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NEWS GRAND CENTRAL ART GALLERIES 15 VANDERBILT AVENUE, NEW YORK 17, N. Y. Telephone: MUrray Hill 6-4737

FOR INFORMATION - CALL:

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EXHIBIT OF W. R. LEIGH’S WESTERN WATER COLORS

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A select group of WILLIAM R. LEIGH’S Western water colors will be on exhibit at the Grand Central Art Galleries, 15 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York City, beginning May 12th.

William R. Leigh, whom COLLIER’S on November 11th last, called AMERICA’S SAGEBRUSH REMBRANDT, has just been elected by the New York City Federation of Women’s Clubs as [remainder of sentence is underlined] the outstanding American painter who has contributed most to art in 1950-1951. The election was held among the 200 clubs in Greater New York comprising the Federation.

A scroll award honoring the artist was presented to him on May 4th at the Annual Meeting of the Federation at the Hotel Astor, attended by over a thousand delegates of the member clubs. Among other outstanding figures in allied fields who were honored at the same time were Carl Sandburg for poetry, Gloria Swanson for motion pictures, and John Gunther for books.

The choice of Leigh to represent painting was practically unanimous.

In addition, Kappa Pi, the national art fraternity, cited him this year for distinguished service in the field of art.

Leigh was born on a plantation in Virginia, and is a descendant of Pocahontas. West Virginia also claims him as a native son, for Falling Waters, near Martinsburg, the township of his birth, has since become a part of that state. Leigh is today one of the outstanding painters of the West. In 1906 and at least twenty times since then, Leigh has visited New Mexico and Arizona for the study of Indians, cowboys, and animals, Under this inspiration, he has produced pictures which are owned all over the United States, as well as in many foreign countries. One of his pictures is in the collection of His Majesty, the late King of the Belgians. Another is the property of the Duke of Windsor.

Late in the 1920’s the artist made two trips to Africa with the Akeley and the Carlisle-Clark expeditions for the American Museum of Natural History, and , upon returning, was master painter for the background groups in the African Hall at the Museum.

W. R. Leigh has had several important one-man exhibits at the Grand Central Art Galleries, as well as exhibits nationwide, and his work has been reproduced in a very large number of magazines and newspapers.

A reprint from THINK Magazine — one of the latest articles about Leigh — is enclosed.

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO COME IN AND VIEW THE FINE SELECTION OF LEIGH’S RECENT WATER COLORS IN THE CURRENT EXHIBIT AT THE GRAND CENTRAL ART GALLERIES.