Prints of Power
A Socialogical Study of the Artist LeRoy Neiman and 1,000 Neiman Collectors

By: David Halle and Louise Mirrer
Reprinted from The Prints of LeRoy Neiman, Volume I

Part II. Neiman's Work: Reasons for its Popularity

i. The Impressionist Background

Most collectors of LeRoy Neiman's art like Impressionist art as well. Sixty-nine percent of the entire sample said they like the Impressionists; only four percent said they did not. When asked to name their favorite artist no longer living, both New York and California respondents chose Impressionists as three of the top five, with Monet consistently the most popular - two to three times more popular than any other artist no longer living. Van Gogh and Renoir were the other most popular Impressionists. In contrast, asked about abstract art, 36.7% of those polled said they disliked it, 30.9% said they were indifferent towards it, and only 31.1% said they liked it.

One of the most innovative aspects of the Impressionists was their depiction of contemporary middle class leisure. As the art historian, Meyer Shapiro, writes,

It is remarkable how many pictures we have in early Impressionism of informal and spontaneous sociability - breakfasts, picnics, promenades, boating trips, holidays - these urban idylls…present the objective forms of bourgeois recreation in the 1860's and 70's…

While the themes of the Impressionists, prescient and avant garde in the nineteenth century, appeal to the audiences in the twentieth century, much of their appeal is now linked to their value as historical records. Picnics in the country, walks in the woods and meadows, families gathered on the balcony, etc., remind people of an earlier age.

Thus a central attraction of Neiman's work is that he has continued and updated the early Impressionist's breakthrough - the depiction of contemporary leisure.

ii. The Depiction of Modern Leisure

Indeed, Neiman has, for the post-World War II period, retrieved the concept of the depiction of leisure forms. This is evident in a number of ways. First, consider the content of his paintings. Almost all the prints depict, or are closely associated with, leisure activities. Sporting events are the dominant leisure activity portrayed. Sixty-six percent of the serigraphs depict athletics and sports scenes, especially football games, boxing matches, tennis matches, hockey and baseball games, sailing, golf, skating and skiing contests. Another ten percent depict nighttime leisure pursuits such as casino gambling, concert music, theater, opera, and bars. Another thirteen percent of Neiman's serigraphs depict animals, and are linked to the leisure activity of the safari since most of them are the kind of wild animal typically associated with that activity. Neiman confirms this connection for, asked to explain how he selected the animals that he paints, he commented that they were almost all subjects he painted while on safari: "I've been to Africa twice. Most of the animals I painted are the ones I saw on safari."

Of the 261 serigraphs Neiman produced between 1971 and 1987, only six (2%) depict work, and four of these depict the stock market, which from one point of view can actually be seen as a quasi-leisure activity for the middle and upper classes. Neiman studiously avoids depictions of work scenes, explaining that the white-collar work world is dull: "Doing some guy in an office is a boring picture of a boring person." Or, as the sociologist C. Wright Mills puts it:

When white-collar people get jobs, they sell not only their time but their personalities as well. They sell by the week or month their smiles and kindly gestures, and they must practice the prompt repression of resentment and aggression…The calculating hierarchies of the department store and industrial corporation, of rationalized office and government bureau, lay out the gray ways of work and stereotype the permitted initiatives.

Apart from the stock exchange, the only other topics of Neiman's serigraphs that are even distantly related to work are bar scenes associated with the after-work drinking of certain occupations - for example, Harry's Bar, frequented by the Wall Street crowd. These scenes, in fact and in depiction, represent not work but its antithesis, the termination of a workday or week. Another tiny category of the serigraphs, 1% (three) depicts political leaders.

ii. The Depiction of Modern Leisure, continued

A second indicator of the link between Neiman's serigraphs and the purchasers' leisure lives can be found in the respondents' comments. A strikingly large number of the respondents (62%) said that the Neimans reminded them of their own experiences. Further, when asked which experiences, respondents typically mentioned leisure-related ones. "Neiman's works reminds me of my hobbies," writes one collector. "I enjoy his sports scenes because of my relation to the sport and the feeling of motion he puts into his art," writes another. Yet another comments, "Sports is a part of my family life." A female respondent says she likes Neiman's portrayal of a dalmatian because she has a dalmatian at home. A businessman likes his Neiman print depicting a sailboat because it reminds him of his own sailboat. The 18th at Pebble Beach evokes for a number of respondents their personal experiences playing there. A suburban New York couple loves Plaza Square because it recalls for them "our annual weekend at the Plaza." Another New York respondent's favorite Neiman is Pool Player, which hangs above the pool table in his home. A California collector hangs Harry's Wall Street Bar next to his own bar at home. And another California collector's favorite Neiman is Opening Ceremonies of the XXIII Olympiad 1984 because of his own experience on Opening Day.

