Leon Kroll was a painter, lithographer, art critic and teacher who was born in 1884 in New York City. Living his professional life in New York City and Chicago, he summered in Rockport, Massachusetts and became one of the most popular and famous of its painters by 1920. He was a teacher at the National Academy, Maryland Institute of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Art Students League of New York.

Kroll studied at the Art Students League in New York City with John H. Twachtman, National Academy of Design and the Académie Julian in Paris with Jean-Paul Laurens. He was a member of the National Academy of Design, New Society of Artists, Philadelphia Art Club, American Society of Painters and Sculptors, Boston Art Club, National Institute of Arts and Letters, American Academy of Arts and Letters, Woodstock Art Association and the National Art Club. Kroll won prestigious awards at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Salmagundi Club, Pan-Pacific Exposition, Art Institute of Chicago, Wilmington SFA, National Academy of Design, Carnegie Institute, Newport Art Association, National Arts Club, Boston Art Club, International Exposition, Paris, Philadelphia Art Alliance and the Chevalier, Legion of Honor, France.

Kroll's work is held in numerous permanent collections, including the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Carnegie Institute, Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He was commissioned to do murals for the U.S. Military Cemetery in Omaha Beach, France and for the John Hopkins University Auditorium.