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Show years. He also studied at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-arts, Ecole Rue de la Grande Chaumiere, and Academie Colarossi. His teachers included Jean Paul Laurens, Bouguereau, Lucian Simon, Courtois, Colin, H. O. Tanner, Verlet, and Max Bohm. When he returned to Utah, Leo was appointed director of art for the Salt Lake City School District. He served in that position for nineteen years, from 1904 to 1923. An ardent educator, Leo sponsored art classes for groups from kindergarten through college and on into adult education. He instructed art extension classes at the University of Utah and Utah State College. Leo also continued his own education by returning to summer school at the University of Chicago (1906-1907), New York University (1909-1910), Columbia University (1912-1913), and Brigham Young University. He studied art, educational theory, and city planning. He also created and organized the Salt Lake Planning Commission to encourage the city's development and beautification, on which he served as secretary. While still in Utah, Leo served as a member of the Deseret Sunday School Union Board of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1913 to 1923. In this service he used his art to teach a whole generation of young Latter-day Saints about pioneers and the birth of the Church. In his mural sketch entitled Life Is the Reward of Love and Labor, the scene depicts "how the values of the pioneer past provide role models for the present. The themes of marriage, family , affectionate commitment, and hard work are depicted as the basis of true living. The spring plowing, the blossoming fruit trees, and the young couple and small child living in the springtime of their lives portray a scene of hope and optimism rooted in a firm foundation of gospel values. The idyllic setting in the Heber Valley east of the Wasatch Range emphasizes the pioneer values of building Zion in the Land of promise." Museum of Church History and Art Leo was engaged to marry Alice Louise Richards, daughter of Dr. Stephen Longstroth Richards and Emma Louise Stayner Richards; but before the wedding, she died on June 19, 1906, as the result of a kidney operation. Joseph F. Smith sealed Alice to Leo in the Salt Lake Temple November 21, 1906, the day they were to have been married, with Alice's mother standing as proxy for her daughter. Her death was such a deep personal grief to Leo that he did not marry for approximately ten years. On December 25, 1916, he married Pauline Maude White, the daughter of David Hyrum White. Pauline was a talented pianist and vocalist who proved to be a devoted wife, a gracious hostess, and a continuing source of encouragement and support to Leo in his work. In 1920, Leo began teaching at the University of Oregon at Eugene where he praised the climate, the scenery, and the teaching opportunities. In 1923, Leo accepted a position as the chairman of the Department of Art and Architecture at Oregon Agricultural College (later Oregon State College -now Oregon State University) in Corvallis. He remained there in that position until his death in 1946. |
