Born in New Jersey, Eugene Leake studied at the Yale School of Fine Arts, New Haven and at the Art Students League in New York. Throughout his career, his work has been exhibited widely in New York, Chicago, Washington, DC and Baltimore. In 1961, Leake assumed the presidency of The Maryland Institute College of Art, a position which he held until 1974. Central to his art is a love of landscape, his broad, expressive compositions testaments to his keen awareness of the infinite variety and fleeting aspects of nature. Key to his painting as well is a profound understanding and admiration for artists from the past. Leake once paraphrased the words of the 19th century Barbizon master, Theodore Rousseau: “Every time I go out, I have to reinvent the tree. I have a suspicion of formulas. . . . If I had a formula for everything, it would get mechanical . . . Lord, I’m still trying to master trees.”