Melbourne-born artist Leonard French is perhaps best known for his monumental murals, tapestries and glass mosaic windows which grace the façades, ceilings and walls of many leading cultural, educational and spiritual edifices in Australia and overseas: among them the National Gallery of Victoria, National Library in Canberra, and Haileybury College Chapel in Melbourne. The impact of the Mexican muralists during his early years as a painter was formative, however, his esteem for the French painter Fernand Léger gave rise to his lifelong commitment to the philosophy of art at the service of the common man. Many of the artist’s paintings are drawn from literary sources, including The Bible, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and most notably, Evelyn Waugh’s biography of the 16th-century English martyr Edmund Campion: eternal legends imbued with the notion of the struggle and spiritual journey of a hero. The ornamental beauty and shimmering luminosity of the textural surface of French’s paintings create a richness of meaning and visual impact. His emblematic use of recognisable iconographic symbols – including the Celtic Cross, circle, dome, serpent, bird and fish – together with a rich layering of paint and glazing, coalesce to form complex works of art of great depth and beauty.

Sources:
Vincent Buckley Leonard French Grayflower Publications Melbourne, 1962
Leonard French: Australia, Commonwealth Institute, London, 1967
Sasha Grishin, Leonard French, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1995