William R. Leigh 1866-1955

John Nulty, New York
Kennedy Galleries, New York
Acquired by the present owners from the above, 1971

Good condition; lined; under UV: an area of retouching at center above mesa, some minor retouches in center to address stretcher bar mark, a few other minor retouches.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

While William Robinson Leigh is best known for his paintings of Western life, he did not actually travel to the American West until 1906, when he was forty. At the age of fourteen, Leigh began his sixteen years of academic training, first at the Maryland Institute in Baltimore and later the Royal Academy in Munich, at the age of fourteen. When he returned to New York in 1896 he was unable to support himself through his painting and was forced to find work as an illustrator for magazines including Scribner's and McClure's. Leigh found little fulfillment in the work, once stating: "At all costs I had hoped to avoid illustrating, yet it seemed as if I were doomed to do it" (in D. Duane Cummins, William Robinson Leigh: Western Artist, 1980, p. 82).  When Albert Groll, one of Leigh's Munich's classmates, invited him to visit Laguna, New Mexico, Leigh readily accepted. He financed his trip by persuading the Santa Fe Railroad company to fund his train fare westward in exchange for paintings of the Grand Canyon for their advertising.  Enchanted by the dramatic light and geography of the West during this first trip, Leigh immediately set his mind on becoming a western artist.  Leigh recalled: "I stood alone in a strange and thrilling scene ... At last I was in the land where I was to prove whether I was fit—worthy of the opportunity—able to do it justice..." (William Robinson Leigh, p. 87).  Leigh's intense interest in nature and his desire to capture a uniquely American scene brought him back to the West every year he could afford to go.

On the summer treks from 1910 to 1913 Leigh experimented with impressionistic techniques, in part because the loosely-detailed style permitted copious sketches. Upon arriving in New Mexico Leigh recalls: "eager to waste no time whatever; I saw that I needed studies of everything – the vegetation, the rocks, the plains, the mesas, the sky, the Indians and their dwellings; scores of studies" (William Robinson Leigh, p. 88). He never altered from the realistic painting technique requiring almost photographic detail, but he employed the softer palette borrowed from the atmospheric light of the French Impressionists in Arizona Landscape with Two Riders, 1911.  The hues contrast with Leigh's boldly-colored paintings of cowboys.  The articulated detail of the desert floor, which upon first glance is barren rock, accurately represented the desert flora which would have been completely unknown to East Coast patrons. Leigh's tiny figures emphasize the monumentality of the dramatic rock formations of northeast Arizona landscape to create a souvenir of western light and landscape.