Hilton Leech, Mangrove Birds, Watercolor, 11 by 15 inches.
Hilton Leech had an important influence on the development of art in Sarasota. He came to the city in 1931 to help organize the Ringling School of Art as one of its first instructors. In 1934 he was working as an artist for the government and listed in the Report of the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for the Federal Emergency Relied Administration. From 1931 to 1945 he was an instructor at the Ringling School. A review of his work in the Sarasota Herald, February 13, 1939 reads, “Mr. Leech’s ‘Coal Tug,’ which depicts a dingy old tug boat with somber, snow covered mountains in the background, is a beautiful, forceful painting, not easily forgotten. ‘Montauk Harbor’, a symphony of greys, and ‘Apple Blossoms,’ were outstanding for their simplicity and unusual color. ‘Bay Street’ by Mr. Leech, is a subtler harmony of purple and grey, a simple interpretation of factory buildings at Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Leech’s watercolors are very direct, yet leave so much to the imagination that it is impossible to catch their full meaning at first glance, and the longer one looks the more he finds in them. There is a depth of color and feeling in each picture which is hard to describe.”
Leech took a leave of absence from the Ringling School for government service during World War II. Returning to Sarasota in 1946, Hilton and his wife Dorothy, founded the Amagansett Art School and continued to teach there and at Amagansett, Long Island for many years. Leech had over thirteen one man shows; his paintings exhibited at the Metropolitan and Whitney Museums in New York City, the Albright and Corcoran Galleries, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the National Gallery of Art. He won many prizes including the Joseph Meyer casein prize of the Audubon Society of Artists, the New York Watercolor Club purchase prize, and the Southeastern Annual watercolor prize. Leech is represented at the Dallas Museum, the High Museum, Atlanta, and the Hamilton Art Gallery in Hamilton, Ontario. In 1955 Leech was included in the Ringling Museum’s, Fifty Florida Painters.
After Leech’s death in 1969, artist Ben Stahl wrote the following memoriam, “I first met Hilton Leech in Sarasota many years ago. He asked me to judge an art show for the Art Association which at that time occupied a small store space on Palm Avenue. He amazed me with his energy. He seemed to be, everywhere at once. A one man art association, director, promoter, picture hanger, and janitor. No one was there to help him, he did all of the work himself. And after the judging was done, he grinned and asked me if I liked to fish. An hour later we were waist deep, wading in the sparkling blue Gulf, wearing only old pants and tennis shoes, and casting for snook. Hilton used a battered old reel and a very short rod. He apologized about the rod saying it used to be long, but big fish kept breaking it, making it smaller and smaller. I found out that this fellow had eyes as sharp as any Indian’s and could spot a snook lying under mangrove a hundred feet away. He would point it out, then insist that I make the first cast. But for some strange reason, that snook and a lot of his relatives preferred the plug that Hilton tossed at him rather than mine, even though our bait was identical. He was the friendliest, warmest, kindliest person I had ever met…Hilton was warmth. And in many of the dark ways of the heart we are all cold, and we seek that warmth because it is necessary in our lives…But Hilton was not only a wonderful person. Hilton Leech was a wonderful artist of superlative talent, and as a teacher he…took pride in the many triumphs earned by his students who loved him…” Leech’s book, The Joy of Watercolor was published posthumously in 1969.
Born: 1906, Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Died: 1969.
Education: With George Luks, Archile Gorky, George Pearse Ennis at the Grand Central Art School; Art Students League, NYC.
Membership: Florida Artists Group, 1952, 1953, president; Palm Beach Art League; Florida Federation of Art; American Watercolor Society; Philadelphia Watercolor Club; Salmagundi Club; Allied Artists; Knickerbocker Artists; Sarasota Art Association; Casein Painters Society; Ringling Art School; Art League of Manatee County; Atlanta Art Association.
