Leonard French’s large-scale public murals and stain-glass works occupy a unique place in the modern movement in Australia, conceived and influenced by European, Asian and indigenous art and the artist’s distinctive methods and materials.
Read MoreFrench attended the Melbourne Technical College from 1944 to 1947, travelling to Great Britain in 1949 and studying Celtic art. He returned to Melbourne in 1951 and held a solo exhibition, influenced by his time in the United Kingdom.
The recipient of the Asian Travelling Prize, he further travelled through Asia and Europe from 1959 to 1963, visiting Greece to study Byzantine mosaic art.
Typically, French works in series with an interest in social themes, constructing images from patterns and shapes constructed in enamel, gold paint, synthetic resin and oil and assembled as symbols and narratives.
French is widely esteemed for his work in stained glass with his commission for the National Gallery of Victoria, (1962-1968), the largest stained-glass ceiling in the world.
In 1965 he received the Order of British Empire and in 1972 an Honorary Doctorate in Law from Monash University. French has completed numerous public commissions throughout Australia and has work in the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
