Michael Leonard Nude Drawings and Watercolors
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.to
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Artist: Michael Leonard
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...
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1970s Post-War Michael Leonard Nude Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
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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 ...
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21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Michael Leonard Nude Drawings and Watercolors
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Artist Statement
"I started by painting interiors, being interested in space and perspective through my studies. These scenes evolved, when I added the human figure. I focused more on the human figure and its relation to the background. The human figure is more present than ever in my paintings now.
As a woman artist I’ve been preoccupied with the female form and its imagery. One of my goals was to capture the solitary moments and the nude’s relation to the surrounding space.
My interest turned from depicting the space to rendering the atmosphere and the scene as a whole, the feeling a woman adds to the environment: warmth, desire, joy, a feeling of power and control, or the opposite – sadness, despair.
Here is a collection of figurative paintings, exploring the nudes in interior spaces, seeing the nudes from my perspective, as a woman artist, considering the physical and spiritual realities of a woman’s body, in a new level of intimacy. My paintings are the opposite of objectifying a woman’s or a man’s anatomy. Painted works, featuring female nudes and a also men nudes, in a reversal of the male-artist/female-muse pattern, validate the feminine experience, defining myself through it.
I was interested in how one experiences the body in a sensual form, and later focused on my own body, as I experience it myself, looking into the mirror and reconnecting.
My work challenges the tradition of the nude by capturing my point of view, the gaze of a female painter, by using photography, drawings, sketches, and painting on canvas, for, both physical and psychological exploration.
My art tries to create a visual language for emotion, beauty, feelings of intimacy and in the same time autonomy, captured with paint and vivid colors. My intense interest in color and the gestures of the brush strokes are the means I see and convey the subjects in space, as living, passionate beings."
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Michael Leonard nude drawings and watercolors for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Michael Leonard nude drawings and watercolors available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Michael Leonard in paper, pencil, carbon pencil and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the contemporary style. Not every interior allows for large Michael Leonard nude drawings and watercolors, so small editions measuring 13 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Francine Auvrouin, Julita Malinowska, and Garek. Michael Leonard nude drawings and watercolors prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $7,140 and tops out at $29,200, while the average work can sell for $12,978.