Muhammad Ali Signed Serigraph by Leroy Neiman

The serigraph produced in 2001 was derived from Neiman’s recent larger-than-life oil painting of Ali, based on sketches made in 1964. This was the transition period when then Cassius Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali. It was also the time of Ali's two historic fights with Sonny Liston in which he first took the heavyweight championship from him, and then defended his title in a decisive first-round knock out. This is Ali as he looked at the age of 22, a new champion just coming into his prime. Neiman’s association with Muhammad Ali dates back to 1962. The artist met the fighter in the dressing room in the St. Nicholas Arena in New York City, before Clay defeated Billy Daniels. Neiman sketched the young heavyweight sitting on the rubbing table. Clay immediately showed his own interest in art by asking to make a drawing of himself at the bottom of Neiman's drawing. This was the beginning of a long relationship between the artist and the prize fighter.



Neiman says, "All of my experiences and observations of Ali are summed up in this portrait. This painting is for me the quintessential, colorful, confident Ali. It shows his fighting face, with that theatrical flair, that is so familiar to the world and epitomizes a career that extended to a public far beyond the boxing ring. He was fast with his rhetoric and swift with his fists, and the intent of the painting and print is to emphasize his boundless energy." LOA: PSA/DNA.



Limited edition number 502/850; signed by the artist and subject.