Live the Legacy: David Mann and the Harley That Started It All

Before David Mann painted the biker world, he lived in it. Mann was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1940 and studied at the Kansas City Art Institute. After returning to his hometown, he bought his first bike, a 1948 Harley-Davidson Panhead, and painted his first motorcycle-themed piece, “Hollywood Run.” He propped that watercolor next to his motorcycle at the 1963 Kansas City Custom Car Show, and Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, the customizer and publisher of Chopper magazine, bought the painting for $85. In 1971, Mann answered an ad for a “motorcycle artist” in a new magazine called Easyriders, and his centerfold paintings went on to hang in garages and clubhouses across the country. Riders called him the Norman Rockwell of the biker world, and he was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2004, the same year he passed away. David Mann (artist) +5

Mann’s work is part of “Live the Legacy: Patty Bush Doc’s Harley-Davidson Private Collection,” now live on GRSAuctions.com and LiveAuctioneers. “Family” (Lot [#]) is a framed giclée on canvas, hand-signed and numbered as an Artist Proof, A/P 3 of 10, a run far smaller than a standard edition. “Delirium” (Lot [#]) shows off Mann’s wilder side: a skeleton riding a chopper across a tattooed back, framed by a dragon, a coiled green viper, and swirling koi against a fiery sky. Both pieces come from the collection Patty built at Doc’s Harley-Davidson in Kirkwood, the dealership her father, Ralph “Doc” Schneidewind, founded in 1955.

Mann started with a Panhead and a paintbrush in Kansas City, and his art has belonged to Missouri riders ever since. See these pieces in person at our collection preview on Monday, November 16, from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Integration Controls showroom, 10164 Watson Road, Sunset Hills. Bidding closes Wednesday, November 18, starts closing at 1PM. Browse every lot and place your bids at GRSAuctions.com or on LiveAuctioneers. Tap, Bid, Win.

Live the Legacy: Patty Bush Doc's Harley Davidson Private Collection