AUTO HISTORY

Motor Illustrator: Wilson Stuart Leech

January 1935 cover. On a clear, starry night, a futuristic, red, streamlined car speeds over a hill, leaving a golden trail of exhaust in its wake.

Wilson Stuart Leech (April 30, 1902 — April 1982) was born in Chicago His father Herbert B. Leech had also been an artist who had worked on his own in New York City, as an artist, a scenic designer, and as partner in the firm of Lackie-Leech Co.

Leech was a student at the National Academy of Design and chose a career as artist in Mount Vernon, New York in the early twenties. In 1922, he took second place in a contest sponsored by the John Armstrong Chaloner Foundation, which awarded study grants to artists. His style often contained an airbrushed look and featured simple, uncluttered, well-planned designs with bright colors. The figures he drew tended to be flat, elongated, and stylized. His work appeared in such publications as The Dance magazine (1931), The Golden Book (literary magazine, 1930-31), and Motor Boating (1933-34).

During the mid-forties, he was a member of the New York State Guard. For the remainder of the forties, he worked as an art director on Long Island.

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