Michael Leonard Art
British, 1933-2023
Born in India in 1933 to British parents, at the end of the war in Europe Leonard returned to England to complete his education. In 1954, after two years of National Service in the army, he went to St Martin’s School of Art in London and studied Commercial Design and Illustration. By the time he left Art School in 1957 he was already working as a freelance illustrator and for many years was busy producing artwork for books, magazines, advertising and the press.
As an illustrator he worked in a small studio attached to the offices of his agents ‘Artist Partners’ in Soho. Meanwhile at home he experimented, trying to discover his voice as a painter. His work eventually came to the attention of Fischer Fine Art, a distinguished London gallery of the day and in 1972 several of his paintings were included in one of their group shows. In 1974 they gave him his first One Man Show and after that he gradually left illustration behind.
He was nearly forty when his life as an exhibiting painter began. At first his pictures tended to be formal, sober and low key — an attempt perhaps to distance himself from the sensational values of the commercial world. People sat in rooms, posed with their dogs in London’s parks or went sailing on the river. By degrees his work became more animated and colourful.
The people in his pictures were usually friends who were kind enough to model for him but he also painted portraits to commission and among his subjects were Lincoln Kirstein, Edward Lucie-Smith, Adrian Ward Jackson, Sir Peter Moores and the Marquess and Marchioness of Hartington (now the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire). In 1985 Reader’s Digest commissioned him to paint a portrait of H.M. Queen Elizabeth II in honour of her sixtieth birthday. (It is now in the National Portrait Gallery’s permanent collection).
The nude, particularly the male nude, has been a recurring theme. His figures are usually on the move or in a state of transition but even when they are at rest dynamism is provided by the design of the picture. This can be seen in Vanitas, (a sleeping man cradling a skull) Watermelons, (a torso as part of a ‘tableau’ with fruit) and in Pomegranate Man and Nectarine Man. Almost all his paintings of the nude are based on drawings which, besides being preparatory studies, are ends in themselves.
Michael died in London on 28 July 2023.(Biography provided by Henry Miller Fine Art)
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Artist: Michael Leonard
Change into White
By Michael Leonard
Located in London, GB
Graphite pencil on paper, signed and dated (middle right), 22cm x 20cm, (51cm x 46cm framed). (This work was kept by the artist for his personal collection. This was the only tonal d...
Category
1990s Contemporary Michael Leonard Art
Materials
Paper, Carbon Pencil
White Hairbrush II
By Michael Leonard
Located in London, GB
Graphite pencil on paper, 18.5cm x 19cm, (framed 50cm x 42cm). (Provenance: from the artist.)
Leonard is probably best known for his portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth, in the National ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Michael Leonard Art
Materials
Paper, Carbon Pencil
Man Reaching Down: Tondo
By Michael Leonard
Located in London, GB
Alkyd-oil on Masonite, signed and dated (middle left), 61cm (diam.), (83cm diam. framed). (This work was kept by the artist for his personal collection. It remained in his collection...
Category
1980s Post-War Michael Leonard Art
Materials
Oil, Board
Male Bather on Gold
By Michael Leonard
Located in London, GB
Acrylic on canvas, signed and dated (lower right), 44cm x 39cm (67cm x 63cm framed). (This work was kept by the artist for his personal collection. It remained in his collection unti...
Category
1980s Post-War Michael Leonard Art
Materials
Acrylic, Cotton Canvas
Vanitas (unfinished)
By Michael Leonard
Located in London, GB
Alkyd-oil on board, 81cm diam., (100cm diam framed).
Although most famous for his portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth in the National Portrait Gallery, London, from the late 1970s up un...
Category
Early 2000s Post-War Michael Leonard Art
Materials
Board, Oil
Chimera I
By Michael Leonard
Located in London, GB
Michael Leonard, (British b.1933), Chimera I, 1975, Graphite pencil on paper, initialled (lower left), signed and dated (lower right), 15cm x 14cm, (35cm x 32cm framed)
Michael Leon...
Category
1970s Post-War Michael Leonard Art
Materials
Paper, Pencil
Against the Glass
By Michael Leonard
Located in London, GB
Alkyd-oil on Masonite board, 102cm x 83cm, (124cm x 104cm framed). The painting comes directly from the artist.
Michael Leonard is most probably most famous for his portrait of HM ...
