Lot Essay
Leon (John Leon) Moran was born in 1864 in Philadelphia and died in 1941 in Watchung, New Jersey. He made his reputation as a figure painter, although he also painted landscapes. Moran's father, the painter Edward Moran, was his first tutor; In fact, Leon Moran was born into a wider artistic family. Peter and Percy, his brothers, as well as four uncles and his father were painters and etchers. Moran continued his studies at the National Academy of Design in New York City. In the late 1870s he made European visits and studied also at the Londoner and Parisian Academies. In 1883 he settled in New York and established a studio there. He exhibited frequently at the American Watercolour Society and the National Academy of Design in New York and was a member of the American Watercolour Society and the Plainfield Art Association of New Jersey. Moran received awards from the American Art Society and the Art Club of Philadelphia.