Restoration Process (2007)

All of the 189 tiles were professionally restored and cleaned in 2007. The tiles were cleaned from the verso using both chemical and mechanical methods. Aqueous and organic solvents were utilized. Minor damaged areas were recreated using structural epoxy paste and painted using colorfast conservation pigments and glazed using clear epoxy varnish.

LeRoy at the Park

Sportsman's Park, Cicero, IL, Nov. 18, 1976 - Internationally renowned artist LeRoy Neiman (center), whose ceramic murals were unveiled at Sportsman's Park, presides over winner's circle ceremonies after the fifth race named in his honor. Making the presentation (left) is Thomas S. Sweeney, vice-president of the Balmoral Racing Club currently holding a meeting at the Cicero track, and at right, jockey John Bacon, trainer Pete Mawell, and the owner of the winning horse Ritka.

About LeRoy Neiman

Mr. Neiman is America’s most popular and beloved living artist, he has achieved international recognition in his lifetime for having created an impressive array of portraits of people in the public eye; his rendering of urban life, the sporting life, the high life of cafes and the leisure life in the resorts of Europe and America.

Emerging in the early 50’s in Chicago, LeRoy Neiman combined Abstract Expressionism with sharp, clear vision. The artists he mingled with were the great jazz artists: Armstrong and Fitzgerald, Mingus and Davis - and his portraits of them are profound. He rendered the gritty world of Chicago night life and hooked up with Hugh Hefner as the Playboy Empire rose. And as his career flourished he traveled the jet set circuit and depicted urban sophisticates, cafe society, the celebrity parade, and cocktail culture. Indeed, Neiman’s best work may well be in his vision of the high life: the bars, cafes, restaurants, clubs, discos, casinos, and resorts as well as the great cities of the world: London, Paris, New York, Venice, Moscow, Tokyo, Los Angeles and elsewhere.

LeRoy with Mural

(click image for larger view)