Leon Underwood (1890-1975), Artist

Sitter in 4 portraits
Artist of 3 portraits
Underwood studied at the Royal College and the Slade School of Art, and worked as a sculptor, painter, wood engraver and writer. In 1921 he founded the Brook Green School of Art in Hammersmith, London, where pupils included Henry Moore and Eileen Agar. Underwood served in both the First and Second World Wars, and travelled extensively, seeking inspiration for his own work. He published Animalia while working in New York, and maintained a particular fascination for Mayan and Aztec sculpture, which he had seen in Mexico in 1928. Underwood also visited West Africa, subsequently publishing several books on African Art, as well as children's book Animalia (1926).