Question of the Day - 06 November 2023

Out of upwards of 6,500 questions that we've answered and perhaps four times that amount submitted in total, we've never been asked this before. 

The Art of Gambling was published in early 2000. Our foray into large-format full-color coffee-table books, it's a highly produced visual documentation of the history of gambling through fine artwork. The collection of 120 photos depicts gambling scenes dating back 2,500 years and features the works of some of history’s most acclaimed artists, including Cézanne, Picasso, Van Gogh, Degas, and (LeRoy) Neiman.

Those were selected by Art Flowers who, in fact, was Anthony Curtis' father. (He passed away a number of years ago.)

Art, as he was known by everyone (except Anthony and his brother Erik, a.k.a. the Las Vegas Miser, who called him Dad), was a kind of Renaissance man who had an interest and expertise in many aspects of life, but in his later years after he and his wife June relocated to Las Vegas, his passion became art (and yes, we believe there was a connection between his shortened name and his chosen subject). Art attended art-history classes at UNLV and pored over literally hundreds of books to cull the myriad images that have survived, at least via photos, illustrating gambling and games. 

Then the challenge was securing reprint rights from the copyright owners, which was a long, involved, and somewhat expensive process. In addition, in a major coup, we solicited LeRoy Neiman, the American artist known for his brilliantly colored expressionist paintings and screen prints of athletes, musicians, and sporting events, including gambling games and casinos, to pen the Foreword. 

Finally, Anthony wrote the text that accompanies each image, with his expert analysis of the gambling action being portrayed in the works.

On a personal note, Art and June were sort of surrogate parents to the "family" of LVA/Huntington Press staff over many years and some of you might remember June from when she was a receptionist/order taker/shipper/all-around problem solver. After Art died, June moved to southern California to be closer to her younger sister Jackie, who also worked at Huntington Press for many years as office manager. It's been something of a family business, which is fortunate, since Anthony (and Erik) come from such good stock!