Born Inverkeithing, Fife.
Painter in oil, watercolour and gouache: abstract and fantasies.
Studied Edinburgh College of Art, 1934-8.
Served overseas during WW2 and in 1947 abandoned abstract painting in favour of romantic work, developing a richness in the surface of oil paint to create "fantasies" lit by a source within the canvas itself.
In 1965 he turned increasingly to watercolours, showing the influence of Chagall and John Maxwell. "It is the pervasive moods and auras he creates that make Leishman's fantasies palatable; and it is by them that his imagery has become mature in texture and quality; for its actual contents have changed little over the years...in subtle matters of the presentation and technique he is often entirely convincing and entirely captivating" [Gage].
Elected Scottish Society of Artists (SSA) 1950 resigned 1974.
RSW 1970
Held many one-man exhibitions.
Represented in Dundee Art Gallery and SAC.
Biography - Dictionary of Scottish Art & Architecture - Peter J M McEwan
