strongest people in the world", Alekseyev set 80 world records and 81 Soviet records in weightlifting and also won the gold at the 1976 Summer Olympics. He was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated 14 April 1975, entitled "World's Strongest Man".
This serigraph on paper, Woman Weight Lifter, is a rare Artist's Proof from the signed and numbered limited edition "Munich Suite, 1972". "A.P." is written in pencil in the lower left margin of the work; the Artist has hand-signed the work, in pencil, in the lower right margin. The artwork is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity.
In the work itself appear the words "Wassili Alekejew" (an alternate spelling of Alekseyev's name), "XX Olympiad", and "Gewichtheberhalle Messegelände", along with "Munich Sept. 1, 72". The Messegelände is a series of buildings, 5 of which, during the 1972 Summer Olympics, served to host the fencing, judo, weightlifting, and wrestling events. Weightlifting was held in the Gewichtheberhalle.
With an image size of 10.25" in height x 15" in width, this rare and iconic Neiman comes custom framed and ready for display in a custom wood black lacquered frame, with exquisite archival double mat of cream and dark blue, which perfectly accentuate and highlight the artwork. The framed size is 20” x 23.5”.
Artist bio: Born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, LeRoy Neiman (June 8, 1921 - June 20, 2012) studied briefly in St. Paul before moving to Chicago to study at the School of Art Institute of Chicago where he then taught for 10 years before moving to New York City in 1962. Leroy Neiman is possibly the most popular painter and print maker in America, one of the few artists of the 20th century whose name has become a household word in millions of homes, nationally and internationally.
Best known for his brilliantly colored, stunningly energetic images of the world of sports, exclusive leisure activities, and the world of entertainment, LeRoy Neiman's art is unique; it stands alone, without any real comparison. It is an art which became controversial because Neiman broke the barriers of many of the most hallowed assumptions of modern art history and contemporary criticism. LeRoy Neiman's style explodes with the dramatic intensity of Abstract Expressionist brush strokes, strokes that pick out action that is strikingly accurate.
Since 1970 LeRoy Neiman published hundreds of limited edition serigraphs which have become as much sought after as the prints of Miro, Chagall and Picasso. Having exhibited worldwide, from Moscow to Tokyo to Caracas, honored with many awards for his art, and published many books, Neiman is an icon of contemporary art. His work is in the permanent collections of countless museums including the Whitney Museum in NYC, Baltimore Museum of Fine Art, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas, the Hermitage in Leningrad, and the Art Institute of Chicago.