Leon Underwood

Other names: George Claude

Born 25 December 1890
Died 9 October 1975

Active: 1910 - 1972

Country of birth and death: England

Sculptor, teacher

Born at at 145 Percy Road, Shepherd's Bush, London. He was the eldest of three sons of (Theodore) George Black Underwood, fine art dealer in prints and coins and medals. His father hoped he would join the family business but Leon wished to pursue a career as an artist.

He studied first at Regent's Street Polytechnic (1907) and then at the Royal College of Art (1910-13, diploma received on a re-sit in 1914). During the war he enlisted with the Royal Horse Artillery, transferring first to the 2nd London field battery (1915), and then to the Royal Engineers (camouflage division) in 1916.

In 1919 he settled in Girdler's Road. He spent a year in Henry Tonks's life class at the Slade School of Fine Art and own an ex-services scholarship which he used to travel to Iceland. Afterwards he joined the staff at the Royal College of Art and in 1921 opened his own Brook Green School of Drawing.

Underwood taught himself to carve in the early 1920s and his first sculpture exhibition was held in 1924. During the 1920s he travelled to Iceland, Altamira (Spain, the USA and Mexico. He was a founder member of the Seven & Five Society, and of the National Society, but his active involvement was short-lived as he resisted regimentation.

During the Second World war he served with the civil defence camouflage section at Leamington Spa. From about 1948 he began casting his won bronzes in the studio. He died at the Hostel of God, Clapham.

Commissions include: tempera mural for Shell canteen, London 1954; relief panel for Commercial Development Building, Old Street, London 1955; bronze candlesticks and crucifix for Ampleforth Abbey 1958.

Exhibitions include: Sculpture in the Home, Arts Council, 1946; LCC 1948; Zwemmer Gallery, London 1957; Middelheim, Antwerp 1959; Leicester Galleries, London 1960; retrospective at Kaplan Gallery 1961; Acquavella Gallery, New York 1962 (solo).

Collections include: Tate Gallery; Arts Council; British Museum, London.

Further reading: Retrospective exhibition at Minories Gallery, Colchester, 1969, (exh. cat.).
Leon Underwood, Kaplan Gallery, London, March 1961, (exh. cat.).
Pure Plastic Rhythm, Leon Underwood 1890-1975, Wolseley Fine Arts, London, 20 January – 7 February 1993, (exh. cat.).
C. Neve, Leon Underwood, (London: Thames and Hudson, 1974).
B. Whitworth, The Sculpture of Leon Underwood, (London: Lund Humphries/The Henry Moore Foundation, 2000).

Biography from Whiteley (2001) and Whitworth (2004). This record includes information submitted by Sonia Songe.

Wealth at death: £32,455 0s. 0d.
Probate date: 17 March 1976

Citing this record

'Leon Underwood', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib4_1247151990, accessed 05 Jun 2023]