Leo Mol

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title: "Leo Mol" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1915-births", "2009-deaths", "canadian-male-sculptors", "officers-of-the-order-of-canada", "members-of-the-order-of-manitoba", "members-of-the-royal-canadian-academy-of-arts", "soviet-emigrants-to-canada", "ukrainian-emigrants-to-canada", "ukrainian-male-sculptors", "20th-century-canadian-sculptors", "soviet-world-war-ii-forced-labourers", "people-from-khmelnytskyi-oblast", "people-from-volhynian-governorate", "artists-from-winnipeg", "canadian-glass-artists", "sculptors-from-manitoba", "ukrainian-sculptors"] description: "Canadian artist" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Mol" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Canadian artist ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox artist"]

Field	Value
name	Leo Mol
image	File:Sculptor Leo Mol.jpg
birth_name	Leonid Molodozhanyn
birth_date
birth_place	Polonne, Russian Empire (now Ukraine)
death_date
death_place	Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
nationality	Ukrainian-Canadian
field	Sculptor, Painter, stained glass artist
training	Leningrad Academy of Arts
::

| name = Leo Mol | image = File:Sculptor Leo Mol.jpg | caption = | birth_name = Leonid Molodozhanyn | birth_date = | birth_place = Polonne, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) | death_date = | death_place = Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada | nationality = Ukrainian-Canadian | movement = | field = Sculptor, Painter, stained glass artist | training = Leningrad Academy of Arts | works = Leonid Molodozhanyn (January 15, 1915 – July 4, 2009), known as Leo Mol, was a Ukrainian Canadian stained glass artist, painter and sculptor.

History

Born Leonid Molodozhanyn in Polonne, Russian Empire (now Ukraine), Mol learned the art of ceramics in his father's pottery workshop. Mol studied sculpture at the Leningrad Academy of Arts from 1936 to 1940.

Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union he was deported to Germany where he was influenced by Arno Breker. In 1945, he moved to The Hague, and in December, 1948, he and his wife, Margareth (whom he married in 1943), emigrated to Winnipeg, Manitoba. In 1949, he held his first ceramics exhibition in Winnipeg.

More than three hundred of Mol's works are displayed in the 1.2 hectare Leo Mol Sculpture Garden in Winnipeg's Assiniboine Park which comprises a gallery, a renovated studio, and an outdoor display. The garden was unveiled on June 18, 1992 and has been expanded twice since. It is supported by private donations, and Mol personally donated 200 bronze sculptures to the city of Winnipeg. The sculptures are of religious leaders, prominent people, the human form, and wildlife.

Mol died July 4, 2009, at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was 94.

Works

File:Sculpture garden in assiniboine park winnipeg manitoba canada 1 (3).JPG|Leo Mol Sculpture Garden in Assiniboine Park Winnipeg File:Sculpture garden in assiniboine park winnipeg manitoba canada 1 (8).JPG|Leo Mol Sculpture Garden in Assiniboine Park Winnipeg File:Sculpture garden in assiniboine park winnipeg manitoba canada 1 (6).JPG|Leo Mol Sculpture Garden in Assiniboine Park Winnipeg File:Sculpture garden in assiniboine park winnipeg manitoba canada 1 (7).JPG|The bust of William Forbes Alloway, Leo Mol Sculpture Garden in Assiniboine Park Winnipeg File:Sculpture garden in assiniboine park winnipeg manitoba canada 1 (4).JPG|Leo Mol Sculpture Garden in Assiniboine Park Winnipeg File:Leo Mol Sculpture Garden at Assiniboine Park Winnipeg Manitoba Canada 1 (2).JPG|Leo Mol Sculpture Garden in Assiniboine Park Winnipeg File:Shevchenko School-Vita, Manitoba.jpg|Leo Mol's bust of Taras Shevchenko at Shevchenko School - Vita, Manitoba File:Taras Shevchenko Memorial - statue and relief.JPG|Taras Shevchenko Memorial in Washington, D.C. File:Terry Fox Denkmal.jpg|Leo Mol's statue of Terry Fox in Beacon Hill Park, Victoria, British Columbia engraved with "Somewhere the hurting must stop..." File:Terry Fox Statue db.jpg|Leo Mol's statue of Terry Fox in Ottawa File:John Diefenbaker Statue.jpg|Leo Mol's Statue of John Diefenbaker on Parliament Hill, Ottawa Canada. He is depicted wearing an overcoat over a suit. He carries the Bill of Rights under his arm. File:Tree Children sculpture by Leo Mol.JPG|Tree Children sculpture in Winnipeg, Manitoba File:Leo Mol sculpture in the Richardson Building lobby in Winnipeg Manitoba.jpg|Tom Lamb, LLD in the Richardson Building lobby in Winnipeg, Manitoba File:Vladimir the Great Toronto 2006.jpg|Statue of St. Volodymyr at St. Volodymyr Institute in Toronto, Ontario

