#1741 "The Fight"- (Ali vs. Spinks) Silkscreen #136 of 250

Description: This is an Original Noel Rockmore silkscreen from 1978Titled: The Fight (Ali vs. Spinks) Silkscreen Edition 136 of 250 This also includes 3 Original Cassius Clay Tickets from AuditoriumsIt is a 20 X 26 inches silkscreen print on paper. Ships in a tube along with the 3 tickets.This work is Titled, signed & dated 78 by Rockmore with Gold leaf & Copper life trunk stripes.The catalog Number within the Shirley Marvin Collection given to this work is 78.1741 What is the story about Rockmore and these tickets?The Tickets come from the time that Ali was known as Cassius Clay and there was no pay per view on TV. The only way to see the fight was either live at the venue or there were various sites that set up viewings of the fight that you could pay and go see in person. They feature Floyd Patterson, Jerry Quarry and Oscar Bonavena. These tickets come from that time period and have been bundled with this silkscreen. Some folks in their framing of this silkscreen might have the tickets framed across the bottom which would only increase the value and make it more collectible.What is the story about Rockmore and this silkscreen? The Rockmore - Ali Connection! Rockmore actually first made this silkscreen in 1978 when the Ali-Spinks rematch fight was touted as the biggest fight ever held in the Superdome. Leon Spinks, with his gap teeth of Olympic Gold Medal fame, pulled a stunning upset of Ali in Las Vegas in February of that year. It was to be the highpoint and major accomplishment of his athletic career. It all went downhill after that and ended in a 15 round unanimous decision loss to Ali on September 15th, 1978 as Ali became the first fighter to regain the championship three times. There was all sorts of wheeling and dealing in Louisiana by the Governor Edwards leading up to landing the fight in the Superdome including passing some huge deals on to the promoters but discounting Louisiana fees and Superdome rental percentages. Artist Leroy Neiman had a commission to cover the fight and create a silkscreen of the event. Neiman’s former Des Artiste apartment dweller and friend, Noel Rockmore, was to also cover the same fight in New Orleans. They had been friends early on in New York when they shared the same apartment complex, The Des Artiste. Later on, Rockmore always disparaged Neiman as a hack as Neiman’s fame grew. Neiman always credited Rockmore as a talented unrecognized artist and his friend. Rockmore created the beautiful large Oil you see and he did it Rockmore style. He also made 27 Silkscreens of this work that he called "The Ring" from the most famous poster of that fight. The fact that there are no known sketches of the fight and that the silkscreen looks like the most famous picture of the fight could lead some to say he created it from the photo. Rockmore was no stranger to boxing painting and in 1964 actually created a beautiful oil of the vanquished by Ali, Sonny Liston, Rockmore jazz portrait style. This is where art promoter and Rockmore one time manager 1984-1985, Sir William "Lon" May, also known as Bill May from Lagrange, Georgia enters the picture. Bill May, a Rockmore patron since the early 60s, felt that this silkscreen could be just the ticket to boost Rockmore to the national fame that had so long eluded him. He went in with Rockmore to create 250 of these works that would now be titled "The Fight" instead of "The Ring." Both Rockmore & May told many folks that they had “ringside” seats to this fight in New Orleans. Given William May’s Louisiana status, it is quite possible they did and given May & Rockmore’s story telling abilities, it’s also possible they did not. The fact that the silkscreen was not promoted until 1985 in Art News when May was managing Rockmore and that there are no known sketches is important to note. Rockmore insisted on hand painting a Gold Leaf stripe on Ali's trunks on each print and a Silver leaf on Spinks trunk. THIS WORK IS UNIQUE IN THAT SPINKS HAS A COPPER LEAF STRIPE. The silkscreens were all signed titled and dated by Rockmore as well and shrink-wrapped onto cardboard and prepared for sale. Then William May took out a $10,000 ad in Art News featuring the print which was also Rockmore's first time to be in Art News although his mother, Gladys Rockmore Davis once made the cover. The prints were listed at $1000 each which is about 10 times more than Rockmore had sold his prints before and the sales were far from brisk. Yet, the print was complicated and brilliant requiring multiple pulls and settings and each was unique and also numbered and signed correctly with hand painted Gold & Silver Leaf. The majority of these unsold "The Fight" prints moved around together as a very large lot of well over 100 and were bought and sold by various dealers until 2009 when the current owner from San Francisco decided he wanted to donate them to a Non Profit for the tax write off and contacted us. We referred him to The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Non Profit Foundation who has been Noel Rockmore Project supporters and mentors since our first meeting at Preservation Hall in 2007. Who was Noel Rockmore? See Wikipedia- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noel_RockmoreNoel Rockmore was an undiscovered American Master of the last half of the 20thCentury who split his lifetime between New York and New Orleans. He was recognized and had shows at The Whitney, MOMA, the Met & the Hirshhorn as Noel Davis before he was 28. His parents, Floyd Davis& Gladys Rockmore Davis, were two of the most recognized artist in America from the 1930s through the 1940s. The Noel Rockmore Project has been working to bring this master artist to light for the past 20 years after 1500 works of Noel Rockmore were discovered in Shirley Marvin's storage in New Orleans after Katrina. There is a nice 10 page Rockmore article in a major publication by John Ed Bradley called The Tomb of Noel Rockmore and Rockmore was included in a Show in Marfa Texas in spring 2011. Rockmore had another show in Lagrange, GA that opened with a three day bash on October 28-30, 2011. He was in a 2012 show at the Cahoon Museum, Ogden Museum & NOMA in New Orleans. In the summer of 2013 a major Rockmore Show took place at The Louisiana Arts & Science Museum in Baton Rouge LA opening on July 25th, 2013. The Show, “The Genius of Noel Rockmore” opened in Lake Charles, LA on September 5th , 2014 with over 135 works. Terms & Conditions: Shipping is Free in the Continental US and will be packed and insured by the seller. International shipping, if considered, must be paid for by the buyer.If you have a question, ASK BEFORE YOU BID. International bidders must get approval by email first.PayPal only for this Item All sales are considered final, unless we have overlooked something or made a significant error in our description.Payment is expected within 3 days. Please put this item on your Watch List if you are interested. Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

Price: 150 USD

Location: Cotuit, Massachusetts

End Time: 2024-11-06T23:42:47.000Z

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