Note on Art
Dublin Core
Title
Note on Art
Subject
A note from LeRoy Neiman on teaching at SAIC.
Description
This note from LeRoy Neiman relays an anecdote from the artist’s teaching career. The story concerns an older continuing education student in Neiman’s summer class at SAIC who moonlighted as a barkeep. As Neiman recounts fondly, the man joined the course after seeing the artist’s The Pump Room and painting of Ricarello in an exhibition around Chicago.
Creator
LeRoy Neiman
Source
LeRoy Neiman Foundation
Publisher
LeRoy Neiman Foundation
Date
c. 1990-2011
Contributor
LeRoy Neiman
Rights
Property of the LeRoy Neiman Foundation; please consult the organization's archivist for further details.
Relation
Notes
Format
Image/jpeg
Language
English
Type
Document
Identifier
LN_Notes_915_01; LN_Notes_915_02
Coverage
New York (N.Y.) New York
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
TEACHING
In my Saturday (adult) figure drawing, a student unlike other member straddling the benches
Approaching (his) middle years, slicked back hair in a pony[tail?] with streaks of grey (at the temples and whole [?]) manicure shirt and well buffed footwear
Along about (week 3) It was drawing a coffee break in the Museum Cafeteria he (approached my table and) introduced himself and went (straight) on to explain why he was enrolled in the class. He was a night career bartender barkeep at the Edgewater Bead Hotel Bar.
(Pump Room Bar in Playboy) He went on to what brought him to my class was he just wanted to see just where I came from and more important just why and how I painted my bar pictures. He said after viewing a bar paintings of The Pump Room bar and Ricarello in exhibitions, the back bar never looked the same (to him on duty). Thereafter the lights glowing throughout the amber whiskey colors (the labels), the glitter and see through, the brilliance and sparkle of the whole rows of glasses, one glass shelf above the other. Shortly after studying the paintings (at length) he never felt the same behind the bar. He felt he was in a Neiman painting. A part of a painting /
felt like an artist. It just made him want to paint himself.
He remained in class the remainder of the term, but didn’t reregister.
I felt like I was a character in a de Maupassant short story. No finality, but an experience that never has recurred, but is a warm and inspiring memory.
grateful
In my Saturday (adult) figure drawing, a student unlike other member straddling the benches
Approaching (his) middle years, slicked back hair in a pony[tail?] with streaks of grey (at the temples and whole [?]) manicure shirt and well buffed footwear
Along about (week 3) It was drawing a coffee break in the Museum Cafeteria he (approached my table and) introduced himself and went (straight) on to explain why he was enrolled in the class. He was a night career bartender barkeep at the Edgewater Bead Hotel Bar.
(Pump Room Bar in Playboy) He went on to what brought him to my class was he just wanted to see just where I came from and more important just why and how I painted my bar pictures. He said after viewing a bar paintings of The Pump Room bar and Ricarello in exhibitions, the back bar never looked the same (to him on duty). Thereafter the lights glowing throughout the amber whiskey colors (the labels), the glitter and see through, the brilliance and sparkle of the whole rows of glasses, one glass shelf above the other. Shortly after studying the paintings (at length) he never felt the same behind the bar. He felt he was in a Neiman painting. A part of a painting /
felt like an artist. It just made him want to paint himself.
He remained in class the remainder of the term, but didn’t reregister.
I felt like I was a character in a de Maupassant short story. No finality, but an experience that never has recurred, but is a warm and inspiring memory.
grateful
Original Format
Pencil and marker on paper.
Files
Collection
Citation
LeRoy Neiman, “Note on Art,” LeRoy Neiman Foundation, accessed April 25, 2024, https://leroyneimanfoundation.omeka.net/items/show/68.