Leslie Hurry (1909-1978) was a well-known painter in oil and watercolour of landscapes, portraits and abstracts, and he was also a noted costume and stage designer. He was born in London and studied at St John's Wood Art School and at the Royal Academy Schools. He left the RA School of Painting in 1931, before completing his scholarship, and went on to undertake commissions for landscape murals, most notably for a brewery chain for the decoration of a number of their saloon bars. Later during the 1930s he painted landscape subjects in Britain and Ireland before continuing his work in France, firstly in Brittany, and then in Paris. Hurry returned to England prior to the onset of World War II and settled at Hundon in Suffolk. In the early 1940s he made a series drawings of surrealist style drawings which were exhibited at the Redfern Gallery. He went on to undertake work for the Sadler’s Wells Ballet, the Royal Opera House and Glyndebourne, and other significant clients.  Hurry exhibited at leading London galleries and abroad. His work is represented in a number of important collections including Tate, Victoria & Albert Museum, British Council, Ashmolean Oxford, Fitzwillam Cambridge, National Museum Cardiff, MIMA, The Wilson, Glyndebourne, and National Galleries of Scotland.