Leonard Victor Mitchell
1925-1980
Born Victor Leonard William Mitchell on 8 March 1925 in Palmerston North, Len was the first child of Leonard Cornwall Mitchell, a well-renowned stamp designer and illustrator, and Victoria Adelaide Cogswell who came to New Zealand from London when she was only 19 years old. Len was brought up in Ngaio, Wellington, alongside two younger brothers, Allan and Frank. His preference for the name Leonard still causes much professional confusion with the work of his father.
Len was a natural artist and, from his early years, loved to draw. In 1939 he began his formal training at the Wellington Technical College School of Art (now Wellington High School), eventually joined by his two younger brothers. They were tutored by Frederick Ellis, Head of the Art School (painting and etching), Alex Fraser (sculpture) and Nugent Welch (watercolours). On leaving the college Len painted a remarkable group scene depicting The Raising of Lazarus which hung over the stairwell to the library. After being held in storage at the College for years, the painting was kindly returned to the Mitchell family in 2015.
Although encouraged by his father and Frederick Ellis, Len decided against attending the Canterbury School of Art and enlisted in the army. He was bound for Okinawa as a war artist but, after the American invasion in 1945, was employed at home guarding Japanese Prisoners of War at Featherston. During his time there, Len produced a number of drawings of the prisoners, some of which are held by the Alexander Turnbull Library of New Zealand.
After the war, Len returned to the Wellington Technical College to teach life drawing, etching and painting, before travelling to England for a year. On his return to New Zealand Len worked in his father’s commercial art studio in Wellington (Mitchell Studios) and resumed teaching at the Technical College, this time focusing on drawing and printmaking. He produced a series of etchings of circus performers.
Pictured: Frank, Leonard and Allan Mitchell outside the family home in Ngaio c.1940 and Self Portrait in Holland Skyscape, oil on board c.1960.
The 1950s and the Lambton Galleries
Image credit: Mr Leonard Mitchell, painting. Evening post (Newspaper. 1865-2002): Photographic negatives and prints of the Evening Post newspaper. Ref: EP/1958/4473-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/23260117
This photograph shows Len at his easel in the Lambton Galleries.
During the 1950s Len exhibited at the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, becoming a well sought after portrait painter, undertaking portraits of many prominent New Zealanders, including Dame Ngaio Marsh, Sir Walter Nash, Peter McIntyre and Warwick Braithwaite.
In 1954, along with brother Frank and the sculptor Jim Gawn, Len established the Lambton Galleries, an exhibition and studio space on the top floor of a 3-storied building which stood at 244 Lambton Quay, Wellington. At the time, it was the largest commercial gallery in Wellington and immediately attracted the likes of painter Nugent Welch, wood engraver E. Mervyn Taylor, printmaker John Drawbridge and potter Leonard Castle. When possible, a new exhibition was held every three weeks.
The Architectural Centre’s Centre Gallery, which had been established the previous year for the promotion of Modernist artists, was in contrast to the more conservative thinking of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts and the National Art Gallery. Len, Frank and Jim were well aware of the dividing lines (modern versus traditional). Len viewed himself to be first and foremost a portraitist, committed to figurative painting, and suffered from the changing climate which favoured less representational art. However, as a gesture of goodwill, the inaugural exhibition at the Lambton Galleries was open to artists of all persuasions and was very well received by the wider artistic community.
With a floor area of roughly 3,000 square feet, the gallery space itself was split into four main parts. The largest room at the rear of the building was initially used as the exhibition space. Two smaller rooms were utilised as studio spaces – the one in the middle as Jim’s sculpture room, and the front room facing Lambton Quay as Len’s studio. The reception area was located at the top of the stairs, with a kitchen and small sitting room facing the Quay. The beautiful etched glass mounted on the reception desk was made by Len and is still held by the Mitchell family.
Towards the end of 1956 Jim Gawn decided to pull out of the gallery to concentrate more on his sculpture work. To give him more space to work in the galleries were refurbished, giving Jim the former exhibition space at the rear of the building and turning the two front studios into The New Lambton Gallery. Amongst those to exhibit works were Peter McIntyre, Cedric Savage, Marcus King, Sam Cairncross, Ruth Brown, Beatrice Seddon, Stewart McLennan, T.A. McCormack, E. Mervyn Taylor and Nugent Welch. The gallery also hosted touring international shows, including an exhibition of Rembrandt etchings which drew in 18,000 visitors in just two weeks.
