Big Band by LeRoy Neiman: Museum Object and Cultural History
Big Band by LeRoy Neiman: date made: 2005. Object Name: painting. Physical Description: paint, enamel (overall material).
The object in the museum catalogue
LeRoy Neiman was an American painter who was well known for his expressionist paintings that presented scenes of sports and entertainment. Among his work is a distinctive body of paintings of the American jazz legends and music of the 1950s to 1960s. He considered Big Band to be one of his greatest works.
The painting is approximately 9 feet by 13 feet in size and consists of a collage of portraits of some of the most historically significant jazz musicians of the 20th century. The musicians and vocalists portrayed by Neiman include Billie Holiday, Lionel Hampton, Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Gene Krupa, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Gerry Mulligan, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Wynton Marsalis, Lester Young, Glenn Miller, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and JJ Johnson.
Materials, dates and provenance
- date made: 2005
- Object Name: painting
- Physical Description: paint, enamel (overall material)
- Physical Description: canvas (overall material)
- Physical Description: wood (overall material)
- Physical Description: paint, acrylic (overall material)
- Measurements: overall: 108 in x 156 in x 2 in; 274.32 cm x 396.24 cm x 5.08 cm
- place made: United States: New York, New York City
- ID Number: 2015.0102.01
- accession number: 2015.0102
- catalog number: 2015.0102.01
- Credit Line: LeRoy Neiman Foundation, Inc.
- Data Source: National Museum of American History
Sources and reuse
Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.
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