LeRoy Neiman (American, 1921-2012)

EPSOM 

Acrylic on board, 23 1/2" x 36"

Signed, dated '63, and inscribed "Epsom", inscribed verso "Paddock Epsom"

Provenance: Hammer Galleries, New York "But internationally there are only two derbies that count. First and foremost is the original, at Epsom Downs in England, named after Edward Stanley, the twelfth earl of Derby who in 1780 founded the Derby Stakes. Epsom is the supreme equestrian pageant of the racing world. Steeped in tradition, it has the same festive feeling and prestige today as it had when the nineteenth-century English artists captured its essence in prints. Fans start arriving at six in the morning. Prepared for a long day's outing, they begin with English breakfast on the grass, complete with racing forms, hampers, blankets, and other racetrack picnic paraphernalia. Thousands arrive by bus and thousands more on foot, meandering over the soft hills to the infield circled by the track. Meanwhile, having arrived in their Rollses and Bentleys, the upper-class, top-hatted racegoers in their gray waistcoats, striped trousers, and cutaways, with their ladies in flowered dresses and hats, file into the grandstands and members' enclosure. Like their countrymen in the infield, they lug an assortment of paraphernalia, but theirs is more elegant: imported binoculars hang around their necks, leather cases swing from their shoulders, a shooting stick is tucked under one arm (which makes doffing the top hat a problem)." - LeRoy Neiman, Horses, Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1979, pg. 43 and 44.