Leslie Hunter

George Leslie Hunter , was christened simply George Hunter, but he adopted the name Leslie in San Francisco, and Leslie Hunter, became his professional name. Showing an aptitude for drawing at an early age, he was largely selftaught, receiving only elementary painting lessons from a family acquaintance. A Scottish painter, he also spent fifteen formative years from the age of fifteen in the USA, mainly in California. He was later regarded as one of the four artists of the Scottish Colourists group of painters. Following his youth in California, he returned to Scotland, painting and drawing there and in Paris. Subsequently, he traveled widely in Europe, especially in the South of France, but also in the Netherlands, the Pas de Calais and Italy. Hunter painted a variety of stilllifes, landscapes and portraits, and his paintings are critically acclaimed for their treatment of light and the effects of light. They became popular with more progressive critics and collectors during his lifeti

Hunter was born in Rothesay, atTower Street, on the Isle of Bute. The date wasAugust 1877. He was the youngest child of five, born to William and Jeanie Hunter. George, as he was then known, showed an aptitude for drawing when very young and when he was about thirteen, his mother arranged for him to have painting lessons with a lady acquaintance. In February 1892, Hunters elder sister Catherine died. Shortly after, in March, another elder sibling, James, also died. Both were in their early twenties. It is thought they may have been victims of an influenza pandemic. William, the father, and Jeanie, seem already to have contemplated emigrating, because a home had been sold. Evidently, the tragic deaths sealed the matter, and the remaining family departed for California via New York onSeptember 1892, aboard the SS Ethiopia.

Source: Wikipedia