LeRoy Levestan de Mestre was the sixth of 11 children of Etienne de Mestre, gentleman, and his wife Clara Eliza Rowe. In 1913 he travelled to Sydney to study violin and viola at the NSW Conservatorium, as well as painting at the Royal Art Society and the Sydney Art School under Julian Ashton.
In 1916 he enlisted in the AIF and was accepted for home service but ill-health saw him discharged in 1917.
He became interested in the treatment of shellshocked soldiers through colour therapy and with the Conservatorium’s Adrien Verbrugghen he began to create theories about relationships between colour, music and painting.
In 1919 at Gayfield Shaw’s Art Salon, he and Roland Wakelin exhibited Colour in Art, introducing R. de Mestre’s new theory of colour organisation as it applies to Painting and … Interior Decoration.
In 1920 he was briefly influenced by Max Meldrum’s theory of tonalism, but colour soon reasserted itself in his work.
In 1923 he was awarded the NSW Travelling Art Scholarhip and travelled to London, Paris and St Jean de Luz. His scholarship painting Fisherman’s Harbour, St Jean de Luz was rejected by the Trustees Art Gallery of NSW, so was offered to the New England Teachers’ College instead.
In 1930 he left Australia, never to return, and renamed himself 'Roy de Maistre’ claiming the modern spelling suited a modern painter.By 1950 he added the name 'Laurent’ as he claimed he was descended from Madame de Laurent, mistress of Queen Victoria’s father. Later he added the name Joseph in honour of the philosopher Joseph de Maistre, changed the spelling of Levistan to Leveson.
He exhibited successfully in London and his work was illustrated in several editions of Herbert Read’s
Art Now. He befriended the young Patrick White, who was his neighbour and who collected his paintings. Later in life he converted to Roman Catholicism and religious subjects, based in part on Renaissance paintings, entered his oeuvre. He painted a series of the Stations of the Cross for Westminster Cathedral.
He was greatly admired by Sir John Rothenstein who was an advocate for his recognition as a major British artist.
- Writers:
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- Date written:
- 2011
- Last updated:
- 2012