Exhibits: American Water Color Society, New York Water Color Society, purchase prize, New York, 1930; Audubon Society of Artists, Joseph Meyer Prize; Southeastern Annual Watercolor Prize; Ringling Museum of Art, February 1932, 1st Contemporary Art Exhibit, faculty, Ringling School of Art; Florida Federation of Art, 1932, 1934, 1st prizes, watercolor; Florida Federation of Art, 6th Annual Exhibition, 1933; Gainesville Association of Fine Arts, new studio, 131 Union Street, Gainesville, February 9, 1934; Florida Federation of Art, 9th Annual, November 1935, Tampa, best painting, Upper Lake; Florida State Fair, Tampa, November 1935, Upper Lake; WPA Commissions, murals, 1936, Post Office, Chattanooga, Tennessee, Allegory of Chattanooga; Florida Federation of Art, best picture, 9th Annual, St. Petersburg, February 1936, Upper Lake, Florida Hammock; Sarasota Art Association, February 1937, watercolors, Workers, Side Road, Myakka Trees; Sarasota Art Association, Artists and Models Exhibit, John Ringling Hotel, January 1938; Florida Federation of Art, All Florida Exhibit, Society of The Four Arts, April 1938, Newcastle Road; American Fine Art Society, 3rd Annual, New York City, July 1938, Newcastle Road; Sarasota Art Association, 10th Annual, March 1938; Florida Federation of Art, All Florida Show, Palm Beach 1938, Newcastle Road; Post Office, Minette, Alabama, 1939, Removal of the County Seat from Daphne to Bay Minette; New York World’s Fair, 1939; Sarasota Art Association, Ringling Museum of Art, February 1939, 1st prize, oil, Disasters of Wind, honorable mention, watercolor, Breaking Molds; Sarasota Art Association, Florida Theater building, March-April 1939, watercolor, Lingering Light; Sarasota Art Association, Cain Building, Orange Avenue, Art in Our Town, December 1939; Sarasota Art Association, January 1940, Impressions of Key West; Sarasota Art Association, 10th Annual Members Exhibition, March 1940, Jamaica; Florida Watercolor Society, 1st Exhibit, Palm Beach, December 1941, Sand, Gulls at Montauk, Beach Plumbing, Napeague Dunes; Florida Watercolor Society, 3rd Annual Exhibit, Society of The Four Arts, Palm Beach, January 1941; Sarasota Art Association, December 1941, watercolors, Hired Men, Lancaster Farm House; Florida Federation of Art, Tampa, December 1941, Horses in Pasture, Gulls; Florida Watercolor Society, March 1941, Palm Beach, Shampoo, Florida Cross Country, Mapping-Siesta Key, Clowns; Clearwater Art Museum, Twelve Florida Artists, April-May 1941, Jamaica, Jumbo, Indian Summer; Florida Federation of Art, Annual Circuited Exhibition, 1941-42, Sea Gulls; Clearwater Art Museum, Gulf Coast Artists Group, Annual Circuit, 1942, Jamaica, Hurricane; Clearwater Art Museum, January 1942, Side Road, Open Hearth, Lingering Light, Electric Furnace, Village Lights, Chemical Plant, Lazy Point, Factory Yard, Bay Street, Lonely Road, Hired Man, Lancaster Road, Salt Marsh, Bunk House; Society of The Four Arts, 4th Annual Members Exhibit, Palm Beach, March 1942, Lonely Road, Windswept, Wheat Fields, Early Fall; Miami Beach Public Library and Art Center, Florida Gulf Coast Group exhibit, May 1942; Florida Gulf Coast Artists Group, nationwide circuit, Miami to Wisconsin, Newark, San Francisco, Syracuse, 1944; Clearwater Art Museum, Florida Gulf Coast Artist Group, 4th Annual, exhibit toured the state, 1944-1945; Florida Gulf Coast Group, 4th Annual Exhibition, nationwide circuit, July 1945-May 1946, Georgia Road, Village Lights; Florida Federation of Art, 19th Annual Exhibition, Miami Beach, December 1945, Adirondacks, Gathering Reeds-Jamaica; Sarasota Art Association, 221 South Palm Avenue, Members Exhibit, January 1946, watercolors, Lake-West Lemcoon, Gold Cove, Tower Rock; First Annual Pasadena National, 1946; Clearwater Art Museum, February 1946, Picking Beach Plumbs, Potato Diggers, 1st prize, watercolor; Florida Federation of Art, Annual, Clearwater, December 1946; Society of The Four Arts, 9th Annual Members Exhibit, December 1946-January 1947, 2nd prize, watercolor, Firewood; Florida Gulf Coast Group, Clearwater Art Museum, 5th Annual, nationwide circuit, July 1946-May 1947, watercolors, Lost, Back Road; Clearwater Art Museum, February 1947, President’s 1st Prize; Pepsi Cola Award Show, 1947, New York; Gibbs Gallery, Charleston, S.C.; Sarasota Art Association, Christmas Exhibit, New Galleries, Sarasota-Bradenton Airport, December 1947, Point of Rocks; American Watercolor Society, 81st. Annual, New York City, 1948, Shell Pit; Florida Gulf Coast Group, Clearwater Art Museum, 6th Annual, nationwide circuit, July 1947-May 1948, watercolors, Bayou, Gator Hunt; Sarasota Art Association, Members Exhibit, January 1948; Art Club of St. Petersburg, February 1948; Clearwater Art Museum, 15th Annual Member Exhibit, March 1949, 1st President’s Prize, watercolor, Firewood; Florida Gulf Coast Group, sponsorship, Clearwater Art Museum, 7th Annual nationwide circuit, July 1948 to May 