Leonard Waegell Edmondson (1916-2002). Ceramic with sgraffito and fired opaque polychrome. 6.5 inches tall. 4.5 inches circumference. Excellent condition with no damage or restoration. Signed and dated at base.
Biography:
Birth place: Sacramento, CA
Addresses: Pasadena, CA
Profession: Etcher, painter, teacher
Studied: Los Angeles City College; Univ. Calif., Berkeley (A.B., 1940; M.A., 1942).
Exhibited: Felix Landau Gal., Los Angeles, 1951 (solo); de Young Mus., 1952 (solo); SFMA, 1946-52; Los Angeles Mus. Art, 1947-52; AIC, 1948; BM, 1950, 1952; Denver Art Mus., 1947, 1951, 1952; PAFA, 1952-54, 1960; WMAA, 1952-53, 1956, 1958; Univ. Illinois, 1953; Corcoran Gal, 1953-59; American Watercolors, Drawings & Prints, MMA, 1952; Younger American Painters, Guggenheim Mus., 1954; American Prints Today, Print Council Am., 1962; Int. Triennial of Original Colored Graphics, Switzerland, 1964; Graphics ’71 West Coast USA, Univ. Kentucky, 1971. Awards: SFMA, 1946, 1949, 1951, 1952; Los Angeles County Fair, 1950, 1951; Calif. State Fair, 1951, 1952; SAM, 1952; BM, 1952; Walnut Creek (CA) Art Festival, 1952; Oakland Art Gal., 1952; Pasadena AI, 1952; MMA 1952; Bradley Univ., 1952; Tiffany Fnd. grant, 1952; purchase prize for oil, Univ. Illinois, 1955; purchase prize for etching, Brooklyn Mus., 1956; purchase prize for etching, Pasadena Art Mus., 1958.
Member: AEA; San Francisco AA; Los Angeles AA.
Work: Pasadena AI; State of California Collection; MoMA; MMA; BM; SAM; Univ. Delaware; NY Public Library; Univ. Calif. at Los Angeles; Bibliothèque Nat., Paris; San Francisco Mus. Art; Pasadena Art Mus. Commissions: edition of etchings, Intl. Graphic Arts Soc., NY, 1960, Hilton Hotel, NY, 1962, Ferdinand Roten Galleries, Inc., NY, 1966; U.S. Info. Agency, Wash., DC, 1967.
Comments: Served in U.S. Army, 1942-46. Teaching: instructor, Pasadena City College, Pasadena, CA, 1947-; art professor, Calif. State Univ., Los Angeles, 1964-. Author: Etching Van Nostrand.
Collections:
Arkansas Art Center
Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris
Brooklyn Museum, NY
California State University, Los Angeles Cornell University, NY
Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan Dallas Museum of Fine Art, Texas
De Corda Museum, Massachusetts Detroit Museum of Art, Michigan Grunwald Collection, Los Angeles Ithaca College Museum of Art, NY Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection, D.C. Lindenood College, Missouri
Los Angeles County Museum of Art Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
Miller Collection
Montana State University, Bozeman Munson Williams Proctor Institute, NY National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. New York Public Library, NY
Oakland Art Museum, California
Olivet College, Michigan
Orange Coast College, California
Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles Pasadena Art Museum, CA Philadelphia Museum of Fine Art, PA Rutgers University
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California Seattle Art Museum, Washington
St. Lawrence University
State of California, Sacramento
United States Information Agency University of California, Los Angeles University of Colorado
University of Delaware
University of Illinois
University of North Carolina
University of North Dakota
University of the Pacific, CA
University of Southern Illinois University of Wisconsin
Victoria and Albert Museum, London Virginia Museum of Fine Art
Hudson D. Walker Collection
Western New Mexico University Western Michigan University Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts
Leonard Edmondson was born in Sacramento on June 21, 1916. He studied at Los Angeles City College, and in 1937 entered the University of California at Berkeley, receiving his B.A. in 1940 and his M.A. in 1942. Concurrently with beginning teaching in 1947 at the Pasadena City College, Edmondson became absorbed with Klee and Kandinsky and their influence can be seen in his imagery.
He took a class in etching in 1951 from Ernest Freed and the following year his print, Heralds of Inquiry, won an award at an annual exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. His first solo museum exhibition at the De Young Memorial Museum in 1952 was followed by solos at the Pasadena Art Museum and the Santa Barbara Museum.
His talent brought him two Tiffany Fellowship awards as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship. Edmondson also taught at the Otis Art Institute, University of California at Berkeley (summers of 1960 & 1964), Pratt Institute, and in 1964 he was appointed chairman of the printmaking department at California State University in Los Angeles. In 1967 a retrospective of his work was held at the San Francisco Museum of Art and he published his technical treatise, Etching, in 1970.