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Leonard William French
The piece is a stacked triptych. French's work has been the subject of more than 40 solo exhibitions in Australia, and been part of many group exhibitions outside Australia. At the time of his death in early 2017, French resided in and painted in his studio in Heathcote, Victoria. He was married three times, and had seven children and five grandchildren. A biography of French, ''The Boy from Brunswick: Leonard French'' by Reg MacDonald, was published by Australian Scholarly Publishing in November 2018.
BiographyLeonard French in National Gallery of AustraliaLeonard French at Australian ArtLeonard French, image of 'Tapestry' in the University of Ballarat collection
Leonard French Obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Leonard 1928 births 2017 deaths 20th-century Australian painters 20th-century Australian male artists Australian stained glass artists and manufacturers Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire 21st-century Australian painters 21st-century male artists Blake Prize for Religious Art winners Australian male painters Artists from Melbourne People from Brunswick, Victoria Australian people of Cornish descent es:Leonard French#top
Leonard William French OBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(8 October 1928 – 10 January 2017) was an Australian artist
An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...
, known principally for major stained glass
Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
works.
French was born in Brunswick, Victoria
Brunswick is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Melbourne city centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Merri-bek Local government areas of Victoria, local gov ...
to a family of Cornish origin. His stained glass
Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
creations include a series of panels in the cafe and foyer of the National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...
in Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
, and a stained glass ceiling for the great hall at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, which is one of the largest in the world.
Another important piece of work French created was in seven panels, ''The Legend of Sinbad the Sailor
Sinbad the Sailor (; ar, سندباد البحري, Sindibādu al-Bahriyy; fa, سُنباد بحری, Sonbād-e Bahri or Sindbad) is a fictional mariner and the hero of a story-cycle of Persian origin. He is described as hailing from Baghdad ...
'', in 1956. It hung in the Legend Cafe in Melbourne.
In 1987, French completed a major commission for the Haileybury Chapel in Melbourne, including dozens of stained glass mosaic windows of varying shapes and sizes and a large reredos
A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images.
The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for ex ...
.
In 2009, Earth Creations was hung in the St John's College Chapel (St. Lucia, Brisbane) by the UQ Art Museum installation team, two years after being commissioneThe piece is a stacked triptych. French's work has been the subject of more than 40 solo exhibitions in Australia, and been part of many group exhibitions outside Australia. At the time of his death in early 2017, French resided in and painted in his studio in Heathcote, Victoria. He was married three times, and had seven children and five grandchildren. A biography of French, ''The Boy from Brunswick: Leonard French'' by Reg MacDonald, was published by Australian Scholarly Publishing in November 2018.
Awards
French won the Sulman Prize in 1960 with ''The Burial'', and the Blake Prize for Religious Art in 1963 and in 1980. He was also awarded a Harkness Fellowship in 1965. In the Queen's Birthday Honours of June 1968, he was appointed an Officer (OBE) of theOrder of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
.
References
External links
Biography
Leonard French Obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Leonard 1928 births 2017 deaths 20th-century Australian painters 20th-century Australian male artists Australian stained glass artists and manufacturers Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire 21st-century Australian painters 21st-century male artists Blake Prize for Religious Art winners Australian male painters Artists from Melbourne People from Brunswick, Victoria Australian people of Cornish descent es:Leonard French#top