biography of Leo John MEISSNER (1895-1977)

Birth place: Hamtramck, MI

Addresses: Yonkers, NY; Cape Elizabeth, ME

Profession: Painter, engraver, block printer

Studied: Sch. FA, Detroit with John P. Wicker; ASL (scholarship); George Luks; Robert Henri.

Exhibited: Salons of Am., 1922; WMAA, 1923-26; 50 Prints of the Year, 1927-29, 1933; AIC; CMA; CI, 1941, 1944-45; LOC, 1943 (prize), 1945 (prize); AV, 1943; AFA Traveling Exh.; Int. Pr. Exh., Warsaw, Poland; Smithsonian Inst.; LACMA; Mem. Ann. NAD; Wichita, KS, 1937 (prize); Southern PM, 1937 (prize), 1938 (prize); Prairie PM; Northwest PM; Detroit Inst. Art, 1943 (prize), 1945 (prize); PAFA; Boston PM Ann.; Acad. Artists Ann., Springfield, MA. Awards: Two Canon Prizes, NAD; ten purchase prizes, LOC; Smith & Giern Prizes, Detroit Inst. Arts.

Member: ANA; NA; Phila. Pr. Cl.; SC; An Am. Group; Prairie PM; Boston Soc. Indep. Artists; SAGA; Audubon Artists; Boston PM; Print Cl. Albany.

Work: MMA; LOC; Currier Gal. Art; PMG; PMA; Arnot Art Gal., Elmira, NY; Detroit Inst. Art; Joslyn Mem.; City Lib. Assn., Springfield, MA; NYPL; BMA; Boston Pub. Lib.; Farnsworth Mus., Rockland, ME; Oklahoma Mus. Art, Oklahoma City.

Comments: Preferred media: oils, mixed media, wood. Specialty: wood engraving. Positions: art ed., Motor Boating magazine, New York, 1926-50. Painting locations include Monhegan Island (ME).

Sources: WW73; article, Fine Prints of the Year, 1937; Albert Reese, article, American Prize Prints of the 20th C. (1949); Isabel Currier, "The Maine Direction of Leo Meissner's Art," Down East Mag. (1969); WW47; Curtis, Curtis, and Lieberman, 185.

Legals