Eugene Leake

Eugene "Bud" Leake pronounced "Leaky" (31 August 1911 – 21 January 2005) was a landscape painter and president of the Maryland Institute College of Art. His work was characterized by a consistent commitment to the depiction of the landscape, not following ever-changing trends of contemporary art in the 20th century. In an October 2000 Baltimore Sun article Glenn McNatt wrote that, "For the past quarter century, Leake has been recording that landscape in all its moods and seasons, from riotous sun-drenched spring mornings to the magical glow of autumnal sunsets. His paintings are imbued with an unmistakable sense of place that only one who has lived in and loved the surrounding landscape can create."

"Leake belongs to the long tradition of American artists who have had often-rapturous love affairs with nature. His work are heirs to the spirit of the oil sketches of English master John Constable (1776-1837) and the early works of French landscape artist Camille Corot (1796-1875), both of whom insisted that painting must be based on observable facts and reflect the truth of the moment."

Early life

Eugene Leake was born in Jersey City, New Jersey on August 31, 1911, one of two sons of Eugene W. Leake and Marion (Paige) Leake. Growing up he was surrounded by paintings belonging to his grandfather. The collection included, American painters, Ralph Blakelock, J. Francis Murphy, and E. Irving Couse.

As a teenage student at the Hill School in Pittston, Pennsylvania Leake requested an art class so frequently that the school hired an instructor from Philadelphia to teach him once a week. Then, at age 48, decided to finish his degree at Yale School of Art and Architecture. The artist subsequently earned his BFA in 1960 and his MFA in 1962.

In 2013 a new residence hall was open named Leake Hall after him.

Mid to late career "When he retired from the Institute in 1974, he was 63 and [the school's] renaissance was assumed to be his life's magnum opus. But he retired to the rural Maryland countryside north of Baltimore, where he took up the solitary life of a creative artist and [continued as] a successful and respected landscape painter." He continued to work until his death in 2005.

In the autumn of 1974 Eugene Leake became the first Johns Hopkins University artist-in-residence. He "founded the program as an informal opportunity for Hopkins students, regardless of experience, to learn the fundamentals of drawing and painting -- to learn to see."

In The Baltimore Sun art critic Glenn McNatt described Leake's work and legacy: "Leake's brushstroke was like the man himself: precise, energetic, joyous, and ever attuned to the mysterious universal vibration through which paint is transformed into a living thing. Though his art looked exceedingly simple, it was also miraculous, and for this he was, and will be forever, beloved by generations of Marylanders."

Selected solo exhibitions

Source: C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland Green Mountain Gallery, New York, New York Hamilton Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina Jacobs Ladder Gallery, Washington, D.C. Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C. Tatistcheff and Company, New York, New York Towson State University, Towson, Maryland University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky Walker Gallery, New York, New York York College, York, Pennsylvania

Selected group exhibitions

2018 Evelyn Chiu Jen Nadel Jihae Snyder Sabrina Wang 2017 Maddy Goodwin Caroline Preziosi Possibly Incomplete 2016 Florence Ma Rahul Sharma Beatriz Williams Mary Yen 2015 Sofia Arruda Alessandra Felloni Dae Jin Kim Gyudae Kim Jei Wook Moon Rachel Riegelhaupt

2013 Angela Hu Mischa Lasow Hieu Trong Tran Nicole Vlasic

2011 Jin Yeong Eom Maria Granato Aliyah Sanders 2010 Ramon Lee Nadia Shobnam

2008 Giovanti Davis Kirsi Tuomanen Hill 2006 Mark Belinsky Rachael Schneider 2005 Katie Wagenblass Jonathan Wildi 2004 Patti Chan Cassie Duffy Ali Fenwick Amanda Johnson 2003 Marisa Adelman Gaurav Agarwal Clarence Lin Michael McGovern Amanda Vickers 2002 Bonnie Chen 2000 Elias Fenton Aliza Katz 1999 Magritte Hyman 1998 Mimi Murray Shreyas Ravishankar Sarah Vance