Painter and sketch artist LeRoy Neiman, best known for evoking the kinetic energy of the world’s biggest sporting and leisure events with bright quick strokes, has died at the age of 91.

Mr Neiman was the official painter of five Olympiads and was a contributing artist at Playboy magazine for many years.

His long-time publicist, Gail Parenteau, confirmed his death at a Manhattan hospital but did not disclose the cause.

Mr Neiman was a media-savvy artist who knew how to enthral audiences with his instant renditions of what he observed.

In 1972, he sketched the world chess tournament between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer in Reykjavik, Iceland, for a live television audience.

He also produced live drawings of the Olympics for TV and was the official computer artist of the Super Bowl for CBS.

Mr Neiman’s “reportage of history and the passing scene ... revived an almost lost and time-honoured art form”, according to a 1972 exhibit of his Olympics