Artist: Leroy Neiman (1921 - 2012)
Title: Femlin is Knighted
Type: Original
Material: Ink & PaperYear Produced: 1992
Medium: ink on paper
Size: 8.25" x 13"
Condition: Excellent
Certificate Of Authenticity Is Included
Born LeRoy Runquist on June 8th, 1921 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Neiman attended a Roman Catholic primary school, where he was already popular for his drawing. Returning home to Minnesota after serving as a cook in WWII, Neiman attended art school. After graduating he remained there, teaching figure drawing and fashion illustration throughout the 50?s. During the same time he was working freelance for the Carson Pirie Scott department store in Chicago. While working there he would meet Hugh Hefner, who at the time was working as a copywriter for the department store. Hefner got Neiman a job illustrating for the magazine. In addition to illustrations for the magazine, Neiman was also contracted to paint murals for the Playboy clubs around the world. Neiman is most famous for his dynamic and colorful sports drawings. Using vibrant colors, Neiman depicted some of the most famous athletes and sporting events of the time.
The Femlins are not only original drawings by Neiman, they are a great example of 20th-century Americana; they symbolize the Playboy aesthetic of the 1960s and 70s and are icons of popular culture.
When Hefner had the idea to start his men's magazine, he asked Neiman to do the original artwork, and the "Femlin" was born! Neiman envisioned her as being 12" tall, so in most of the illustrations, she's in that scale. She's depicted as being mischievous, and as her name suggests, she's a female gremlin. Starting in 1957, every issue of Playboy had two black and white Femlins; she was usually on the jokes page behind the centerfold. Amazingly, Neiman contributed two Femlins drawings for every monthly issue, for 50 years. The illustrations were created as a "camera-ready" line-art, to be photographed and then reduced for inclusion in Playboy Magazine

Excellent