Morris Walton
Leader was born in Marshall. He studied art in New York and at
the Art Institute of Chicago (1913-1917), with Peter Hohnstedt,
Harry Anthony De Young, Frederick W. Becker, and Edna Collins in
Austin. A lifelong bachelor, Leader was a paint contractor by
profession. A modest and self-effacing artist, Leader lived most
of his life in Austin, painting exquisite landscapes of the
Texas Hill Country. He was a member of the Texas Fine Arts
Association, Four Arts Guild, and the Guild of Austin Artists.
He began exhibiting in San Antonio at the Witte in 1932. His
subjects were typically the Hill Country in the Austin and San
Antonio region, with titles such as "Texas Hills, Bandera
County", "In The Cedars", "Onion Creek" and "Leon Springs".
Recognized for his skills in the 1940’s, he was give a solo
exhibition in Houston in 1948. He won prizes into the 1950’s but
as the modernist influences on art in Texas increased,
his eloquence on canvas became outdated and overlooked. His
works were to emerge to prominence from their obscurity in the
1990’s. When he died in Austin, this painting was hanging in his
living room.