Image credit: Portrait by Leonard Mitchell of Wellington. Evening post (Newspaper. 1865-2002) :Photographic negatives and prints of the Evening Post newspaper. Ref: EP/1957/4392-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22679519
This photograph shows Len in the Lambton Galleries, working on a mural for the ANZ bank.
Lower Hutt Murals and the Kelliher Prize for Landscape
In 1956 Len completed a major public commission – three large canvas murals for the newly built Lower Hutt War Memorial Library, entitled Their Sacrifice, Preserved Freedom, and Human Endeavour (above), the third containing 50 life-sized figures which represent different aspects of human endeavour, including education, farming, commerce and the arts. The murals are still displayed in the Library today. Read more about the Lower Hutt murals here.
1956 was a busy year for Len. Alongside the completion of the Lower Hutt murals, Len won the inaugural Kelliher Prize with his oil painting Summer in the Mokauiti Valley. Len’s entry for the second year of the competition was The Road to Ngawi, Cape Palliser, Wairarapa (1957). In the third year of the competition Len was again awarded the Kelliher Prize for Stormlight & Snow, Ruahine Mountains (1958). This painting is now in the national collection, Te Papa Tongarewa.
Len was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, London and in 1959 was awarded the Netherlands Government Art Fellowship by the Netherlands Institute for International Cultural Relations. He held his final New Zealand exhibition at the New Lambton Gallery in September the same year. When Len departed for Europe the gallery lease was sold, ironically (and not know to Len and Frank) to the Architectural Centre so they could relocated the Centre Gallery.
Summer in the Mokauiti Valley, oil on canvas, Leonard Victor Mitchell, 1956, Kelliher Art Trust. Winner of the inaugural Kelliher Prize for Landscape painting.
A Move to England
Len married long-time fiancé Patricia Marian Nickalls on 29 February 1960 at Cromwell. Patricia had sat for Len in 1954 as principal flautist with the National Orchestra (pictured). Len, Pat and Frank left for Europe in March to take up Len’s Fellowship. The journey to the Holland ferry took the Mitchells via London and Harwich, and they stopped in the village of Kelvedon when they spotted a bookshop selling art prints. They told the woman in the shop that they were on their way to Holland but intended to return to Coggeshall and would need a place to lease. She was the owner of the Rood House. The trio continued on to Holland, with Pat returning to England ahead of Len and Frank and taking on the lease sight unseen.
Coggeshall is a small town near Colchester which sits on an old Roman road. It is recorded in the Doomsday Book and has over 300 listed buildings, including The Rood House, 33 Bridge Street – now split into two houses and known as Riverside Maltings (see listing here). The original house is thought to date back to the late 1500s and features a poppy frieze anecdotally credited to local monks, c.1600. Originally referred to as The Rood House, it was thought to be the site of a cross (rood) marking the entrance to the Abbey grounds, a guest house for the Abbey. The Abbey itself was established in 1140 and eventually replaced by a church in the 1500s. With the exception of the last image, the below photographs were taken by Frank Mitchell following Len’s death in 1980.
Success on the Continent
During the 1960s and 70s Len sold most of his work on the Continent and survived largely on commissions from exhibitions at the Paris Salon (1961–1979). He did send work back to New Zealand for various exhibitions. In 1969 Len was sponsored into the Société des Artistes Francais by the painters Georges Cheyssial and Augustin Mémin. On the 19th of June 1971 he was awarded the Gold Medal (Médaille d’Or) at the Paris Salon. On the 3rd of September 1971 Len was awarded the Gold Medal (Médaille d’Or) from the Royal Society of Watercolour Painters, London. It was presented by the Cultural Attaché a l’Ambassade de France, Madame Bridgette Marger. The ceremony was presided over by the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Robert Bellinger (G.B.E, D.S.C).
Passing
Leonard passed away suddenly on the 6th of January 1980 at Coggeshall, Essex, England. His brother Frank (who had returned to New Zealand 10 years earlier) travelled to England with his family to bring back Len’s widow Pat and his remaining catalogue – numbering over 500 works on canvas, board and paper – many of which still remain in the care of the Mitchell family today. Packing up the Rood House, the place Len and Pat had lived for the past 20 years, and preparing over 500 artworks for travel was a daunting task. Leonard was only 55 years young.
