Death and transfiguration
1958-1959
Medium
enamel paint on composition board
Measurements
122.5 × 91.7 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
The Joseph Brown Collection. Presented through the NGV Foundation by Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE, Honorary Life Benefactor, 2004
© Leonard French/Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia
Gallery location
Gallery 20
Level 3, NGV Australia
About this work
As a young man Leonard French worked as a signwriter to support his studio art. When he received the commission in 1963 to make the stained-glass ceiling for the new National Gallery of Victoria designed by Roy Grounds, he became one of the best known artists in the country. Death and transfiguration, with its theme from the gospels, is an early example of his exploration of materials and form. The painting reads as two figures – Christ lying with his head to left, then rising, with arms outstretched, through the top of the canvas.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Melbourne, Victoria
Inscription
inscribed in blue ballpoint pen on reverse u.l.: "Death and Transfiguration" 1958-59.
Accession Number
2004.176
Department
Australian Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Vizard Foundation