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He shaped a world: Leo Mol dies

By: Staff Writer

6/07/2009 10:40 AM | Comments: 12

Leo Mol

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Leo Mol (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES)

Winnipeg sculptor Leo Mol , seen in 2000, died Saturday at age 94.

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Winnipeg sculptor Leo Mol , seen in 2000, died Saturday at age 94. (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES)

WINNIPEG - Winnipeg sculptor Leo Mol has died at age 94.
Mol died peacefully on Saturday at the Tache Centre medical facility surrounded by family and friends.
Originally born Leonid Molodozhanyn in Ukraine, many of his bronze statues are known and loved by Winnipeggers and people from around the world who have visited the Leo Mol Sculpture Garden, one of the most popular features at the Assiniboine Park.
He was a prolific artist and some of his works include likenesses of three different Popes which stand in museums in the Vatican.
In addition to the realistic bronze statues at his sculpture garden some of his major works include the sculpture of Queen Elizabeth II in the courtyard between the Centennial Concert Hall and the Manitoba Museum and a life-sized statue of former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
"He was a great man," said Dr. Jaroslaw Barwinsky, a retired cardiac surgeon in Winnipeg. "He was able to express his appreciation for the beauty of creation and our culture."
Assiniboine Park’s Leo Mol Sculpture Garden, where much of Mol’s sculpture is displayed, "is one of the nicest things in the history of art in Canada," Barwinsky, 82, said.
"It’s because of this that Winnipeg is a centre of this type of art."
Barwinsky knew Mol for more than 30 years.
"Besides being a great artist, he was a very friendly person."
Mol’s father was a potter and as a young teenager he move to Vienna to start his art apprenticeship. He lived in Berlin during the war years and emigrated to Canada as farm hand in Saskatchewan on New Year’s day, 1949.
He moved to Winnipeg months later and the first breakthrough in his art career came when he won an international commission to do a five-metre tall sculpture of Ukrainian writer Taras Shevchenko in Washington D.C. in the early 1960s.

History

Updated on Monday, July 6, 2009 at 10:40 AM CDT:
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12 Commentscomment icon

Leo Mol's sculpture of the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko in Washington DC is truly worth seeing. He is the only artist to have sculpted a statue of the poet in his younger years. If you are ever in the Dupont Circle are of Washington DC, do go see it.

Leonid Molodozhanyn -- Вічная Память! - Memory Eternal !

Michael
New York, N.Y.

I remember back in the late 70s, we used to meet for coffee every Sunday with Leo and other seniors at International Centre
He used to tell us his stories about his trips around the world in order to complete his commissioned work by Governments of different countries...his passion for his work was as strong as his passion for people. He was going to the International Centre just to greet newcomers to welcome them to Winnipeg !
A truly wonderful man, husband and artist. Happy trails Leo, I know angels will salute you in your way to heaven....
Michael V

Mr. Mol also painted the interior ceiling and walls of St. Mary Roman Catholic Church in Beausejour MB, completed in 1952. They remain to this day and are treasured by the community. They are absolutely beautiful and a rarity in churches in the Americas, more like what you would see in churches in Europe.

Yes he is one of the very best...and was my favourite. I just loved his style, in his sculptures and his 2-dimensional work: beautiful, unpretentious. I take my little girls to his garden every time I come to town...such a lovely place for them to be... (unlike the cruel, ridiculous world of billboards, magazines and TV ads).

We can be grateful for his legacy, it will always be with us, but I do hope there will come someone just like him, who can continue... we'll just have to wait and hope.

Thanks for your post, R Galston... He sure did...

I met Mr. Mol briefly in 2006, when I was working as custodian at St. Margaret's Anglican Church on Westminster, and he was touring the places in the city where his art was displayed--in St. Margaret's case, the stain glass depicting the Nativity in the apse. He wore thick glasses and a fedora pulled down low. We stood underneath his work chatting, and he said plainly: "I do my work to bring people pleasure." And so you have, Mr. Mol. Rest in Peace.

A sad day for "All" Manitobans'. Leo Mol was one of the greatest sculptors of his time, and we were very lucky for him to have called Winnipeg home. Rest In Peace.

I did digital colour work for him for five years, and when he showed up with a handful of images he wanted work done on, it would take hours as each picture came with a story and over the years I learnt a lot of history and insight to various pieces he had done over the years. From the time he and his wife came from the Netherlands as ceramic artists, to his bronze of Eisenhower in the west Wing. His painting lessons with Arthur Lismar to the foundry he liked to use in Germany. He loved to tell them ,and I really enjoyed hearing them. When the post office used one of his pieces for the first class stamp, he laughed when I asked him to sign across an entire plate of the stamps like a rock star. Sadly missed.

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Yesterday afternoon, the sculpture garden was full of people and music. This man left us something very special.

Leo Mol was a great artist and a wonderful man. He will leave a huge gap in the Winnipeg art scene, and will be greatly missed. Rest in peace, Leo.

Leonid Molodozhanyn -- Вічная Память!

-World-renowned sculptor-

He will forever be remembered for the amazing artistic gifts he shared with us and for his outstanding contribution to our country as a Ukrainian Canadian. Deepest sympathies to his family and friends.

See some of his work here: www.manitobaphotos.com/mol.htm

"Over three hundred of Mol's works are displayed in the Leo Mol Sculpture Garden in Winnipeg's Assiniboine Park. The garden was unveiled in 1992 and has been expanded twice since. It is supported by private donations, and Mol personally donated most of the sculpture. In 2002, his sculpture Lumberjacks was featured on a Canadian postage stamp.

In 1989, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2000, he was awarded the Order of Manitoba. He is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.

He has received honorary degrees from the University of Winnipeg, the University of Alberta and the University of Manitoba." (Wikipedia)

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