Painter, printmaker and sculptor, Leon Bibel was born in Poland in 1913 but moved with his family to San Francisco as a child. He trained at the California School of Fine Arts and received a scholarship to study under the German Impressionist Maria Riedelstein. He worked in collaboration with Bernard Zackheim, a student of Diego Rivera, to create frescoes for the San Francisco Jewish Community Center and the University of California Medical School.

In 1936 Bibel moved from California to join the Federal Art Project at Harlem Art Center. He also taught at both P.S. 94 and Bronx House. Bibel's program in the WPA ended in 1941 and he moved with his wife to South Brunswick, New Jersey. In 1942 Bibel ceased his artistic pursuits and, in order ro support his family, worked as a chicken farmer for twenty years. Resuming his artistic work in the early 1960s, he continued to explore the mediums of painting and sculture until his death.

Bibel's numerous exhibitions include: Newark Museum (1966, one-man); Jersey City Museum (1967); Hunterdon County Art Center, Clinton, NJ (1978); Monmouth College Art Festival (1978);

Rutgers State University (1978); New Jersey State Museum (1978, one-man); Rider College, Lawrenceville, NJ (1983, one-man); Hillel Foundation of Rutgers (1985-86, one-man); Trenton State College (1985); Noyes Museum (1986); National Academy of Design (1987); Rutgers Labor Education Center (1988, one-man); Ellarslie Museum, Trenton, NJ (1990); Mercer County Community College, Trenton, NJ (1990); South Brunswick Public Library (1990-91, one-man); Hillel Foundation of Rutgers (1991); Trenton City Museum (1991); Noyes Museum (1991); Klutznick Museum, Washington, DC (1992); Joseph Gallery, Hebrew Union College (1992, one-man); National Jewish Museum (1992); and Hunterdon Art Center (1993, one-man).

His work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Newark Museum, the Zimmerli Art Museum of Rutgers, the Amon Carter Museum, the Dade County Museum, the Klutznick Museum, the Art Collection of the Federal Reserve Board, Rutgers State University, Rider College, Ohio University, George University, and the New Brunswick State Theater as well as many corporate and private collections.

After his long withdrawl from art in the 1940's through the 1960's, he spent the next 30 years in an almost constant burst of creating. During this period, he finished over 200 canvases. Becoming interested in dimensionality, he began incorporating wood onto the surface of canvases.

Expanding this, and bringing to his art his knowledge of woodworking and carpentry, he moved exclusively into wood constructions, where he remained creating until his death. During this period, several hundred constructions were completed.