Artist: LeRoy Neiman
Title: Celebrity Night at Spago
Year created: 1993
Medium: Color Serigraph on Paper
Edition: Limited Edition, 408/600, Hand-Signed and Numbered in Pencil
Height (inches): 37-3/4
Width (inches): 49-1/2
Signed by the artist
Signed Area: front
Description of piece:
Swifty Lazar’s Annual Academy Awards after-parties, held at Wolfgang Puck’s flagship Spago restaurant in Hollywood, were an exclusive, celebrity-filled tradition, celebrating each year’s Oscar winners. Lazar—a talent agent and dealmaker—represented both movie stars and authors (including Richard Nixon), and the party was not to be missed by Hollywood’s A-listers.
Artist LeRoy Neiman drew his inspiration from the energy, action and social engagement found in sporting events, nightspots, exclusive leisure activities, and the world of entertainment. So, when he attended the storied after-party following the Academy Award ceremonies, Neiman was inspired to create this vibrant artwork, which he titled Celebrity Night at Spago.
In Neiman's elegantly composed serigraph, Neiman creatively situates the attendees and winners with whom he shared the evening, with Academy Award winners from historic eras. Celebrity Night at Spago takes us into Wolfgang Puck’s Spago for an imagined evening filled with champagne and fun, with some of Hollywood's most talented entertainers and luminaries spanning several eras.
Featured in Celebrity Night at Spago are (front row, left to right): host Irving “Swifty” Lazar, Gregory Peck, Maggie Smith, Jack Nicholson, Paul Newman, Whoopi Goldberg, and Elizabeth Taylor. (2nd row, left to right): Bernard, Jeremy Irons, Sean Connery, Bob Hope, Billy Crystal, film critic Gene Siskel, chef-owner Wolfgang Puck, Morgan Freeman, George Burns, and Michael Jackson.
Dramatically sized, Celebrity Night at Spago is an elegant presentation piece which comes in its original custom framing which includes intricately cut matting in luxurious sueded deep blue, within a textural black frame with antiqued gold detailing.
A hand-pulled, limited edition serigraph, the artwork bears the edition number 408/600, lower left, in pencil. LeRoy Neiman has hand-signed the piece, lower right, in a lavishly large signature, also in pencil. Framed size measures 37-3/4” in height x 49-1/2” width.
Celebrity Night at Spago comes accompanied by its original COA from Knoedler Publishing, which bears a foil seal imprinted with the publishers name.
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 printmaking, Neiman is one of the few artists of the 20th century 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 brushstrokes, 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.
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