1949, watercolors, Copper Cliff, Jungle Path; Sarasota Art Association, Cain Building, December 1948, watercolor, The Island; Sarasota Art Association, 1st Exhibit, 1949, Beach Bones, Jack Fish, Nickel Range, Storm’s End, Deep Hammock, Mangrove Critters, Twelfth and Central, Hay Wagon, Sanctified Saints, Cormorants, Night Fire, Porpoise, Black Bottom, Dead Mansion, Fire Wood, Going Home, Jamaica Harvest, Fishing the Point, New Pass, Bayou; Sarasota Art Association, winter, 1949, Ontario Market, Shore Birds; Sarasota Art Association, Circus Show, March 1949, Performing Seals; Florida Gulf Coast Group, 8th Annual Exhibition, Clearwater Art Museum, on nation wide circuit, July 1949 to May 1950, oil, Black Bottom, watercolor, Gull Rock; Sarasota Art Association, at Ringling Museum, 1st exhibit, 1949, Fishing The Point, The Pit, Strike; University of South Carolina, Columbia; Sarasota Art Association, February 1949; Florida Federation of Art, January 1949, honorable mention and Lucille Nott Award for Florida landscape and Clowns in the Knoll; Palm Beach Art League, 32nd Annual Members’ Exhibition, March 1950, oil, Road to the Mines; Jacksonville WPA Art Center, April 1950; Tampa Art Gallery, Municipal Auditorium, February 1950, including The Spillway; Florida Gulf Coast Art Center, January 1951; Art League of Manatee County, 3rd Avenue Gallery, January 2-12, 1951, one man exhibit; Tampa Art Institute, Febuary 1951; Inter-American Art Show, University of Tampa, May 1951, member of jury; Society of The Four Arts, 14th Annual Members Exhibit, December 1951-January 1952; Florida Artist Group, 2nd Annual National Circuit, shown under auspices of the art department, University of Florida, May 1951 to April 1952, casein, Glass Minnows; Tampa Art Institute, Hilton and Dorothy Leech, January 1952; Sarasota Herald-Tribune, purchase prize, January 1952, Eclipse; Florida International Art Exhibit, Florida Southern College, Lakeland, 1952, prize; Art League of Manatee County with wife Dorothy, January 1953; Art Guild, 1st Exhibit, Tampa, February 1953; Gallery On The Circle, St. Armonds Key, March 1953; Manatee County Fair, January 1954, prize; Society of The Four Arts, Lowe Art Gallery, University of Miami, April-May 1954, Palm Beach, Miami, Beaver Pond; Ringling Museum of Art, 1955, Fifty Florida Painters, mixed media, Transient; Florida Artist Group, 6th Annual Circuit, Palm Beach Art League, April 1955, Builder; Society of The Four Arts Annual Exhibition, December 1955; Manatee County Art Center, January 1-13, 1956; Society of The Four Arts, University of Miami, Lowe Gallery, Patronato De Bellas Artes Y Museos Nacionales, Palm Beach, Miami, Havana, December 1955, January-February 1956, Cock Robin; Ringling Museum of Art, Paintings of the Circus, March 1956, Circus Poster; Society of The Four Arts, Contemporary American Paintings, December 1956, casein & enamel with ink, Exit; Florida Federation of Art, 30th Annual Exhibit, West Palm Beach, 1956, award, Summits; Norton Gallery and School of Art, guest artist, March 1956; Clearwater Art Group, 7th Annual Juried Show, Clearwater Chamber of Commerce, March 1956, honorable mention, Congregation; Art League of Manatee County, 21st Annual Members Exhibition, February 1957, honorable mention; Clearwater Art Group, 8th Annual Member’s Exhibit, Gulf Coast Art Center, March 1957, watercolor, Golden Hill; Florida State Fair, Tampa, 1957, prize, Preview; Sarasota Art Association, Flowers and Landscape Exhibition, January 1959, Glacial Drift. Also exhibited Gibbs Art Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina, Clearwater Art Museum, Huber Gallery, Miami; Langford Gallery, Tampa, September 1959, White Light; Art League of Manatee County, Pure Watercolor Member Exhibition, January 1959, Hideaway; Art League of Manatee County, Annual Members Juried Exhibit, March 1959, Ruby Gulch, Gravely Range; Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, Sarasota, March 1959, Art and Holy Week Exhibit; Society of The Four Arts, 21st Annual, Contemporary American Paintings, December 1959, casein and polymer, Dark Place; Governor’s All Florida Art Show, Ringling Museum, January 9-February 2, 1960, oil, Smelter; Sarasota Art Association, Members’ Annual Juried Exhibition, February 1960, award of merit, Night and Day, Mountain Bones; Florida State Fair, Tampa, 1960, prize, The Mystics. Also exhibited Atlanta Paper Company and the Langford Gallery, Tampa; Southern Artists Guild, Hot Springs, Arkansas, one man show; Other Florida State Fair Showings; 1959, Quarry, Night and Day; 1960, Stalagmites; 1961, Sun Temple; 1962, Picture Rock, White Structure; 6th Annual Painting of the Year Exhibit, Atlanta Art Association, May 1960; Metropolitan Museum; Whitney Museum; Albright and Corcoran Galleries; Chicago Art Institute; National Gallery.
Directory: Listed in the Sarasota City Directory, 1949 to 1951, as an artist with studio at 425 Hillside Avenue.
