Leonard Rosoman

Leonard Rosoman was born in Hampstead , London on 27 October 1913, and was educated at Deacons School, Peterborough. He studied at the King Edward VII School of Art, Durham University (1930-4), the Royal Academy Schools (1935-6), and under Bernard Meninsky at the Central School of Arts and Crafts (1937-8). As a student he was much influenced by Gauguin, Paul Nash and Edward Burra.

Before the Second World War, he illustrated his first book, Haldanes My Friend Mr Leakey (1937) and taught life drawing and perspective at the Reimann School (1937-9). During the war, he served in the Auxiliary Fire Service in London, and in 1944 was appointed an Official War Artist to the Admiralty, working with the Pacific Fleet. His work from this period was exhibited much later, in 1989, in A War Retrospective mounted by the Imperial War Museum.

Since the war, Rosoman has developed as a distinctive painter, illustrator and designer, characterised by an unusual, even ambiguous use of space, and often highly artificial colour. He taught illustration at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts (1947-8), and  mural painting at Edinburgh College of Art (1948-56). While there he made his first drawings for the RADIO TIMES and produced his first significant mural for the Festival of Britain (both 1951).

In 1956, he became a Tutor in the Painting School of the ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART, and three years later began to exhibit at the Royal Academy. He was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1960, and a full academician a decade later. His work as a book illustrator includes contributions to the Oxford Illustrated Old Testament (1968-9) and a number of commissions from the Folio Society. His most important decorative commission to date is that for Lambeth Palace Chapel (c1989). He was awarded an OBE in 1981. He lives in London and is represented by the Fine Art Society.

View work by Leonard Rosoman >>

Show printable version of this page (opens in new window) >>