Edgar Leeteg was an American painter often considered the father of American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

  velvet painting

Velvet painting

A velvet painting is a type of painting distinguished by the use of velvet as the support, in place of canvas, paper, or similar materials. The velvet provides an especially dark background against which colors stand out brightly....

. Before Leeteg, black velvet painting was primarily considered a hobby, not an art.

Early career

Leeteg initially worked as a billboard

Billboard (advertising)

A billboard is a large outdoor advertising structure , typically found in high traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertisements to passing pedestrians and drivers...

 painter and sign writer in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 before losing his job due to the depression. Taking a small inheritance, Leeteg moved to Tahiti

Tahiti

Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...

 in 1933 with a few brushes and some paint stolen from his previous employer. Using the women of the island as his models, he sold paintings to visiting sailors.

Rise to popularity

Leeteg's best work was done between the years 1933 and 1953. He lived in Cook's Bay, Tahiti using the dark skinned women of the island as his models. His main subject was beautiful Polynesian women, and he painted them amidst their background, their culture and their history. The eroticism, colour and detail of these paintings made him famous.

Leeteg's popularity soared following a fortunate meeting with Honolulu art gallery owner Barney Davis, who became his patron. It was with Davis' help that Leeteg built his great Villa Velour estate in Tahiti. Davis worked as Leeteg's agent and they had a fruitful and profitable relationship together. His paintings were popular in bars in America and Polynesia.

Davis branded Leeteg the 'American Gauguin', and soon Leeteg's paintings were being sold for thousands of dollars. However, fame as an artist is something he never expected saying "My paintings belong in a gin mill, not a museum. If this modern crap is art, then just call my paintings beautiful. Don't call them art."

Edgar Leeteg died in 1953 in a motorcycle crash in Tahiti at the age of 49.

In Popular Culture

The video game Psychonauts

Psychonauts

Psychonauts is a platform video game created by Tim Schafer, developed by Double Fine Productions and published by Majesco. The game was released on April 19, 2005, for the Xbox, April 26 for Microsoft Windows and June 21 for PlayStation 2. It was released on Steam on Oct 11, 2006, as an "Xbox...

features a character name Edgar Teglee, a black velvet painter.