William John Leech, RHA (1881 – 1968)
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William John Leech, RHA (1881 – 1968) "Portrait Bust of May Botterell" Bronze, Edition 1/12, 12½” x 11” x 19”
This extremely rare bronze portrait sculpture by William John Leech of his wife, May Botterell, is the artist's only piece of sculpture, and was cast from his original plaster model. Although dating from circa 1920/25, this sculpture remained in the artist's own private collection in Surrey, until it was bequeathed to his friend and biographer, the poet and art historian, Alan Denson, and was only exhibited publicly for the first time by the Gorry Gallery, Dublin in 1988. Denson published a biography of Leech in 1968, entitled “An Irish Artist, W.J. Leech R.H.A. 1881 – 1968”, and this bronze is illustrated in his biography. This bronze is the first from an edition of twelve, cast by the Dublin Art Foundry, and the original plaster model from which the bronze was cast is now housed in the National Gallery of Ireland, thus ensuring that this limited edition could never be repeated.
William John Leech was born in Dublin in 1881, the son of a professor of law at Trinity College. In 1898 he enrolled at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art and the following year he moved to the Royal Hibernian Academy School of Art, where he studied under Walter Osborne. In 1901, like many other Irish art students at the time, he enrolled in the Academie Julian in Paris, remaining there for the next two years. In 1903 he moved to Brittany and settled in the fishing village of Concarneau, painting mostly plein-air harbour scenes and atmospheric interiors of local cafes and bars. His early style of painting was formal and academic, but he gradually developed a more fluid style, showing influences from French Impressionist painters, with single strokes of pure colour laid side by side on the canvas, perfectly capturing ever changing light and shadows.
Leech was elected an associate of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1907 becoming a full member in 1910, the year that his parents moved from Dublin to London. From then until 1921, the year his father died, he divided his time between France and England, and held his first solo exhibition in London in 1911. In 1912 he married fellow artist, Elizabeth Saurin Kerlin, and she features in two of his most famous paintings, A Covent Garden, Brittany and The Sunshade both of which are now in the collection of the National Gallery of Ireland. However, their marriage was not to last, and towards the end of the First World War they agreed to a separation.
In 1918 Leech was conscripted into the British Army and spent the last six months of the war in a detention camp in France. Returning to England in a state of depression, he was unable to paint. In 1919 he met May Botterell, the wife of a distinguished London lawyer. She supported Leech financially and emotionally, although their relationship forced Leech to avoid publicity and curtail the exhibition of his works in London. As a result he sent many of his paintings to Dublin and in 1944 Leo Smith of the Dawson Gallery became his agent. When May Botterell's husband died in 1952 she was free to marry Leech. They settled near Guildford in Surrey and Leech had a studio constructed in their garden, where he continued to paint until May's death in 1965. After her death he suffered from severe depression and in 1968 he fell from a railway bridge near their home and later dying from his injuries.
William John Leech was born in Dublin in 1881, the son of a professor of law at Trinity College. In 1898 he enrolled at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art and the following year he moved to the Royal Hibernian Academy School of Art, where he studied under Walter Osborne. In 1901, like many other Irish art students at the time, he enrolled in the Academie Julian in Paris, remaining there for the next two years. In 1903 he moved to Brittany and settled in the fishing village of Concarneau, painting mostly plein-air harbour scenes and atmospheric interiors of local cafes and bars. His early style of painting was formal and academic, but he gradually developed a more fluid style, showing influences from French Impressionist painters, with single strokes of pure colour laid side by side on the canvas, perfectly capturing ever changing light and shadows.
Leech was elected an associate of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1907 becoming a full member in 1910, the year that his parents moved from Dublin to London. From then until 1921, the year his father died, he divided his time between France and England, and held his first solo exhibition in London in 1911. In 1912 he married fellow artist, Elizabeth Saurin Kerlin, and she features in two of his most famous paintings, A Covent Garden, Brittany and The Sunshade both of which are now in the collection of the National Gallery of Ireland. However, their marriage was not to last, and towards the end of the First World War they agreed to a separation.
In 1918 Leech was conscripted into the British Army and spent the last six months of the war in a detention camp in France. Returning to England in a state of depression, he was unable to paint. In 1919 he met May Botterell, the wife of a distinguished London lawyer. She supported Leech financially and emotionally, although their relationship forced Leech to avoid publicity and curtail the exhibition of his works in London. As a result he sent many of his paintings to Dublin and in 1944 Leo Smith of the Dawson Gallery became his agent. When May Botterell's husband died in 1952 she was free to marry Leech. They settled near Guildford in Surrey and Leech had a studio constructed in their garden, where he continued to paint until May's death in 1965. After her death he suffered from severe depression and in 1968 he fell from a railway bridge near their home and later dying from his injuries.