Finally, there is data on respondents favorite leisure activities. Respondents were asked to name their top three leisure activities. These were, in order of popularity, golf (mentioned by 33% of the sample), reading (mentioned by 26% of the sample), travel (mentioned by 21% of the sample), tennis (mentioned by 20% of the sample), skiing on snow (mentioned by 17%), music (mentioned 9.3% of the sample), spectator sports (mentioned by 9% of the sample), swimming (also mentioned by 9% of the sample), sports (general) (mentioned by 7.5% of the sample), fishing (mentioned by 7% of the sample), and jogging (mentioned by 6.9% of the sample). Thus of the respondents' eleven favorite leisure activities, only reading does not figure at all in the topics of Neiman's serigraphs; by contrast, eight of the eleven figure prominently (golf, travel, tennis, skiing on snow, spectator sports, swimming, sports [general], and jogging).

iii. Leisure, Competition and Power

But there is more to the attraction of Neiman's work than simply the reflection of modern leisure patterns. He has not simply painted the dominant forms of contemporary leisure. For example, Neiman has avoided depicting the central subjects of modern leisure - the family. Not one of Neiman's serigraphs can be said to focus on the nuclear family. By contrast, the bourgeois family (eating meals, in the garden, and so on) was an important motif of Impressionism.

The vast majority of Neiman's paintings depict those leisure activities that are highly competitive. He portrays both the struggles of individuals at play (e.g. singles tennis, golf tournaments, marathon runners) and the collective efforts of players of team sports (e.g. organized hockey, football, etc.). Further, many of Neiman's sporting events depict not only competition, but the apex of the competitive moment: the moment of victory (e.g. Classic Marathon Finish - 1985, American Gold - 1984, The Finish - 1974, Ascot Finish - 1974, Sliding Home - 1972, Touchdown - 1973); the pinnacle of achievement (e.g. Silverdome Super Bowl - 1982, Giants-Broncos Classic - 1987, Olympic Gymnast - 1976, Willie Mays - 1978, Olympic Pole Vaulting, Moscow - 1980); the utmost striving (e.g. Wind Surfing - 1984, Basketball Superstars - 1977, Moby Dick Assaulting the Pequod - 1977, Bucking Bronco - 1977, Blood Tennis - 1980) the test of endurance (24 Hours of LeMans - 1987, High Sea's Sailing - 1976, New York Marathon - 1980, Tour de France - 1981).

Further, an important motif in some of the Neiman prints is nationalism. Fully ten percent of the serigraphs fall within this category. The vast majority (85%) of these serigraphs depict the Olympic games, focusing on American athletes and on the athletes of other nations. (There is a small category of prints that depict American presidents, and a few that depict such Americana as the eagle and the Statue of Liberty.) In most of these paintings of Olympic competition, Neiman is linking leisure with one of the most ardent competitions of the twentieth century - that of nation against nation.

The salience for the viewer of Nieman's prints of the competitive moment can be seen in collectors' comments. A collector from Texas remarks, "The '84 Olympics were very successful for the USA. That's what his picture makes me think about." A San Franciscan says, "The Neimans I like best are the sports scenes. To me they represent power in action." A collector from New York comments, "I like the heat and explosion of his sports pictures."

That Neiman's prints evoke for many collectors a world of competition and power is underlined by the surprising popularity of his elephant portrayals. Respondents were asked to name their favorite Neiman. For both men and women, Elephant Nocturne was the most popular. More interestingly, when asked why they liked this print, the answers they gave were predominantly couched in terms of the power and strength perceived. Consider these comments: "I liked the power of the elephants." "My favorite is the Elephant Nocturne. I see power in the stampede and I like that." "I like the Elephant Nocturne because it represents power, intimidation, and mystery." A Texan likes Elephant Nocturne because it makes him "think power, fear of night." Another Texan likes Elephant Nocturne best for its "power, color, dynamic movement; you can hear and feel them coming." When he looks at it he feels "power surge, taking a stand, holding your own ground in matters that are important to you." His favorite programs are "Money Line" and Nightly Business Report."

iv. The Values of the Workplace Reflected in Depictions of Leisure

Many of the collectors, in explaining why they like their favorite Neimans, make explicit a link with the values of work. A collector from Texas writes:

I trade stock options and futures for a living. I'm an independent trader for a living, a market technician. I live, eat and breathe option strategy and Elliot Wave Theory, pure capitalism. My favorite Neiman is the "Stock Exchange." What I like most about it is its effect. It's real. It looks busy, bloody, bleak, boring, depending on how I feel that day. It looks like Battle.

