Leonard Marchant

Leonard Marchant RE (23 October 1929 – 9 January 2000) was a painter and printmaker, particularly admired as a master of the mezzotint.

As a teenager he taught himself to paint; and in 1950, at the age of 19, was given a solo exhibition at the Argus Gallery in Cape Town, South Africa.

In 1950, Marchant worked his passage on a merchant ship and arrived in London with little money and no contacts. He was not eligible for a grant to study in the UK. He telephoned Jacob Epstein out of the blue and visited him with a portfolio of drawings and paintings. Epstein was encouraging and gave him a letter of recommendation to the British Council, which provided a grant to allow him to study for three months at the Saint Martin's School of Art. Forced by financial and political constraints to return to South Africa, they finally moved permanently to the UK three years later, in 1956; and in 1959 Marchant received a grant to study full time at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. During this time, Marchant discovered a mezzotint rocker and rocking pole in a cupboard at the school. “No one knew how to do it any longer so I had to teach myself," he later wrote, “it was an incredibly laborious process. What really appealed to me was the superb richness of the tone”.

Although Marchant continued to paint throughout his life, he was best known for his mezzotints. “With his mezzotints, he touched greatness… Marchant was a master, his needle scratched in the darkness; a candle, a bowl, a cup and saucer gleamed forth.”

In 1963, Marchant joined the staff of the Central School of Arts and Crafts in the Fine Art Etching department where he stayed until 1983. In later years he travelled to other art schools including Royal, Slade, Chelsea, Morley and Winchester, to demonstrate the mezzotint process and illustrate this with his own work.

Later life After retiring from teaching, Marchant and his wife moved to Shropshire, where he continued to work both on mezzotints and painting. His final solo show was held at the London Bankside Gallery in 1998.

Awards 1970 – Stet prize, Florence Biennale. British Council Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University Museum Folkwang, Essen South African National Gallery University of the Arts London University of Michigan Museum of Art Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Solo exhibitions 1950 − Argus Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 1998 − Retrospective 1948–1998, Bankside Gallery, London