Edgar leeteg
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Edgar Leeteg single-handedly transformed Black Velvet painting into an art-form. When he was born in 1904 in Illinois, USA, black velvet painting was a hobby but not an art. There were factories along the Mexico-US border producing such paintings. This style of painting was primarily done by hobbyists in floral design painting.
Leeteg's best work was done between the years 1933 and 1953. He lived in Cook's Bay, Tahiti using the dark skinned women of the island as his models. His main subject was beautiful Polynesian women, and he painted them amidst their background, their culture and their history. The eroticism, colour and detail of these paintings made him famous.
He originally worked in commercial design in the US, and due to a fortunate meeting with Bernard Davis, who became his patron, he could devote time to becoming an artist. It was with Davis' help that Leeteg built his great Villa Velour estate in Tahiti. Davis worked as Leeteg's agent and they had a fruitful and profitable relationship together. His paintings were popular in bars in America and Polynesia.
Leeteg earned the title of the 'American Gauguin' and died in 1953.
