Leslie Andrew Alexander Wilkie (27 June 1878 – 4 September 1935) was an Australian artist and the president of the South Australian Society of Arts from 1932 to 1934.

Early life

Wilkie was born at Royal Park, Melbourne, the son of David Wilkie and Mary Frances, née Rutherford. He was a grand-nephew of Sir David Wilkie. He was educated at Brunswick College and in 1896 entered the National Gallery of Victoria school at Melbourne under Lindsay Bernard Hall.

Art career

Wilkie came first into notice in 1902 when he showed some very promising work at the Victorian Artists' Society exhibition. He went to Europe in 1904 for further study, and after his return to Australia was appointed acting master of the drawing school at Melbourne while Frederick McCubbin was on leave. Wilkie was elected a member of the council of the Victorian Artists Society, and after the foundation of the

Australian Art Association The Australian Art Association was founded in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1912 by Edward Officer (inaugural president) John Mather, Frederick McCubbin, Max Meldrum and Walter Withers.Judy Blyth, Mather, John (1848? - 1916), ''Australian Dictionary ...

was its honorary secretary for three years. He was for several years, an illustrator on the staff of '' The Argus'' and '' The Australasian''. In September 1926 he was appointed curator of the

Art Gallery of South Australia The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...

at Adelaide and proved himself a most efficient and painstaking officer. In 1934 he joined a University of Adelaide anthropological expedition to

Central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Australia. In its narrowest sense it describes a region that is limited to the town of Alice Springs and i ...

where he painted portraits of Aborigines near Cooper Creek. The portraits were later exhibited at the Art Gallery of South Australia. Wilkie died in Adelaide on 4 September 1935 after an operation for appendicitis. He married Nani Tunnock, who died in 1930, and was survived by a daughter,

Nora Wilkie Nora, NORA, or Norah may refer to: * Nora (name), a feminine given name People with the surname * Arlind Nora (born 1980), Albanian footballer * Pierre Nora (born 1931), French historian Places Australia * Norah Head, New South Wales, headla ...

(1874–1950), a noted artist. Andrew Wilkie (c. 1853–1948), director of the Melbourne Zoo 1923 to 1936, was an uncle.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkie, Leslie Andrew Alexander 1878 births 1935 deaths 20th-century Australian painters Australian art gallery directors Australian people of Scottish descent People from Parkville, Victoria Australian art curators Artists from Melbourne National Gallery of Victoria Art School alumni