All Told : My Art and Life Among Athletes, Playboys, Bunnies, and Provocateurs

LeRoy Neiman was arguably the world’s most recognizable contemporary artist until his passing in June 2012. He broke the barrier between fine art and popular art while creating indelible images that helped define the twentieth century. But it is the life he lived and the people he knew that make the memoir of this scrappy Depression-era kid who became a swashbuckling bon vivant with the famous mustache such a marvelous historical canvas. Chronicler and confidant of Muhammad Ali, Neiman also traveled with Sinatra, cavorted with Dalí and Warhol, watched afternoon soaps with Dizzy Gillespie, played in Sly Stallone’s Rocky movies, exchanged quips with Nixon, smoked cigars with Castro, and experienced the terrorist attacks at the Munich Olympics alongside Peter Jennings, Howard Cosell, and Jim McKay. And then there was his half-century relationship with Hugh Hefner as principle artistic contributor to Playboy, setting up studios in London and Paris to cover his Playboy beat, “Man at His Leisure,” and his creation of the Femlin, the iconic Playboy nymphette. With his life’s work, and in All Told, LeRoy Neiman captured sports heroes, movie stars, presidents, dishwashers, jet-setters, jockeys, and more than a few Bunnies at the Playboy Mansion—a panoramic record of society like no other.

LeRoy Neiman—arguably the world’s most recognizable contemporary artist—broke the barrier between fine art and popular art in the 1960s. His prints continue to bring in $10 million a year in sales. But it is the life he’s lived and the people he’s known that make the memoir of this swashbuckling bon vivant with the famous mustache such a marvelous historical canvas. His is the story of a scrappy Depression-era kid who had talent, insatiable curiosity, and a knack for wrangling himself into places he didn’t belong. As a result, he hobnobbed with everyone who’s anyone and created indelible images that helped define a century.

Neiman sat ringside with some of the most extraordinary figures of the twentieth century. Instructor and confidant to Muhammad Ali throughout his tumultuous career, Neiman also traveled with Sinatra, cavorted with Dali and Warhol, watched afternoon soaps with Dizzy Gillespie, played in Sly Stallone’s Rocky movies, exchanged quips with Nixon, smoked cigars with Castro, and experienced the September 5, 1972, terrorist attacks at the Munich Olympics alongside Peter Jennings, Howard Cosell, and Jim McKay. And then there’s his contribution to the culture-shifting influence of Playboy. Neiman recalls his half-century relationship with Hugh Hefner—as principle artistic contributor to Playboy since its founding in 1954, setting up studios in London and Paris to cover his Playboy beat, “Man at His Leisure,” and as creator of the Femlin, the iconic Playboy sex doll. 

With his life’s work, and now in All Told, LeRoy Neiman has captured sports heroes, movie stars, presidents, dishwashers, jet-setters, jockeys, and even high-class hookers—a panoramic record of society like no other.

 

[Page Two of spread: Great photo of LeRoy Neiman, plus caption]

LeRoy Neiman & mdash;arguably the world & rsquo;s most recognizable contemporary artist & mdash;broke the barrier between fine art and popular art during a career in which he created indelible images that helped define the twentieth century. But it is the life he & rsquo;s lived and the people he & rsquo;s known that make the memoir of this scrappy Depression-era kid who became a swashbuckling bon vivant with the famous mustache such a marvelous historical canvas. Chronicler and confidant of Muhammad Ali, Neiman also traveled with Sinatra, cavorted with Dal & iacute; and Warhol, watched afternoon soaps with Dizzy Gillespie, played in Sly Stallone & rsquo;s Rocky movies, exchanged quips with Nixon, smoked cigars with Castro, and experienced the September 5, 1972, terrorist attacks at the Munich Olympics alongside Peter Jennings, Howard Cosell, and Jim McKay. And then there & rsquo;s his half-century relationship with Hugh Hefner as principle artistic contributor to Playboy since its founding, setting up studios in London and Paris to cover his Playboy beat, & ldquo;Man at His Leisure, & rdquo; and his creation of the Femlin, the iconic Playboy nymphette. And, still, there & rsquo;s so much more ... With his life & rsquo;s work, and now in All Told, LeRoy Neiman has captured sports heroes, movie stars, presidents, dishwashers, jet-setters, jockeys, and more than a few Bunnies at the Playboy Mansion & mdash;a panoramic record of society like no other Unauthorized beginning -- Drifter to drafted -- Chicago boho, or, How I went from eating pierogies at my Mother's kitchen table to becoming a crazy artist -- Underground artist -- Me, Hef, the Femlin, Lenny Bruce's laundry, and the Bunny dorm -- Bunny hopping -- The sixties' artist in residence -- Muhammad Ali and the voodoo doodles -- As seen on TV (and everywhere else) -- Presidents, moguls, and masters of the game -- What's in a name?;LeRoy Neiman arguably the world's most recognizable contemporary artist broke the barrier between fine art and popular art during a career in which he created indelible images that helped define the twentieth century. But it is the life he's lived and the people he's known that make the memoir of this scrappy Depression-era kid who became a swashbuckling bon vivant with the famous mustache such a marvelous historical canvas. The memoir of one of the most recognizable contemporary artists in the world, a book filled with the biggest celebrities in twentieth-century sport, art, sexy dames, music, film, and more, by LeRoy Neiman, who was a principle contributor to Playboy for years, who covered the Playboy beat Man at His Leisure, who was chronicler and confidant of Muhammad Ali (and artist to all of sports!), and who was hailed as the man whodefined a century in vibrating color.