Leonard Edmondson

Garden of Eden

c. 1960

Leonard Edmondson began his career at the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned a Master of Arts degree. After service in the U.S. Army Military Intelligence, during World War II, Edmondson embarked on a distinguished teaching career that spanned five decades and culminated in his position as Chair of the art department at California State University Los Angeles. A renowned printmaker whose work was informed by the experimental printmaking techniques of Stanley William Hayter, Edmondson also worked in a range of other media including oil paint, watercolor and collage. By 1950, Edmondson’s work had evolved from figurative representation into abstraction, in what he cited as a journey of inspiration, discovery and meaning. His distinctive style is inspired by the abstract surrealism of Paul Klee (which he had viewed in Europe during World War II) and the intuitive expressionism espoused by Hans Hofmann. Edmondson's vernacular invokes in his own words ‘almost remembered' forms, feelings and spaces, “This vocabulary manifests itself in a dynamic structure where color responds to the size and position of shapes and reinforces the intent of the composition. My painting is not art of rebellion but one of discovery and sharing.”