Newport Jazz Festival
Artist
LeRoy Neiman
United States, 1921 - 2012
Date1978
MediumOffset Lithograph
Dimensions22 x 12 in. (55.9 x 30.5 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LineGift of the LeRoy Neiman and Jane Byrne Neiman Foundation
Object numberPH.6519
Descriptionn 1978, after six years of performances in New York City, the Newport Jazz Festival announced that it would simultaneously host satellite events in both Stanhope, New Jersey and Saratoga Springs, New York. Neiman’s poster for the 25th Anniversary of the festival features an evocative portrait of Duke Ellington, whom he had sketched frequently before the band leader’s death in 1974. As noted in the upper-left corner, the beer company Schlitz was the primary sponsor of the event. One of the original reasons the festival moved to New York City was that jazz attracted a largely Black audience, leading to racist pushback against the event by some Newport locals. As Schlitz was one of the two beers most popular with Black Americans, the brand saw this as an opportunity to link itself with a cultural activity that resonated with its clientele.On View
Not on view
