Biography

The gallery regularly handles, acquires and advises on works by Leslie Marr. For more information or the availability of work, please contact the gallery.

Leslie Marr (1922 - 2021)

Leslie Marr, October 2012: "Painting is for me an exploration, and one of the most important maxims for an explorer is, 'No preconception'. This means no reliance on other people's ideas, teaching, theories. To have been taught by a great teacher is indeed a privilege. One should absorb the teaching, taking from it what one feels that one needs, but then one must go ones own way, or remain forever trapped in one particular system."

 

Leslie Marr was born at Aykley Heads in Durham City in 1922. He joined the R.A.F in 1942, serving in both the UK and in the Middle East. After leaving the R.A.F, he joined the classes of David Bomberg at the Borough Polytechnic, and in 1947 he exhibited with the Borough group at the Everyman Cinema Gallery. The year after, Marr was elected founder member and secretary of the expanded Borough Group and consequently frequently exhibited with the group. 

 

Marr has travelled extensively and sought artistic inspiration from each place that he has visited whether it be the Lake District in Cumbria or his trip to New Zealand  in 1960. His most iconic and well-known works come from the time he spent in Scotland, particularly at Glen Etive, near Glencoe. Marr primarily focuses on landscape and still life in a predominantly expressionistic style. 

 

Works
  • Leslie Marr, Landscape near Beddgelert, 1949
    Landscape near Beddgelert, 1949
  • Leslie Marr, Still Life with Flowers, Chuggaton, 1963-64
    Still Life with Flowers, Chuggaton, 1963-64
  • Leslie Marr, Chuggaton Devon, 1965
    Chuggaton Devon, 1965
  • Leslie Marr, St Hilarion, 1948
    St Hilarion, 1948
  • Leslie Marr, Monastery of Ay Chrisostomos, Cyprus , 1948
    Monastery of Ay Chrisostomos, Cyprus , 1948
  • Leslie Marr, Flowers in a Jug, 1966
    Flowers in a Jug, 1966
  • Leslie Marr, Still Life with Poppies
    Still Life with Poppies
  • Leslie Marr, The Barle in Winter , 1963-4
    The Barle in Winter , 1963-4
  • Leslie Marr, Reclining Nude, 1971
    Reclining Nude, 1971
  • Leslie Marr, In the Tent, Egypt, 1945
    In the Tent, Egypt, 1945
  • Leslie Marr, Self-Portrait, 1946
    Self-Portrait, 1946
  • Leslie Marr, Mont St Victoire (II), 1963
    Mont St Victoire (II), 1963
  • Leslie Marr, Glen Ceitlin, 1976
    Glen Ceitlin, 1976
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