There is a portrait of HM The Queen from 1986 by the British artist Michael Leonard that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London.  Naturally Her Majesty is fully clothed which is not surprising apart from the fact that 85 year old Leonard is also very famous for his nude drawings and paintings of men and women.

A late bloomer this former illustrator didn’t have his first exhibit until he was in his 40’s.  His early works were very formal and besides the Queen’s picture he also did portraits of several other famous people such as Lincoln Kirstein, Edward Lucie-Smith,  Sir Peter Moores and the Marquess and Marchioness of Hartington.

However the nude, particularly the male nude, has been a recurring theme in Leonard’s work. His figures are usually on the move or in a state of transition but even when they are at rest dynamism is provided by the design of the picture. Almost all his paintings of the nude are based on drawings which, besides being preparatory studies, are ends in themselves too

Now his work is to have a retrospective curated by Henry Miller Fine Art a London gallery that  focuses on the male form. Information and details from  https://www.henrymillerfineart.co.uk/

8-27th October  2018

Coningsby Gallery, 30 Tottenham Street, London, W1T 4RJ

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