Leon Morrocco RSA was born in Edinburgh in 1942. In 1959 Leon enrolled at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, before continuing to the Slade School of Art, London (1960-61), and Edinburgh College of Art (1961-65). After art school, he was awarded the Andrew Grant Scholarship and an Italian Government Scholarship to the Accademia di Brera, Milan. Allowing him to travel around Greece, Turkey and Italy, these awards catalysed the itinerant lifestyle that would define his career.
Elected an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy at the unusually young age of 29, Leon was Lecturer in Drawing and Painting at Edinburgh College of Art from 1965 to 1968 before taking up a similar position at Glasgow School of Art from 1969 to 1979. Driven by a desire for travel and adventure, in 1979 he left Scotland to become the Head of Fine Art at the Chisholm Institute, Melbourne. Leon and his family would live in Australia for 12 years. In 1984 he left academia and focused solely on his own practice. Following several successful exhibitions in Melbourne and Sydney, in 1992 he returned to the UK, living in London and embarking on a series of solo shows with the John Martin Gallery that have continued for over twenty five years.
