28 Facts About Percy Leason

Percy Alexander Leason was an Australian art critic, political cartoonist and artist who was a major figure in the Australian tonalist movement.

Percy Leason was born in the remote wheat farm district in the town of Lillimur just outside Kaniva, Victoria, Australia in 1889.

Percy Leason's father was a wheat farmer and his uncle James was proprietor of a saddle shop in Kaniva.

Percy Leason's parents had expected he would carry on the family tradition of wheat farming or saddlery making.

Percy Leason soon transferred to the art department where he did illustrations for jam tin labels and department store advertisements.

Percy Leason's first major illustration was a poster for Carlton Brewery in Melbourne of Sam Griffis, from an Edgar Newlands photograph of an itinerant miner, standing at a bar with a full pint.

Percy Leason served on the staff of the Sydney Bulletin as political cartoonist, replacing David Low.

Percy Leason became interested in etchings and joined the Sydney Society of Artists and the Painters and Etchers Society and associated himself with Sydney's contemporary artists.

The subject is as old as humanity, but Mr Percy Leason has been able to invest it with fresh interest.

Percy Leason returned to Melbourne and it was here that he developed the famous Wiregrass cartoon series.

Percy Leason's illustrations appeared in Melbourne Punch and Table Talk magazines.

When Percy Leason moved back to Melbourne from Sydney in 1924, the two men bonded their ideas and cemented the style of tonalism they both would follow for the rest of their lives.

In 1928, Percy Leason contended some figures described by the ethnologist John Mathew in 1897 were merely natural stains in the rock, which caused some controversy.

Percy Leason developed a keen interest in prehistoric cave art and advanced the theory that these artists made their drawings from sketches of dead beasts.

Towards the end of the 1930s Percy Leason became concerned with the dwindling prospects of continued employment as a commercial artist, the rivalry in the Melbourne art scene between modern art and members of the Meldrum group, and the impending World War.

Percy Leason emigrated in 1938 and began his career in New York doing commercial illustration with pen and ink illustration of murder mysteries and detective stories, for the New York Daily News, and Blue Book Magazine.

Percy Leason joined the illustrating complement of the Gilbert Thompkins studios in New York which led to illustrations in Collier's, Liberty, and Saturday Evening Post magazines.

Percy Leason consequently became a member of the Society of Illustrators of New York.

Percy Leason developed an interest in art on Staten Island with the first of the outdoor art shows that continue to be a borough wide event.

Percy Leason arranged the first annual Artist Carnival and increased the interest in the art section with annual exhibitions.

Percy Leason served on the staff of the Westport, Connecticut School of Commercial Art under the direction of Albert Dorne.

Percy Leason vehemently opposed these ideas and contributed openly to the critics in New York newspapers and the Staten Island Advance.

Percy Leason became aligned with their members who felt the same way about the changing trends.

Percy Leason held lively painting demonstrations and lectures on realistic tonalism in defiance against the prevailing theories on art.

Percy Leason painted several tonal studies of Paris and the countryside of the Dordogne region which he visited in particular to justify his theory of cave art.

Percy Leason tried to sue the magazine but his failing health and lack of funds prevented this.

Percy Leason was survived by his wife and six children.

Percy Leason's constant questioning of tonal technique as an ideal and his works he left are his legacy and his continuance.