Allen Leepa (1919–2009) was an American artist, author, and educator from Michigan and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. He was born on January 9, 1919, in Brooklyn, New York, and died on June 26, 2009, in New Port Richey, Florida. He was a benefactor of the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art and some of his works are included in its permanent collection.Art is a Draw
The Leepa Rattner Museum by Jamie Cataldo page 159 tampa Bay Magazine May/June 2000

Esther Gentle Esther Gentle (1899 – 1991) was a New York City sculptor, painter, printmaker, and gallery manager. Gentle ran an art reproductions business, ''Esther Gentle Reproductions'', and a New York City art gallery. Her work is part of the Leepa-R ...

was his mother and

Abraham Rattner Abraham Rattner (July 8, 1895 – February 14, 1978) was an American artist, best known for his richly colored paintings, often with religious subject matter. During World War I, he served in France with the U.S. Army as a camouflage artist. Ear ...

was his stepfather. He studied at the Hans Hoffman School and the Bauhaus School of Design. His art includes

abstract painting Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th ...

lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

s and sketches. He won a Childe Hassam Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Leepa was an art professor at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

in East Lansing from 1945 until 1983. He earned a Master of Fine Arts and Doctor of Education degrees from Columbia University. The author of an art textbook, The Challenge of Modern Art, Leepa described art as an expression of humanity. Modern art helps to "reflect and find the form for a new kind of humanism in the world today by showing that creative expression and self-discovery can offer a basis for moral values."

Personal life

His mother was

, a New York City sculptor, painter, printmaker, and gallery manager.Tampa Bay Magazine - May-Jun 2000 - Page 159

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leepa, Allen 1919 births Artists from Florida 2009 deaths Writers from Florida Artists from Brooklyn Michigan State University faculty Columbia University alumni