A beautiful small painted sketch of a South Coast Seascape (NSW) by Australian artist Leonard Long (1911-2013).
Oil on masonite board, signed lower left Leonard Long, original wooden frame which has been given a light white wash, the restorer has also cleaned the painting.
Handwritten verso ‘Southern Coastline”.
Measures including frame: 15.5cm high, 23cm wide, 4 cm deep to the wall.
One of Australias great & respected post war landscape artists in the realist manner, Leonard Hugh Long was born in Summer Hill NSW to the son of a baker, then spent his early years growing up in Mittagong on the NSW south coast, where he showed an early aptitude for drawing, completing his first painting at the age of 16.
In 1934, he settled with his wife and young children in Nowra where he worked as a watch maker running his own business.
After serving in the second world war, Long began spending increasing amounts of time painting the Australian landscape, subsequently selling his watch making business and embarking as a full time artist in 1955.
Long would go on to paint almost daily until his death at the age of 102, holding many successful solo exhibitions around the country.
During his career, Long painted alongside notable Australian artists such as Will Ashton, Norman Lindsay, Robert Johnson and the celebrated indigenous artist Albert Namatjira; spending six weeks painting with Namatjira in Central Australia, culminating with a sell-out joint Sydney exhibition.
Awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1993 ‘for services to the arts as a painter of Australian landscapes’. Long’s works are held both privately and in public gallery collections in Australia and overseas; such as Art Gallery NSW, Dunedin Art Gallery NZ, National Gallery Kuala Lumpur, Rockhampton Art Gallery Qld and Broken Hill Art Gallery NSW.
Five days a week, 8.30 until 3pm, Long continued to paint & exhibit until his death in 2013 at the age of 102, leaving behind a body of work and an inspiring legacy; his passion and painted depictions of our unique Australian landscape.
