Open Secret: Iria Leino

We are delighted to present Open Secret: Iria Leino, the first major UK exhibition devoted to this extraordinary artist. On view in the Ante and Drawing Rooms from 25 January – 26 April 2026, it offers a rare opportunity to encounter luminous, spiritually charged abstractions by a painter whose contribution to American art is only now receiving recognition.

 

Born in Finland in 1932 and later based in New York, Leino moved between art, fashion, and spiritual practice. After studying at Helsinki’s Academy of Fine Arts and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, she attracted the attention of Madame Grès and Karl Lagerfeld, launching an international modelling career under the name IRIA.

 

Studying at The Art Students League under Larry Poons, she developed a personal form of lyrical abstraction shaped by intuition, technique, and her Buddhist faith. In 1964, she left modelling to focus fully on painting, working largely outside the commercial gallery system from her SoHo loft. Following her passing in 2022, almost 1,000 works were discovered, revealing the full scope of her practice.

 

Open Secret traces three defining series: the Colour Field Series of the late 1960s, marked by soaked acrylics and subtle sgraffito lines; the Buddhist Rain Series, with rhythmic diagonal brushstrokes informed by chanting rituals; and works on paper, including her Hands Series alongside a 1959 self-portrait by Harry Meerson.

 

Seen together, these works place Leino alongside, yet distinct from, artists such as Helen Frankenthaler and Kenneth Noland, reaffirming her vision as a painter of colour, rhythm, and the unseen.

 

 

Meher Waney, Director of Membership & Business Development at The Arts Club: “The Arts Club is delighted to present the first major presentation of Iria Leino’s work in the United Kingdom, giving audiences a rare opportunity to experience its spiritual depth and technical mastery, while celebrating her contribution to post-war abstraction and our ongoing commitment to championing distinctive artistic voices.”

 

Once a Time, 1975

Acrylic and pastel on canvas

228 x 202 cm

 

 

Guiding Angel, 1970

Acrylic and pastel on canvas

198 x 190 cm

 

Falling Like Rain (Purple Rain), 1972

Acrylic, mixed media and pastel on paper

61 x 46 cm

Framed: 70 x 55 cm

  

Untitled, 1975

Acrylic and mixed media on canvas

88 x 61 cm

 

 

Untitled, 1975

Acrylic and mixed media

on canvas

81 × 58 cm

 

Open Secret, 1970

Acrylic and pastel on canvas

112 x 115.5 cm

 

 

Plenty, 1975

Acrylic on canvas

86 × 59 cm

 

 

 

Gold Sparkle, 1969

Acrylic on canvas

187 x 152 cm

 

 

Hevosen Kenka (Horseshoe), 1969

Acrylic on canvas

173 x 158 cm

 

 

 

The Floating Past, 1974

Acrylic on canvas

203 x 183 cm

 

 

The Back (No.2), 1968

Acrylic on canvas

200 x 195 cm

 

 

Meerson Girls and the Music (No.3), 1972

Acrylic, mixed media and pastel on paper

76 x 50.8 cm

 

 

Meerson Girls and the Music (No.2), 1972

Acrylic, mixed media and pastel on paper

76 x 50.8 cm

 

 

 

Meerson Girls and the Music (No.1), 1972

Acrylic, mixed media and pastel on paper

76 x 50.8 cm

 

 

Untitled, 1975

Acrylic on canvas

91 × 63 cm