Edgar William Leeteg (April 13, 1904 East St. Louis, Illinois – February 7, 1953 Papeete, Tahiti) was an American painter often considered the father of American velvet painting. He immigrated to French Polynesia in 1933, where he spent the rest of his life painting the local life on black velvet.
Leeteg's best work was done between the years 1938 and 1953. He lived in Cook's Bay (Paopao), Moorea, using exotic women of the island as his models that he would find in the bars of Papeete, such as Quinn's Tahitian Hut. His main subject was beautiful Polynesian women, and he painted them amidst their background, their culture and their history. The eroticism, color and detail of these paintings made him famous.
Leeteg's popularity soared following a fortunate meeting with Honolulu art gallery owner Barney Davis, who became his agent. It was with Davis' help that Leeteg built his great Villa Velour estate in Moorea. Davis worked as Leeteg's agent and they had a fruitful and profitable relationship together. His paintings were popular in bars in America and Polynesia.
Davis branded Leeteg the 'American Gauguin', and soon Leeteg's paintings were being sold for thousands of dollars. Fame as an artist is something he never expected saying, "My paintings belong in a gin mill, not a museum. If this modern crap is art, then just call my paintings beautiful. Don't call them art." James Michener called him "... at least the Remington of the South Seas."