- Also known as
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Leon Underwood
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primary name: Underwood, Leon
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other name: Underwood, George Claude Leon
- Details
- individual; sculptor/medallist; printmaker; British; Male
- Life dates
- 1890-1975
- Biography
- Sculptor, painter, printmaker, author and collector of African art. Born in London, studied at RCA, served in WWI, then taught at the Royal College of Art where his students included Henry Moore. In 1921 established his own Brook Green School of Art at Hammersmith, where he taught life-drawing to many artists who achieved fame later. The school remained active until 1954, instructing students in art theory, history and technique, including etching and wood engraving. His own etchings are mostly from 1921-3, and his wood-engravings are from c.1925, when he and his pupils founded the English Wood-Engraving Society, to the mid 1930s. His colour linocuts are from c.1935 to 1945.
The philosophy of the school was underpinned by Underwood's interest in Primitivism, which was reflected in his collection of African Art and his book 'Art for Heaven's Sake' (1934). He visited Mexico in 1927-8 for five months, inspired by the drawings of British artist Frederick Catherwood. Underwood travelled with an American writer, Phillips Russell, and they published a travel narrative, 'The Red Tiger: Adventures in Yucatán and Mexico' (1929), which included illustrations by Underwood. His Mexican prints were made in London on his return. In 1931 he co-founded in 1931 with Joseph Bard, a Hungarian poet and an expatriot in Britain 'The Island', a journal of art and literature. Went to West Africa in 1945, and returned with a large collection of works of African art, some of which he later sold to the BM.
- Bibliography
- Campbell Dodgson, 'The Etchings of Leon Underwood', Artwork May/August 1925
Christopher Neve, 'Leon Underwood', London 1974
Simon Martin (ed), 'LU figure and rhythm', Pallant House, 2015
