Artists
William Leigh
American, 1866-1955William Robinson Leigh is best known for his portrayal of the Southwestern United States and its inhabitants, especially the native people of the Zuni, Hopi and Navajo tribes. Although W.R. Leigh was born in West Virginia, his mother's ancestral line included the Native American Princess, Pocahontas. Leigh's knowledge of this tie led him to deeply empathize with Native Americans and later prompted him to depict their lives and stories on canvas. He captured the beauty and simplicity of their everyday lives against the breathtaking backdrop of the desert landscape. His combination of bold color and the subdued shades of the Southwest earned him the title "Sagebrush Rembrandt."
Leigh's love of sketching and capturing the visual imagery of the world around him inspired his mother to send him to the Maryland Institute when he was 14. Leigh enjoyed the challenge art school offered him and spent many hours in the gardens of Baltimore carefully rendering images of the plants and wildlife. In 1883, Leigh continued his studies in Munich with the painting instructor Ludwig Loeffitz. Here, Leigh was exposed to the dark, rich palette of masters such as Rembrandt. In 1906, at the bequest of a friend from Munich, Leigh made his first trip to the Southwest. To fund his train fare westward, Leigh struck a deal with the Santa Fe Railroad to paint images of the Grand Canyon for their advertising.
Leigh's deal with the railroad was an incredible opportunity. Not only did he travel west, but he was also commissioned for five additional paintings. After their completion, he traveled to Arizona, the Dakotas and eventually Wyoming. In 1912, he was introduced to Juan Lorenzo Hubbell, who owned a trading post in Ganado, Arizona. Hubbell was a great friend of the Navajo Nation, and introduced Leigh to its people and way of life. Leigh instantly connected with the celebration of the land and all that it offered its inhabitants. He was invited to witness ceremonial dances and rituals of the Navajo. This connection with and awareness of the lifestyles of the Native American people of the Southwest gives Leigh's pieces a poignancy and accuracy that few other artists of his genre possess.
Leigh moved to New York, and was taken on by first the Snedecor and Babcock Gallery, and later by the Grand Central Gallery as an illustrator of the American West. He viewed the current Abstract Expressionist trend as cold and elitist and strived to bring the warmth and joy of human life to the public through his work. His success in this mission occurred when he met and fell in love with the fashion designer, Ethel Traphagen, and together they opened the highly successful Traphagen School of Fashion in New York. Leigh offered classes in figure drawings at the school, and his skill as an artist combined with his kind hearted enthusiasm for his students drew new attention to his work.
In the late twenties Leigh journeyed to Africa twice in order find material to complete a mural commission for Eastman Kodak and the American Museum of Natural History. These two murals raised even more public awareness, and by the 1930s and 40s Leigh was an established and successful artist. He continued to work well into his eighties and his art only improved with age. After his death in 1955, the Grand Central Gallery ran one final tribute to Leigh, who had become something of a Western legend. His faithful wife Ethel made his works available to the public through donation to museums. Today, collections of Leigh's art can be seen at the Gilcrease Museum, Huntington Museum, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, the Amon Carter Museum, and the National Cowboy Hall of Fame.
Leigh's evocative use of color and touching scenes of daily lives continue to draw viewers in, as climbing auction prices attest. His sensitivity as an artist and compassion as a human being are evident in his tender depictions of Native American women in their humble routines. The spirit of the Southwest that Leigh draws upon is as soft as the wind that whispers through the canyons. It is not the image of gunfights and heroes, but the exquisite beauty of the life that blooms under the stark desert sky.