Leo Mol was born Leonid Molodoshanin in 1915, in the town of Polonne, near Shepetivka, Ukraine. Son of a potter, he proved to be an artistic prodigy, earning a scholarship to study at the Leningrad Academy of Arts at the age of 15. Mol continued there (in the class of Professor M. Manizer) from 1936 to 1941. He later pursued further studies at the Kunst Academy, Berlin, Germany and the Academy of Arts in The Hague, Netherlands. In 1948 he and his wife, Margareth made their home in Canada, settling in Winnipeg.
His earliest commission came from the Leningrad Conservatory in 1940, to design and create a life-size portrait of the distinguished composer, Alexander Borodin. Over his career he received many more commissions from institutions such as the Canadian Government, Provincial Governments of Alberta and Manitoba; the University of Manitoba, St. Clements University, (Rome, Italy); Dr. Leo Mol Junior High School in Tacherting, Bavaria, Germany; and the Technical High School in Eindhoven, Holland. As winner of international competitions, Leo Mol was commissioned to execute monuments to Taras Shevchenko in Washington D.C., (unveiled in June of 1964); Buenos Aires, Argentina, (unveiled November , 1971) and in Prudentopolis, Brazil, (unveiled December 1989). Leo Mol also executed many portrait busts of noted world figures such as the Hon. John Diefenbaker, former Prime Minister of Canada; Dwight D. Eisenhower, former President of the United States; Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of Great Britain; Pope Paul VI, Pope John XXIII, Pope John Paul II; Cardinals Slipyi and Tisserant in the Vatican, Italy; Metropolitans Illarion, Maxim Hermaniuk and Andre Shepticky in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1990); also an over life-size figure of Pope John Paul II in Altötting, Bavaria (1983).
Other commissioned portraits included a portrait figure of K.S. Adams, president of Phillips Petroleum, (Bartesville, Oklahoma, 1967); HRH Queen Elizabeth the Second, (Winnipeg Manitoba, 1967); a figure of Tom Lamb, pioneer aviator, (The Pas, Manitoba); “The Pioneer Family”, (the Ukrainian Heritage Village, Near Edmonton, Alberta, 1980); Pater Pio, (Franstanz, Austria, 1984); a Monument to St. Volodymyr, (in Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1984; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, 1988; Toronto, Ontario, 1989; London England, 1988 and The Vatican, Rome, 1988); a monument to the writer Ivan Bahriany, (at the cemetery in New Ulm, Germany, 1966). Awarded first prize in national competition for the monument to John Diefenbaker, (unveiled Sept. 1986, Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Canada); and a monument to Max Bell, “Prairie Schoolboy”, (St. John’s Ravenscourt School, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1990). Important figures locally, such as Dr. P.H.T. Thorlakson, Victor Sifton, former editor of the Winnipeg Free Press; John MacAulay, lawyer; Steven Juba, former Mayor of Winnipeg also became subjects.
Mol enjoyed the challenge of executing a good sculptural likeness. He once explained, I feel that it (portraiture), is one of the most difficult forms of sculpture. It requires that the sculptor not only have the necessary formal training, but a certain feeling and intuition for character. In a way it is something like a cartoonist working, except that the cartoonist always exaggerates the character. When you do a sculptural portrait you have to bring out the individual character so strongly that when you see the head later, it is almost as if you are meeting the living person. This intuition was perhaps most evident in the portraits he created of his colleagues. These included bronze busts of the painters of the Canadian “Group of Seven”, A.Y. Jackson, Fred Varley, A.J. Casson; artists, Y. Hnizdovsky, O. Gritchenko, Peter Kuch, Clarence Tillenius, S. Hordynsky and the sculptors, Arno Breker, Frances Loring, Charlie Biel, E. Holbrook, A. Daragan. There was also a portrait of Robert McMichael, founder of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinberg, Ontario.
Leo Mol’s works are to be found in the permanent collections of the Hamilton Art Gallery, The McMichael Canadian Art Collection, (Kleinburg, Ontario); The Ontario Art Gallery, The Winnipeg Art Gallery, The Riveredge Foundation, (Calgary, Alberta); the Peter Whyte Museum, (Banff, Alberta); The National Portrait Gallery, (Washington D.C.); The Vatican and the Collection of Modern Religious Art in the Vatican Museums in Rome, Italy; St. Clements University, (Rome Italy); The Ukrainian Canadian Art Foundation, (Toronto, Ontario); the Gallery of the Ukrainian Cultural Centre, Oseredok, (Winnipeg, Manitoba); Great-West Life Assurance Company, (in Winnipeg, Canada and Denver, Colorado); and in private and corporate collections throughout Canada, The United States, England, Germany, Italy and Holland.
Mr. Mol was s a member and past president of the Manitoba Society of Artists, member and past vice-president of the Sculptors’ Society of Canada, member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, member of the Allied Artists of America, member of the Münchener Kunstlergenossenschaft, Germany; and the Society of Ukrainian Artists in Diaspora. He received honorary degrees from The University of Winnipeg, (Manitoba); The University of Alberta, (Edmonton); and The University of Manitoba, (Winnipeg). He was made an officer of the Order of Canada in 1989.
In addition to his accomplishments in the field of sculpture, Leo Mol designed and executed more than 80 stained glass windows. In the spring of 1992 the Leo Mol Sculpture Garden opened in Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Park featuring over 200 bronze sculptures from the artist’s personal collection. This was one way that Leo Mol could give back to his community. He felt strongly connected to his adopted city. In his words, Where art is concerned, I have strongly believed that the artist has a certain place in the community. He can actually serve in a spiritual way. How? It is up to the artist really. There is no formula. That is the whole essence for the creative work…The artist should be responsible for finding out how he can best serve his community. Leo Mol died in Winnipeg in 2009.