Career
Self Portrait in Red Dressing Gown, oil on canvas, 1959
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Lower Hutt War Memorial Library Murals, 1955
Kelliher Prize for Landscape, 1956 & 1958
ANZ Bank Mural, Manners Street, Wellington, ‘Jacky Box’ 1957
‘The Musterer’ Dominion Breweries Mural, 1958
National Bank Art Awards, mural award, ‘The Bargain’ 1960 -
LAMBTON GALLERIES, 1954 & 1955
NEW LAMBTON GALLERY, 1956-1958, Farewell Exhibition of Paintings by Leonard Mitchell F.R.S.A. 1959
KOOS HOYKAAS STUDIO, Blaricum, Amsterdam, 1960
FISHER GALLERY, Christchurch, 1962
JAMES SMITH’S GALLERY, Wellington, 1963
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NEW ZEALAND ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS, Wellington
Exhibited regularly between 1952 and 1959, Wellington Annual Exhibition, October to November 1956PARIS SALON, Paris, France
Known to have exhibited between 1961 and 1979 – records of works included in the Annual Exhibitions of 1963, 1968, 1970, 1974 and 1979THE ROYAL INSTITUTE GALLERIES, London
East Anglian Art Today, January to February 1969GUILDHALL ART GALLERY, London
Exhibited regularly from late 1960s to mid 1970s.Auckland Society of Arts
Royal Academy, London
National Gallery of New South Wales
Royal Society of Painter Etchers and Engravers, London
New English Art Club, London (1968)
Lord Mayor’s Art Exhibition, London
East Anglian Art Society, London
Beaux Arts, Monte Carlo
Grand Salon International de Cherleroi, Belgium
Contemporary British Art, New York
Salon de la Marine, Musée de la Marine, Paris
British Artists, Town Hall, Place de Louvre, Paris -
CHRISTOPHER MOORE GALLERY, WELLINGTON
Leonard Victor Mitchell (1925-1980), October 1989
Japanese Prisoners of War at Featherston, 1945 and Portraits of Artists: Drawings by Leonard Mitchell, 1990
Leonard V. Mitchell: Paintings from the 1950s and 1960s, November to December 1990
Leonard Mitchell and the Lambton Galleries, June to July 1991
Leonard Mitchell: Portraits of Women, October 1991
Journey into Immortality: Leonard Mitchell and the Lower Hutt War Memorial Library Murals, 1992
Leonard Mitchell and the Laura Knight Collection: Circus and Gypsy Themes, September 1993A Land of Milk and Honey: The Hutt Valley Centennial Show, Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt, 1991
Inheritance: Art Heritage and the Past, Wellington City Art Gallery, March to May 1991
The Visionary Landscape, National Art Gallery Wellington, 1991
Capital Characters: Wellington Portraits from Then to Now, New Zealand Portrait Gallery, 11 June to 23 August 2015, curated by David ColquhounMITCHELL STUDIOS, KHANDALLAH
Leonard Victor Mitchell: A Fine Art Exhibition, 16 March to 5 May 2018
Leonard’s Fifties: 50 Artworks from Mid-Century New Zealand, 2 November to 22 December 2018
Leonard Victor Mitchell: A Romantic Abroad, 1 to 29 February 2020 -
New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts
Société des Artistes Française, Paris -
Royal Society of Arts, London 1957
Netherlands Institute for International Cultural Relations
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Portraits
Leonard was a sought-after portrait artist in the 1950s, working from his Lambton Quay gallery. Notable sitters included crime writer Dame Ngaio Marsh (pictured).
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War Memorial Library Murals
In 1955 Leonard was commissioned to paint three large murals for the new War Memorial Library in Lower Hutt - the largest murals ever to be commissioned in NZ up to that time.
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Original Artworks
A selection of original artworks by late New Zealand artist Leonard Victor Mitchell (1925-1980). Please check back regularly as we will continue to post available works.
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Limited Edition Prints
A selection of original artworks by late New Zealand artist Leonard Victor Mitchell (1925-1980). Please check back regularly as we will continue to post available works.
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Mitchell & Mitchell
Mitchell & Mitchell: A Father & Son Arts Legacy (2018) and tells the story of Leonard Victor Mitchell and his incredibly talented father, commercial artist Leonard Cornwall Mitchell.
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In the Media
In 2018 Frank Mitchell told Leonard's story to TVNZ's Sunday Programme and Peter Alsop & Anna Reed were interviewed by Lynn Freeman for Standing Room Only programme on RNZ.