Frederick William Leist Art

This stunning romantic Art Deco portrait oil painting is by noted Australian/British artist Frederick Leist. He was born in Sydney, his parents both Londoners, and moved to England with his wife Ada in 1910 and exhibited prolifically, including at the Royal Academy, on his return. Like many artists, he became a war artist during the first world war and his dramatic battle scenes contrast markedly with his more delicate portraits. This composition is of a beautiful young woman kneeling on the ground, a striped blanket covers her head and auburn curls and is around her shoulders and spread out on the ground around her. In one hand and scattered around her are beautiful pink flowers the colour of her lips. One shoulder and her face are bathed in light as she gazes down to her left, lost in thought. The brushwork and use of light are superb. Almost Orientalist by design, it is a super roaring twenties painting, full of vitality and impressionistic colour and influences and an excellent example of Leist's work. Signed lower right. Provenance. Collection IMI PLC. Condition. Oil on canvas. Unframed size is 30 inches by 25 inches, in excellent condition. Housed in a fine Bourlet gilt gallery frame. Framed size is 40 inches by 35 inches, in excellent condition. Frederick William (Fred) Leist (1873-1945) born Sydney. He was the eighth surviving and fifteenth child of Edward Frederick Leist, builder, and his wife Harriet Eliza, née Norris, both Londoners. Leist was educated at Crown Street Public School and, while training as a furniture designer in the workshops of David Jones Ltd, studied art at Sydney Technical College before becoming a student of the Art Society of New South Wales; under Julian Ashton's tuition he learned plein air techniques. 1898 he married Ada Sarah Roberts. Leist drew for the Bulletin in the 1890s and became staff artist on the Sydney Mail; he was also local representative for the London Graphic from 1900. According to William Moore he 'was the first to portray the Australian girl as a definite type'. Leist was an original council-member of the Society of Artists, Sydney, in 1895 and, after their merger, of the Royal Art Society of New South Wales. However in 1907 he was one of the twelve who re-established the Society of Artists. The Leists moved to England and from 1910 to 1925 he exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy of Arts. His first successful picture, 'The Mirror', a portrait of his daughter, was hung on the line at the Royal Academy in 1911 and next year at the Salon de la Société des Artistes Français. At the 1914 Royal Academy exhibition his painting of two Spanish guitar players, 'The Rivals', was acclaimed. The Review critic wrote: 'it is a composition in light and a pattern of colour, given power and meaning by restraint'. Noted for his studies of handsome women, Leist was elected to the Royal Society of British Artists and to the Chelsea Arts Club in 1913 and next year to the Royal Institute of Oil Painters; later he also exhibited with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. During World War I, Leist worked for the War Office designing recruiting posters. Then, in September 1917, he was appointed an official war artist with the Australian Imperial Force and attached to 5th Division headquarters as an honorary lieutenant. From September to December and from June to August 1918, 'dodging shells and mustard gas', he produced about 150 small sketches, drawings and watercolours, and a portrait of Lieutenant-General Sir Talbot Hobbs. He later fulfilled commissions to paint four large battle scenes including 'Battle of Polygon Wood' and 'Capture of Mont St Quentin'. The striking colours of these battle scenes are in strong contrast to the delicacy and muted tones of his watercolours such as 'The Lacemaker'. In London, Leist consolidated his reputation: he was represented in the 1918 exhibition of Australian war...