Biographies

Gerald F. Leake (1885 – 1975) He was living at Amberley in Sussex in 1909 and in London in 1914, showing his work in the London galleries. At some point he relocated to the U. S. A. and is usually classified as an American painter. He did a lot of work as an illustrator for magazines and books. He did, for example, two illustrations for a love story entitled “Putting One Over On Mother” in the July 1932 Issue of The American Magazine. From a website on the artist George Carey: http://www.galleryongreene.com/carey.html As a child, George [Carey] began painting. His mother, Miss Ruth Carey, an educator, enrolled her son in an art class studying at Noble’s Art Gallery, and later with nationally recognized artist, Gerald Leake. “The classes were held at Ernest Hemingway’s home where I still fondly remember Mrs. Hemingway giving me Kool-Aid in a Dixie cup.” His work ranged from impressionist landscapes to poster-style images and illustrations. He seems to have settled in Key West and taught art classes to students like George Carey and Helen Barnes. He also did advertising images for everything from Lucky Strike cigarettes to the Electric Boat Company. (See his patriotic ad for them below, from Life magazine, which alludes to Hokusai’s famous Wave, and has Mt. Fuji in the background.)