BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS  

Robert Fletcher Leslie (Major)

August 23 1864 - July 20 1942

B.C. Society of Fine Arts (Member 1926-1930)
B.C. Society of Fine Arts/B.C. Society of Artists: Exhibitor's Timeline
Island Arts and Crafts Society


Robert F. Leslie was born in Woolston, Hampshire, England. His father was an artist. He went to Winchester College, and then became a civil engineer. He spent three years in India working on the Indian Railways, then returned to England where he married. The couple returned to India. Robert moved to Vancouver around 1906, without his wife and children, where he continued to work as a civil engineer.

He exhibited artwork in Vancouver with the B.C. Society of Fine Arts in 1921, 1925, 1926, 1927, and 1929. During this time he lived in at least seven different residences in the West End of Vancouver.

The exhibition catalogue of the 1930 Spring Exhibition of the B.C. Society of Fine Arts noted that he was a member of the Society, although he did not have any artwork in that show.

He exhibited one oil painting titled "Third Beach, English Bay" at the Vancouver Exhibition in 1925, and also loaned five paintings from his collection to the exhibition, including "Capilano Mary" by Margaret Wake.

In 1925 he was noted as an "Art Teacher" with a studio in the Dominion Building, Hastings Street. By 1926 he had moved to Victoria, where he continued to teach art. Leslie exhibited in Victoria with the Island Arts and Crafts Society between 1925 and 1929.

From 1930 onward he and his second wife lived in England, where he died.


GROUP EXHIBITIONS
DATE EXHIBITION ARTWORK
1921 Sept. 19 - 24 BCSFA   13th Annual Exhibition Lake Louise
1924 October Sketch Club    October Exhibition Evening on the Lake
The Lions
1924 December Sketch Club    Semi-Annual Exhibition A Breezy Day
1925 May 9 - 16 BCSFA   17th Annual Exhibition Valley of the Ten Peaks
Evening on a Scotch Lake
Evening on Salmon River, B.C.
1927 June 10 - 25 BCSFA   19th Annual Exhibition Stormy Weather
Surf, "Oahu Hawaii"
Spring in Uplands
1929 May 18 - June 8 BCSFA   21st Annual Exhibition Evening on Gonzales Observatory
In Stanley Park
A Summer's Day, Kew Gardens
A Breezy Day in Esquimalt
Nearing Home
Coast on Vancouver Island
A Fair Wind

References

THE FINE ARTS IN VANCOUVER, 1886 - 1930 (refer to THOM69)

ISLAND ARTS AND CRAFTS SOCIETY - List of Exhibitors

BEYOND THE CANVAS - Artists, Stories and the Sea (refer to VMM00)

CITY & PROVINCIAL DIRECTORIES 1927-29 (refer to DIR)

https://westendvancouver.wordpress.com/biographies-a-m/biographies-l/leslie-robert-fletcher-1864-1942/

Clippings

"In the larger realm of landscape subjects are: ... "A Breezy Day," by Major R.E. Leslie (sic); ... "
      From "Semi-Annual Exhibition of the Vancouver Sketch Club" by Bertha Lewis
      British Columbia Monthly, January 1925


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