LEROY NEIMAN - PRINTED ART SIGNED IN INK - HFSID 157124

LeROY NEIMAN. Printed Image signed: "leRoy Neiman". Color, 8x10½. A page from a "Playboy" magazine, depicting his painting "ROLLER MANIA". Captioned at lower margin: "America's image as a nation on four wheels is gradually succumbing to roller madness. Soon we'll be known as a nation on eight wheels. Little wheels. And whereas cars can be status symbols, the inescapable humor of roller skates saves pretension as well as gas. Not everyone can drive, but everyone can roll. All ages, ethnic groups and professions are spinning, jumping, slaloming and pirouetting on motor less, silent wheels. I've seen professors rolling to their classes, rabbis making their rounds, cops on their beats, waiters; good skaters all. But the hard core, the vanguard, if you will, of the roller-skating trend are the roller-disco maniacs. Cassette-playing headphone freaks they are, with high striped socks, jeans and sloganed T-shirts; performing free-style dance, trick turns, acrobats, the unbelievable, while more conservative skaters settle for being able to merely dodge traffic and jump potholes. There's something delightfully refreshing about all this. Let 'em roll. - L.N." Neiman, who had contributed his first work to "Playboy" in 1954, had his drawings and commentary featured in his "Sketchbook" series in the magazine from December 1979-February 1983. Illustrator and printmaker LeRoy Neiman (1921-2012) is internationally known for his brilliantly colored, energetic illustrations of sporting events, leisure activities and celebrities, but he also produced works on historical figures and famous locations. Neiman featured Paris and its sights in a number of works. The Eiffel Tower, for example, was later featured in a serigraph in 1994, the year the artist published An American in Paris, a collection of illustrations from his visit to the city in 1991-1992. Light show through of print on verso. Fine condition. Framed in the Gallery of History style: 23x25¼.