Artist: LeRoy Neiman
Title: Soccer (from the Eaux-Fortes '80 Portfolio)
Year created: 1980
Medium: Limited Edition Hand-Pulled Etching on Arches Paper, with Hand-Printed & Embossed Inter-leaf on Arches Text
Edition: 75/250 Hand-Signed and Numbered Limited Edition
Height (inches): 22
Width (inches): 30
Signed by the artist
Signed Area: front
This piece is unframed.
Includes a certificate of authenticity.
Description of piece:
Soccer is numbered 75/250, and hand-signed by the artist in pencil. Created on watermarked Arches paper measuring 22" in height x 30" width, it is accompanied by the original hand-printed and embossed interleaf title page, printed on Arches Text.
1980 marked the publication of the first major Limited Edition of LeRoy Neiman's etchings since 1972. Published as a portfolio comprised of ten etchings, titled Eaux-Fortes '80, of which Soccer is one. Each hand-signed etching consists of only 250 numbered impressions. The range of Neiman's subject matter in his Eaux-Fortes '80 collection is considerable, from studies of animals and nudes to the active drama of sporting events and gambling tables.
Neiman's first etchings were done experimentally in Switzerland in 1971. In 1972, he produced several suites of sports subjects, then setting the methodology aside for several years, during which he produced over a hundred limited edition color serigraphs. Late in 1975, Neiman was again drawn to etchings. Purchasing his own press, he set it up in his New York studio; his etchings became deeply personal expressions.
Each image in the Eaux-Fortes '80 collection originated as an original drawing through a hard ground which was then etched. After the First State proof was pulled, Neiman reworked the plate using techniques such as dry point and scraping, pulling a proof with each re-working until the artist was satisfied that his artwork was complete. All of the impressions were then inked and hand-pulled by his printer under Neiman's own direction.
Hand-pulled by Madeleine-Claude Jobrack in LeRoy Neiman's New York etching studio. Published by Knoedler Publishing.
Artist bio:
LeRoy Neiman (1921-2012) studied in Chicago at the School of Art Institute of Chicago, where he then taught for 10 years before moving to New York City in 1962. Renowned for his painting and print making, Neiman is one of the few artists of the 20th century whose whose work is known by millions, both 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, and his work is without any real comparison in the art world. Neiman broke the barriers of many of the most hallowed assumptions of modern art history and contemporary criticism, his style exploding with the dramatic intensity of Abstract Expressionist brush strokes, strokes that pick out action: whether it is the action of sports, the action of a nightclub, casino or yacht race, or capturing the inimitable majesty of nature.
LeRoy Neiman published hundreds of limited edition serigraphs which have become as much sought after as the prints of Miro, Chagall and Picasso. Exhibited worldwide, from Moscow to Tokyo to Caracas, and honored with many awards for his art, Neiman is an icon of contemporary art. His work is held in the permanent collections of innumerable 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.