In 2002, his monumental bronze sculpture Lumberjacks (1990), which now stands in Assiniboine Park was featured on a 48¢ Canadian postage stamp in the sculptors series. Mol's small bronze sculpture of lumberjacks (1978) was his inspiration for a monumental bronze sculpture.

He was always known as a particularly prolific artist and some of his well-known works include likenesses of three different Popes which stand in museums in the Vatican. He also has a sculpture of Taras Shevchenko on display on Washington's Embassy Row.

Other important subjects who Mol sculpted include members of the Group of Seven, A. J. Casson, A.Y. Jackson and Frederick Varley.{{Citation |publisher = McMichael Canadian Collection | title = Leo Mol Sculpture 1952-1979 |publisher = Loch Gallery | title = Leo Mol | year = 1984 |publisher=Public Works and Government Services Canada |title=Parliament Hill Statues |url=http://www.parliamenthill.gc.ca/histoire-history/terrains-grounds/statues-eng.html |accessdate=2009-10-20 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100301082936/http://www.parliamenthill.gc.ca/histoire-history/terrains-grounds/statues-eng.html |archivedate=2010-03-01 |publisher=Loch Gallery |title=Bronze sculptor Leo Mol: The Canadian Press |url=http://www.lochgallery.com/content/view/184/50/ |accessdate=2009-10-20 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514150154/http://www.lochgallery.com/content/view/184/50 |archivedate=2011-05-14 The maquette of Sir William Stephenson C.C. (code-named "Intrepid") is displayed in a place of honour within CIA Headquarters, Langley, VA, USA

Honours

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

He received honorary degrees from the University of Winnipeg, the University of Alberta and the University of Manitoba.

Mol was also made an honorary academician of the Canadian Portrait Academy (Hon. CPA) in 2000.{{Citation |publisher=Canadian Portrait Academy |title= Members |url=http://www.canadianportraitacademy.com/ |accessdate=2009-10-20 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212135008/http://canadianportraitacademy.com/ |archivedate=2009-02-12

Leo Mol's papers are held by the University of Manitoba Archives and Special Collections.

References

References

1. Alison Mayes. (July 6, 2009). "Winnipeg sculptor Leo Mol dead at age 94". Winnipeg Free Press.
2. (July 6, 2009). "Leo Mol, Winnipeg sculptor, dies at 94". CBC.
3. (July 6, 2009). "Famed sculptor Leo Mol dead at 94". CTV.
4. [https://archive.today/20130101063305/http://data4.collectionscanada.gc.ca/netacgi/nph-brs?s1=(glass.A790,C790.)+Or+(null.B742.)&l=20&d=STMP&p=1&u=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/archivianet/02011702_e.html&r=17&f=G&Sect1=STMP] Postage stamp
5. Alison Mayes. "From a humble start Leo Mol forged a prolific art career". Winnipeg Free Press.
6. (November 2017). "Order of Canada citation}}{{dead link".
7. (July 7, 2009). "ACCOMPLISHED ARTIST: Leo Mol was Manitoba's best-known and most honoured sculptor". Winnipeg Free Press.
8. "Leo Mol fonds - University of Manitoba Archives".

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