LeRoy Neiman
Born in 1921 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, LeRoy Neiman was an American artist known for his dynamic and brilliantly colored paintings and screenprints of athletes, musicians, and sporting events. From an early age, Neiman exhibited a talent for the arts, drawing tattoos, sketches for grocery stores and portraits. In 1942, Neiman was drafted in the U.S. Army where he continued exploring the arts during his spare time. Following his honorable discharge, Neiman attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, eventually becoming an instructor teaching figure drawing and fashion illustration throughout the 1950’s. His chance meeting with Hugh Hefner while freelancing for a local Chicago department store would become a springboard in his career.
After meeting Hefner, Neiman was employed as an illustrator for Playboy magazine. From the 1950’s through the 1970’s, he traveled around the world capturing the liveliest aspects of society and sport. He created a body of work for the “Man of Leisure” series that would later become known as the “Playboy Collection.”
As he gained in notoriety, other major publications began featuring his work and he became the official artist for five Olympic Games with ABC Television. Using vibrant colors, he portrayed some of the most famous athletes and sporting events of the time.
Neiman is celebrated and remembered for his dramatic and lively contributions to the art world. His work received many awards throughout his life, and original works hang in the collections of many museums, including the Baltimore Museum of Fine Art, the Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas, and the Art Institute of Chicago. His art remains among the most widely recognized in the world.
Pino
Born in Bari Italy in 1939, Pino’s artistic talent was recognized early on in grade school. He studied at the Art Institute of Bari, before moving on to Milan’s Academy of Brera in 1960, where he honed his craft for painting from live nudes. Between 1960 and 1979, his work was featured in a number of significant Italian and European exhibitions amassing several awards and prizes. In 1978, he moved to New York, seeking artistic freedom, and in 1980 created a book cover for Zebra Books Publishers gaining him notoriety. This ultimately led to him dedicating 13 years to illustrating book covers for many prominent publishers of romance novels.
Pino’s works are frequently set in coastal, sunny, and vibrantly floral locales depicting the Mediterranean where he grew up. Widely known for his portraiture evoking feelings of warmth and love, his body of work also includes thousands of book covers commissioned by both Italian and American publishers. Pino’s collection of work continues to be collected and admired by fans worldwide.
Ferjo
Born in Brazil in 1946, Ferjo knew that his destiny was to be an artist by the age of 8. In 1974 he received a scholarship to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where he began painting cubist-style landscapes, eventually moving to realist portraiture. His surreal and metaphysical style earned him the prestigious Crescent Scholarship at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the New York Council for the Arts Award for Excellence in Portraiture and Interiors.
Ferjo is regarded as one of the most energetic and interesting artists in the modern day art world. His compositions combine the influence of old and new masters, creating a profusion of color, surrealism and fantasy. His art redefines our view of perspective, manipulating space and time and giving one a sense of another dimension.
Tarkay
Born in 1935 along the Yogosalv-Hungarian border, Itchak Tarkay faced the terrors of the Nazi regime at just nine years old when he and his family were forced into the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration. Liberated by the allies, Tarkay and his family survived and immigrated to Israel in 1949, where they spent the next two years on a Kibbutz.
In 1951, Tarkay earned a scholarship to the Bezalel Art Academy in Jerusalem. Due to financial difficulties and his duty to serve in the Israeli Army, he was forced to leave after just one year. Following his service, Tarkay moved to Tel Aviv and enrolled in the Avni Institute of Art, graduating in 1956. During this time he gained in popularity holding exhibitions in both Israel and abroad. Most notably, he held an exhibition at the International Art Expo in New York City from 1986-87.
Today, Itzchak Tarkay is one of the most popular and loved artists in the world. He has inspired dozens of artists with his bright, colorful depictions of the female form. Influenced by French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, Tarkay’s work shows elements of the styles of Matisse and Toulouse-Lautrec. In addition to being a painter and watercolorist, he is a master graphic artist and his unique combination of form and color is achieved primarily through the use of the serigraph. His pieces are a classic style that people always return to appreciate.
Salvador Dali
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dali I Domenech was born on the 11 May 1904 in Figueres, Spain and even from a very young age, he was destined to become one of the most prolific artists of all time. Dali received formal training at the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid, quickly gaining attention for his Cubist work. After his expulsion for behavioral issues, he moved to Paris, where he befriended Picasso, Magritte, and Miro who assisted in leading Dali into his Surrealist phase.
Inspired by classic artists like Vermeer and Velazquez, Dali is best known for his surrealist work of dreamscapes and religious themes. His most famous piece, “The Persistence of Memory,” featured the motif of the melting clock, which can be found in many of his works. Today, Dali’s works are recognized throughout the world, and can be seen in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Modern in London, the Reina Sofia National Museum in Madrid, and the Museum Ludwig in Cologne.
Marc Chagall
Born in 1887 to a poor Jewish family in Russia, Chagll’s experiences navigating Europe during the chaos of the twentieth century clearly influenced his work throughout his career. In 1907 he began studying with Leon Basket in St. Petersburg, moving to France in 1910. It was during this period in France that he became a prominent figure within the Ecole de Paris (Paris School), named for the many artistic styles, movements and tendencies that took place in Paris between 1890-1940.
Color and fantasy are important aspects in Chagall’s works, allowing him to push the boundaries of his art. His personal experiences, Jewish roots and use of religious imagery differentiates him. His horror over the Nazi rise to power is expressed in works depicting Jewish martyrs and refugees.
Chagall is a modern artist who mastered multiple media, including painting in both oil and gouache, watercolor, murals, ceramics, etching, drawing, theater and costume design, and stained-glass work. He received tremendous recognition and many prizes for his work, and was one of few artists to exhibit work at the Louvre during their lifetime.