Cyril Leeper (L) with Lincoln Alexander

Cyril Leeper painted his way to being one of Canada’s greatest artists

By True Daley

Cyril Leeper may not be a household name to some. However, he is one of the most sought-after portrait artists in the world, and one of Canada’s most accomplished painters.

In the past 40 years, he has been globally recognized for his vibrant portrayals of international dignitaries and politicians, including Prince Andrew, Duke of York; 14 vice-regal consorts of Canada, several provincial premiers, supreme court justices, chancellors, presidents of universities, archbishops, brigadier generals and many notable leaders in the private sector.  Currently, Leeper is awaiting confirmation to paint Queen Elizabeth II and Governor General Michaëlle Jean.

Considering the legacy of greatness that precedes him, it seems Leeper was destined for success. He was born in Toronto  as one of seven children to a Jamaican mother and a white father from Saskatchewan. He was named after his Jewish-Jamaican grandfather Cyril Reuben, a land surveyor in Kingston, Jamaica and a self-made millionaire who obtained his fortune in Scarborough as an entrepreneur.

Leeper’s mother and aunt trained as pianists at the famed Juilliard School in New York City. The accomplished duo then went on to host a popular radio program on CBC under the moniker The Reuben Sisters.

Leeper’s Julius Isaac painting

Leeper says being born to an interracial couple, his siblings’ skin tones ranged from light to dark.He also implies that his brothers, who have darker complexions, were more directly affected by the racism they experienced growing up.

However, Leeper believes he was spared some of that alienation because of his dual careers as a painter and an accomplished violinist. Music was the great equalizer. “Music was my safety belt because when you’re with a group of musicians, they don’t care,” he says. “I’d be in an orchestra and there’d be Chinese and Russian players. It saved me from what some of my brothers went through.”

The tipping point in his career came at age 20, when Leeper became one of only 22 people to be accepted to Academia di Belli Arte di Roma, where he was taught the technique of glazing, used by masters such as Rembrandt. Leeper credits his training in Rome as the reason he’s been able to capture the various hues and undertones of black skin so well.

Of all his subjects so far, Leeper says he is especially proud of his portrayals of Canada’s first Black Member of Parliament, Lincoln Alexander and Julius Isaac, the country’s first Black Chief Justice.

“In Italy, we were trained to paint all races, but I don’t think they do that here,” he says. “With glazing, you put a very bright orangey-red smooth wash and the canvas becomes brighter. That helps you with the skin tones because you give the pigmentation of blood colour under the skin layers, and you slowly put these grey blues and subtle greys over it.

Most people these days don’t do that [because it’s time consuming], so the pigmentation is not necessarily as precise and as real.

“If I had mixed all the colours in one thick gob of paint and put it on the canvas when I did the portrait of Lincoln Alexander, I wouldn’t get those beautiful warm reflections. Julius Isaac has a much darker pigmentation than Lincoln, and it was great to mix those colours.”

Like his work, Leeper’s life is full of texture, layers and history.

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