Another comments:

I suppose I can identify with the energy [Neiman] captures. I am an aggressive individual personally in business and sports, and Neiman's work illustrates much of a similar kind of energy.

That the values of the workplace are depicted in Neiman's work, albeit cloaked in portrayals of leisure activities, is supported by the comments of Neiman himself. When asked why his paintings almost always portray leisure and almost never portray work, Neiman insisted that this was not the case.

He pointed out that the central figures in most of his depictions of leisure are working and are working extremely hard:

The idea that my paintings depict leisure and not work is just an illusion. In professional sports, all the athletes are working, and the officials are working, too. It's just the same as in the restaurant scenes that I paint, and in fine restaurants in fact. You go to New York's Four Seasons, Le Cirque, "21", any restaurant halfway expensive, people are working, making contacts. Everyone at "21" is at work - the checkroom person, the bartenders, the person who brings the water, the person who takes the plates away and there are the chefs, waiters, busboys. Ata Washington, D.C. soiree, or charity ball, people are making contacts. They're not just enjoying themselves. It's no different from my painting of the American Stock Exchange. All of this is work.

Given the fact that Neiman collectors represent, in terms of income and occupational standing, an occupational elite whose jobs often involve tremendous energy, both to attain and to sustain, it would be surprising if the values of the workplace were not in some sense reflected in their choice of leisure activities and art. It is not implausible to suppose that in the values that their Neimans celebrate, collectors see the self-same values that are central to their places of work. Above all, in the competition of individual against individual and collectivity against collectivity depicted in Neiman's sports pictures can be seen the competition that pervades the modern white-collar work environment - a competition that is both individual and collective. For example, in the corporation, the individual strives to move upwards at the same time that his strivings are framed in the competition of one large corporation against another. Indeed, the valued member of the corporation is a "team player", and so on.

The competitions portrayed in Neiman's depictions of athletes are a metaphor for the competitions that pervades the upper echelons of the white-collar workplace. But the workplace cannot be directly portrayed because the display site of most of these pictures is the modern home (79% are displayed in the home, 21% in the office), which most Americans view as a refuge from work - a haven from the harsh competition of the occupational world, a calm antidote to the turbulent workplace (and, typically, geographically separated from the workplace). Thus, we see a displacement onto the leisure world of the values of work. It is this double motif, the ability to depict both leisure and, in a disguised form, the values of the workplace, that is central to Neiman's popularity. It also goes a long way to explain the fact, unusual in the art world, that men alone are the major purchasers of his art.

v. The Meaning of Color

Over and again, Neiman collectors remark on his use of color, citing it as what they like most about his work.

Nearly 51% of those asked to give the reasons for liking their favorite Neiman print give "color".

Vivid colors are, of course, a Neiman trademark. Yet colors are a kind of Rorschach test, into which viewers can read their own concerns and interests. When respondents were asked to expand upon their reasons for liking their favorite prints, it became clear that for many collectors the colors represented values similar to those just discussed - competition, power, success, and money. "The colors mean 'prosperity' to me," writes one collector. "Colors represent an exciting life," comments another. Yet another asserts, "Colors mean 'success'." And another, "Colors mean power." Another says, "In the frenzied activity I find it [Neiman's use of color] depicts an unfavorable day with the hope of the market turning around." Indeed, the association between Neiman's colors and power and competition is so salient for his collectors that even a painting in which the competitive movement is overtly obscured - for instance, Neiman's Red Square Panorama, which records the momentous overture towards détente of Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev - is interpreted by collectors as reminiscent of these values. As one respondent reports, "The 'red' of Red Square Panorama reminds me of competition."

vi. The Social Range of Neiman's Subjects: Drawing in the Spectator

While Neiman depicts glamorous settings and people, his paintings often include ordinary people, too. The heroes and celebrities are there, but so too are spectators, customers, and working people. In the bar, restaurant, and café scenes there are anonymous customers as well as waiters, waitresses, and bartenders. In the fight scenes there are often a referee, trainer, and seconds. There are stableboys in some of the racetrack scenes. In the street scenes are passersby. In the casinos there are croupiers and anonymous gamblers. In the sailboat scenes are unidentified sailors. The bench and park scenes are full of ordinary people. Thus, Neiman often depicts a broad range of social classes. As the artist puts it,

Race tracks and prize fights, rich, poor, everyone mingles together. Boxing and horse racing you have all the levels. And everyone talks to everyone else. When I paint, I paint the whole strata...

Above all, so many of Neiman's paintings depict spectators as well as participants and the spectators are both anonymous and varied. Examples of pictures that include a broad range of spectators at the spectacle are New York Marathon, Spectator's Fleet-America's Cup, Willie Mays, Stud Poker, Tour de France, Introduction of the Champions at Madison Square Garden, Golf Landscape, Saratoga, The 18th at Pebble Beach, The 16th at Cypress, and Silverdome Superbowl.

