(1866–1955)
One of the most renowned painters of the American west, William Robinson Leigh initially worked in an academic style. Born into an affluent Virginia family, he began his career as a student at the Maryland Institute of Art under Hugh Newell. Showing much artistic promise, he traveled abroad in 1883, studying for several years at the Royal Academy in Munich. On his return to the United States in 1896, Leigh established a studio in New York City, where he hoped to concentrate on easel paintings. The public, however, was over-enamored of French painting at the time, which Leigh found totally repugnant. For the following ten years, Leigh supplemented his income by illustrating for top publications such as Harpers, Scribner's, Colliers, and McClure's.
Finding little inspiration in illustrating, Leigh took his first journey to the Southwest in 1906 at the age of forty, marking the beginning of fifty years of painting western subjects that brought him medals, honors, one-man shows, and critical acclaim. Leigh arranged his first trip west with the Santa Fe Railroad Company in exchange for several paintings. It was the most important trip of his career, for Leigh finally realized that his life and art were destined to revolve around the Southwest. He was completely absorbed in the landscape and the people. Leigh found that the bright, overpowering light of the intense Southwestern sun created vivid colors and extremely high contrasts, color harmonies which were well suited for his palette. He wrote: “At last I was in the land where I was to prove whether I was fit—worthy of the opportunity—able to do it justice—or just a dunderhead."
Although he maintained his New York City residence, Leigh often traveled to Southwestern regions, finding renewed inspiration and making numerous drawings and color sketches of the vivid landscape, people, and animals. On one such trip in 1909, he returned to the Grand Canyon equipped with a tent, blankets, camping gear, and food. He was taken down a trail by mules to Columbus Point, a terraced ledge extending three miles into the canyon. There Leigh spent a month alone producing color sketches at different times of the day, with varying light and cloud conditions, to use for his large studio works which he would complete on his return.
From 1906 to 1914, Leigh's work was characterized predominately by landscapes in the grand manner of Thomas Moran, who urged Leigh when they met in 1908 to paint American subjects. His paintings were carefully constructed narratives meant to enlighten the viewer about western life. By the 1930s, Leigh’s paintings began to sell on a large scale, and by the 1940s, his fame as a western artist was secure and his paintings were selling quickly. Among his illustrious patrons and collectors were the Duke of Windsor, King Leopold of Belgium, Texas millionaire C.R. Smith, and oil tycoon Thomas Gilcrease.
Among Leigh's many other achievements include a commission from the American Museum of Natural History to visit Africa and produce painted backgrounds for the museum's African Hall, where these dioramas remain on view today. He wrote and illustrated The Western Pony (1933), and Frontiers of Enchantment (1938), among other books. He was married to fashion designer Ethel Traphagen; together they founded the Traphagen School of Fashion in New York City. Leigh exhibited extensively throughout his life in prestigious venues including, the Paris Salon, National Academy of Design, Royal Academy, Munich; and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
