Olive Ellzey Leonhardt (1895 -1963) was an illustrator and artist. She was born in

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...

, the daughter of Vernon Clifton Ellzey and Caroline Turnipseed. She attended

Newcomb College H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College was the coordinate women's college of Tulane University, located in New Orleans, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It was founded by Josephine Louise Newcomb in 1886 in memory of her daughter. Newcomb was the ...

(1914–15), The New York School of Fine and Applied Arts (later to be renamed Parsons) in 1915-16, and The

Art Students League The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

in 1926, where she studied with

George Bridgman George Brant Bridgman (November 5, 1864 – December 16, 1943) was a Canadian-American Painting, painter, writer, and teacher in the fields of anatomy and figure drawing. Bridgman taught anatomy for artists at the Art Students League of New Yor ...

and Homer Boss. Olive Leonhardt drew the covers for '' The Double Dealer: A National Magazine from The South'' in 1921-22 and showed at the New Orleans Arts and Crafts Club. In 1938 Dale Press published a book of her drawings called "New Orleans: Drawn and Quartered" with a foreword by Lyle Saxon. She had a one-woman show at the Charles Morgan Gallery in 1939. In the summer of 1947,

Anaïs Nin Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell ( ; ; February 21, 1903 – January 14, 1977) was a French-born American diarist, essayist, novelist, and writer of short stories and erotica. Born to Cuban parents in France, Nin was the d ...

visited Leonhardt in New Orleans with

Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal ( ; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his acerbic epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays interrogated the Social norm, social and sexual ...

and wrote this in her journal: "She is painting her dreams, she is painting people and New Orleans filtered through her vision. She sees the flaws, the ironies." (p. 202-3 of ''The Diary of Anaïs Nin''. Vol four). Leonhardt's oils were included in the post- Katrina show at The

New Orleans Museum of Art The New Orleans Museum of Art (or NOMA) is the oldest art museum, fine arts museum in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, New Orleans. It is situated within City Park (New Orleans), City Park, a short distance from the intersection of Carrollton ...

in the 2007 show entitled "The New Orleans Arts and Crafts Club: An Artistic Legacy" and the 2009 show called "Women Artists in Louisiana, 1825-1965: A Place of Their Own." A revived interest in art of the 1930s has led to the 2012 show at The Hermitage Museum and Gardens in Norfolk, Virginia called "Drawn and Quartered: Olive Leonhardt, 1939 Revisited".

References

*''The Romantic New Orleanians'' by Robert Tallant. E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc. 1950 p. 316 *''Dixie Bohemia: A French Quarter Circle in the 1920s'' by John Shelton Reed. ( p. 10, 26, 41, 48, 83, 100) *''Louisiana: a Guide to the State'' by the Louisiana Writer's Project, 1941 p. 170 *''Natalie Scott: A Magnificent Life'' by John W Scott, 2008. p. 475 {{DEFAULTSORT:Leonhardt, Olive 1895 births 1963 deaths Artists from Mississippi 20th-century American painters 20th-century American illustrators Art Students League of New York alumni American women illustrators 20th-century American women painters