Quotes by LeRoy Neiman

About LeRoy Neiman:

LeRoy Neiman was an American artist known for his brilliantly colored, expressionist paintings and screen prints of athletes, musicians, and sporting events.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

It's been fun. I've had a lucky life. Art has made me pull the best out of myself.

LeRoy Neiman

I have always said to young artists that scholastic training and the studying of art history are crucial to fully developing as an artist.

LeRoy Neiman

I've zeroed in on what you would call action and excellence... Everybody who does anything to try to succeed has to give the best of themselves, and art has made me pull the best out of myself.

LeRoy Neiman

No, I never had any dreams. The process of art is a dream in itself. The artist just doesn't... you work out something. It's yours. You don't have to go to sleep to do that. You do that on the canvas.

LeRoy Neiman

It's a nice feeling to go out in the world and look for excellence - the best in man. My subject is very valid. It's about people, and about life.

LeRoy Neiman

The most important thing is to just do it. If I work at a higher level I have responsibility to do better than what I've done before. Sometimes the best happens - beyond possibility. Just do it. Can't worry about it.

LeRoy Neiman

The businessman says 'If I don't do it first, somebody else will.' The artist says 'If I don't do it first, nobody else will.'

LeRoy Neiman

I don't know if I'm an impressionist or an expressionist. You can call me an American first... I've been labeled doing neimanism, so that's what it is, I guess.

LeRoy Neiman

As I turn 91 this June 8th, I have to admit my hours at the easel have diminished.

LeRoy Neiman

It's not the act of arrogance to draw, it's humbling - you must use your God-given talent. And of all the people I sketch, in most cases I feel I have to measure up to the subject.

LeRoy Neiman

But 'Playboy' was liberating. I was drawn to it and went for it full throttle.

LeRoy Neiman

I always stayed in tune with my own ambitions and attitudes and I'm still my intractable old self, for better or worse.

LeRoy Neiman

I can easily ignore my detractors and feel the people who respond favorably.

LeRoy Neiman

My lovely wife Janet has been in a few paintings. She is basically a reserved woman who has never sought the limelight. She has always been there throughout my career and continues to be at my side.

LeRoy Neiman

I played an artist in a comedy called 'Rooster.' It was a zany film by Glen Larson, a friend who produced several successful television series including 'Magnum PI.'

LeRoy Neiman

You can't take yourself too seriously.

LeRoy Neiman

Every time I started painting it was like a new experience, but they all came out the same.

LeRoy Neiman

Boxing is my real passion. I can go to ballet, theatre, movies, or other sporting events... and nothing is like the fights to me. I'm excited by the visual beauty of it. A boxer can look so spectacular by doing a good job.

LeRoy Neiman

When I paint, I seriously consider the public presence of a person - the surface facade. I am less concerned with how people look when they wake up or how they act at home. A person's public presence reflects his own efforts at image development.

LeRoy Neiman

I had a go at changing history - maybe not all by myself - I fought at the battle of Normandy, I slogged through the Ardennes, and I celebrated the liberation of Paris on the streets with beautiful French girls throwing flowers at me. I said good-bye...

LeRoy Neiman

Author Bio

  • NameLeRoy Neiman
  • DescriptionPainter and printmaker
  • BornJune 8, 1921
  • DiedJune 20, 2012
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionArtist; Painter