Category
Early 2000s Post-War Michael Leonard Art
Materials
Masonite, Alkyd
Alan, Bella, Brick and Slate
By Michael Leonard
Located in London, GB
Acrylic on Masonite board, signed and dated (lower middle), 70cm x 70cm (91cm x 91cm framed). Price on request
This work depicts Alan and his dog, Bella, on Michael Leonard’s balcon...
Category
1970s Post-War Michael Leonard Art
Materials
Acrylic, Board
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Theseus and the Minotaur represents the highest achievement from Leonard's transitional period of the late 1960's. It demonstrates his mastery of the illustrative style. Aware that he has exhausted the possibilities offered to him, the artist would soon move on to a mode of academic realism based on photo studies.
In this piece, the subdued and earthy palate accentuates the the hero's pale flesh. It glows in comparison the the chalky grays and clay browns that frame it. The subtle graduation of tone in the subject's face signals the method Leonard would use to create almost shadowless compositions in coming years.
Tradition artistic interpretations of the myth show two figures in battle, most frequently depicting the hero slaying the monster. This provocative image disorients the viewer, suggesting a gentle, intimate friendship. Adding to the complicated task of interpreting the image are factors or race and sexual orientation. Considering that Theseus and the Minotaur was painted in 1969, we can safely assert that it is a daring and prescient work that anticipates sexual freedoms of the decade to come.
Price on request
Biography:
BORN: Bangalore, India of British parents, 1933
EDUCATION:
1972 First exhibited as a painter. Gradually relinquished Illustration to paint
full time.
Lives and works in London.
1957-72 Worked as an a freelance illustrator with Artists Partners
1954-57 Studied Graphic Design and Illustration at St. Martin’s School of Art, London
ONE-PERSON EXHIBITIONS:
2009 New Paintings & Drawings, Forum Gallery, NY (catalogue)
2007 Michael Leonard; Master of Ambiguity: Paintings, Drawings, and
Portraits, Jonathan Edwards College, Yale University, New
Haven, CT (catalogue)
2004 Drawings by Michael Leonard, Thomas Gibson Fine Art, London,
England (catalogue)
1999 Forum Gallery, New York, NY (catalogue)
1997 Thomas Gibson Fine Art, London, England (catalogue)
1993 Thomas Gibson Fine Art, London, England
1992 Verisimilitude, Stiebel Modern, New York, NY (catalogue)
1989 Retrospective, Artsite Gallery, Bath, England
1988 Fischer Fine Art, London, England (catalogue)
1983 Fischer Fine Art, London, England (catalogue)
1980 Fischer Fine Art, London, England (catalogue)
1977 Fischer Fine Art, London, England (catalogue)
Michael Leonard/Drawings, Harriet Griffin Fine Arts, New York, NY
Retrospective, Gemeentemuseum, Arnhem, The Netherlands
1974 Fischer Fine Art, London, England (catalogue)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2018 Artists by Artists: The Artist as Subject, Forum Gallery, New York, NY
2017-18 Favorite Things: A Holiday Exhibition, Forum Gallery, New York, NY
2016-17 Contemporary Old Masters, Louisiana Art & Science Museum, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
2014 Wives, Daughters and Lovers, Forum Gallery, New York, NY
Re-presenting Representation VIII, Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY
2013 Singular Vision, Forum Gallery, New York, NY
2012 Perception of Self, Forum Gallery, New York, NY
Five Decades: Art and Artists of Forum Gallery, 1962-2012, Forum Gallery, New York, NY
2010 Contemporary Paintings, Drawings & Sculpture: A Summer
Selection, Forum Gallery, New York, NY
2010 Re-Presenting the Nude, EVOKE Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM
2009 Summer Selections, Forum Gallery, New York, NY
2008 New Acquisitions, Forum Gallery, New York, NY
2007-08 About Face; Portraiture Now, Long Beach Museum of Art, CA
2006 The Fine Art of Drawing: Modern & Contemporary Works on Paper, Forum Gallery, New York, NY
2005 Cover Story: The Art and Photojournalism of the Sunday Times
Magazine, Nikon and Proud Galleries
What is Realism? Albermarle Gallery, London
2005 Collector’s Show, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR
The Figurative Impulse, Forum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2004 Masters and Mavericks, Seraphin Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2003 Collector’s Show, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR
Contemporary Works on Paper, Forum Gallery, New York, NY
Modern and Contemporary Portraits curated by Townsend
Wolfe, Forum Gallery, New York, NY