Neiman avoids making ordinary people in ordinary occasions the focus of his pictures; despite his interest in the role of working people, he has no interest in painting them in unglamorous settings. For example, he has never painted a diner and has no desire to do so. "Diners, pizza and hot dog stands don't give the social range I'm interested in," he remarked in response to the question of why he omits such places in his work, continuing:

At these kinds of restaurants, the food is important, but not the trappings. They have an atmosphere people can be comfortable in. But in the places I paint, there's a dozen reasons why the people are there, and everyone is working, making contacts, etc. It's theater of life...

But Neiman often includes ordinary people, including members of minority groups, in the extraordinary occasions he likes to depict. This surely is an important reason Neiman's ability to appeal beyond the middle class and wealthy to working class people. That viewers have ordinary people to identify with in the prestigious settings that Neiman often paints clearly makes it easier for them to imagine themselves at the occasion. The artist comments:

When I go to any kind of bash or social thing, I always notice the working guy right away, the limousine driver, the maitre d', the waiter, the hat check girl, the disc jockey and the hired musicians, because there are so many of them around. It's amazing how few artists come out of every generation that thought about all that… all that traffic out there.

Many of the events Neiman depicts are not confined to a privileged elite but are more widely accessible. They are open to a public who need only the wherewithal to afford an entrance ticket, a drink, or the cost of travel.

vi. The Social Range of Neiman's Subjects: Drawing in the Spectator, continued

The depiction of spectators in Neiman's works in particular encourages the viewer to visualize himself at the scene of the spectacle. Neiman's spectators are both typically anonymous and varied in type, providing an empty space into which the viewers of the painting can enter. This Neiman technique is similar to the "dear reader" remarks common to eighteenth and nineteenth century novels, as well as to the "my fellow Americans" address of the orator. Neiman viewers, like the audience for the novel and the public witnessing a speech, are offered a frame of possible decisions - decisions as to the role or roles in which they would like to imagine themselves, or in which they already see themselves. Making certain calculations, they fill in the blank spaces left by the anonymous and varied spectators. Over and again, collectors who, though as a group scarcely poor, are with one or two exceptions, not celebrities either, remark on the intimacy of the relation they feel with Neiman's subjects; how it seems to them that they themselves are represented in the painting, that the works express their own reality, or that they might imagine themselves in the depictions: "La Plage a Deauville is my favorite Neiman," says a collector from the state of Washington. "That is where I would like to be." "I like the realism of Giants-Broncos Classic," a New Jersey sports enthusiast remarks. "I feel like I'm there." "My favorite is 24 Hours of LeMans," comments a collector from Colorado. "I get the feeling of being at the event when I look at it." Another Coloradan says, "I'm not a sailor, but Neiman's America's Cup makes me feel like I'm one."

To Neiman, the suggestion that the audience actually appears in the work comes as no surprise. He comments, "I paint all the information I have, all the human contact I have in my paintings. It's all there."

That the depiction of ordinary people and spectators at Neiman's extraordinary scenes offers viewers the opportunity for personal actualization and that this is part of the artist's appeal is also born out in the remarks of many of the collectors who typically identify less with the stars of the picture than with the anonymous figures. For while Neiman often portrays in his work "the people whom the public most admires - the sports stars, the music stars, the movie stars, the political stars - that glittering galaxy of people who have made it into America's living Hall of Fame," it is not the depictions of identifiable sports, music, movie, and political figures that Neiman collectors are most enthusiastic about. Indeed, Neiman collectors are show quite a bit less fervor when revealing their attitudes towards the display of celebrity depictions than when they talk about displaying prints which depict the other, unidentified subjects Neiman paints. Of the entire sample, only 23.5% said they liked the idea of displaying a picture of a celebrity. When asked to comment further on the topic, many of the respondents showed a definite hostility towards the display of prints depicting celebrities. Collectors remarked, "I don't want them. It's my home, not theirs." "Celebrities are passing fads." "I would be uncomfortable with a picture of someone in my home who I do not have a personal relationship with."

Neiman collectors are thus more taken with the gestalt of the artist's depictions - the events, the locations, the wealth, the fame, the power - than with the particular celebrities who may figure into it. Collectors may be interested in, for example, a particular sporting event, but when an identifiable sportss figure is shown participating in that event, most find it less appealing. The celebrity in the work makes it more difficult for the collectors to relate a particular depiction to their lives. Thus, one collector says, "I dislike the idea of having a picture of a celebrity per se in my house, but his [Neiman's] sports celebrities transcend the individual and represent the sport itself."