2002 Artists of the Ideal, Palazzo Forte, Galleria d’Arte Moderna,
Verona
2001 Between Heaven and Earth-New Classical Movements in the Art
of Today, Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Ostende, Belgium
2000 The Male Form in Contemporary Art, Art and Culture Center,
Hollywood, FL
Still Lifes, William Baczek Fine Arts, Northampton, MA
1999 The Nude in Contemporary Art, The Aldrich Museum of
Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
1998 Still Life Painting Today, Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, NC
Apple of My Eye: Selections of Paintings and Works on Paper,
Kraushaar Gallery, New York, NY
It’s Still Life, Forum Gallery, New York, NY
1998 Collector’s Show, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AR
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT
1997 Animals in Art, Sotheby’s: London (touring Brighton & Preston)
Re-presenting Representation III, Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY
Ars Erotica, Edward Lucie-Smith, Rizzoli, New York, NY
1994 Naked Men and Women in American Art, Midtown Payson
Galleries, New York, NY
1991 In Human Terms, Stiebel Modern, New York, NY
1987-88 The Self Portrait: A Modern View, Artsite, Bath (touring
exhibition organized by Sean Kelly and Edward Lucie-
Smith)
1983 8 British Realists, Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York, NY
Urban Landscape, Oldham Museum and Art Gallery, Oldham, UK
Pintura Brittanica Contemporanea, Museo Municipal, Madrid,
Spain
British Realists, Robin Gibson Gallery, Darlinghurst, New South
Wales
The Male Nude: A Modern View, Homeworks, London (Organized
by Francois de Louville)
1982 Fischer Group Show, Solomon Gallery, Dublin
1981 Various Approaches, Fischer Fine Art, London
The Real British, Fischer Fine Art, London (organized by Edward
Lucie-Smith)
Fischer Fine Art, London
1980 Nudes, Angela Flowers, London
1979-80 The Craft of Art, Peter Moore’s Liverpool Project 5, Walker Art
Gallery, Liverpool
1979 Figurative Approach 4, Fischer Fine Art, London
1978 John Moores’ 11, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Figurative Approach 3, Fischer Fine Art, London
1976 Fischer Fine Art, London
1975 Aspects of Realism, touring exhibition in Canada (organized by
Rothmans)
John Moores’ 10, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Figurative Approach, Fischer Fine Art, London
1975 Realismus and Realitat, Kunsthalle, Darmstadt
Fischer Fine Art, London
1973 Fischer Fine Art, London
1972 English Explorations, Fischer Fine Art, London
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Books; Monographs:
Drawn to the Past, Foreword by Anthea Gibson, Thomas Gibson Fine
Art, London, 1993
Changing II (augmented edition of Changing), Editions Aubrey
Walters, London, 1992
Michael Leonard: Paintings, Foreword by Lincoln Kirstein, Edward Lucie-Smith in conversation with the artist, GMP Publishers, London, 1985
Changing: 50 Drawings, Introduction by Edward Lucie-Smith, GMP Publishers, London, 1983
Books; Illustrated:
The Folk Songs of North America, Alan Lomax, Cassell, London, 1960
The Kingdom of Carbonel, Barbara Sleigh, Max Parrish, London, 1959
When Wendy Grew Up – An Afterthought, J.M. Barrie, Nelson, Edinburgh
Articles / Reviews:
Lucie-Smith, Edward. “Modern Virtuoso.” Art Review. June 1997.
Norman, Geraldine. “Nudes Inspired by Past Masters.” The Independent.
June 21, 1993.
Packer, William. “Back to Real Painting.” The Financial Times, June
22, 1993.
Sewell, Brian. “Nude Awakening...
Category
1960s Realist Michael Leonard Art
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Masonite, Acrylic
Man Undressing (black male nude)
By Michael Leonard
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Stunning portrait by American artist, Michael Leonard (b.1933). Man Undressing, 1991. Lithograph on paper, image measures 13.75 x 15 inches on a sheet 23 x 29.5 inches. Measures 23.5...
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1990s Realist Michael Leonard Art
Materials
Lithograph
Michael Leonard art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Michael Leonard art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Michael Leonard in paint, board, synthetic resin paint and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 1970s and is mostly associated with the post-war style. Not every interior allows for large Michael Leonard art, so small editions measuring 13 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of William Theophilus Brown, Paul Wonner, and Morris Louis. Michael Leonard art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $7,005 and tops out at $44,595, while the average work can sell for $31,853.