100 LONG YEARS

Celebrating the life and art of Leonard Long OAM

14th – 22nd May 2011

A special exhibition celebrating the 100th birthday of Australian landscape artist Leonard Long OAM hosted by Kim Nelson Fine Art & Editions Studio.

Leonard Long is the uncle of artist Kim Nelson and renowned for capturing the essence of the Australian outback. In 1997 he was awarded the Order of Australia Medal “for service to the arts as a painter of Australian landscapes”

Born the son of a baker on 25 April 1911 Leonard Long was raised in Mittagong on the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales and showed an early aptitude for drawing. He painted his first painting at the age of 16. He started his working life as a watch-maker in nearby Bowral later moving to Nowra for work.

As a young man Long was a cyclist and rode his push bike long distances including the trip from Nowra back to Mittagong (50km) to see his sweetheart Mary whom he later married. In 1934 he and Mary settled in Nowra where they raised their family. By 1939 Long had become more seriously interested in landscape painting and spent more and more of his spare time painting. After returning from his civil service during the Second World War as a precision instrument maker, he sold his watch-making business to his partner and began full-time painting in 1955.

During his career Long has held many successful solo exhibitions throughout Australia and has travelled extensively both within Australia and overseas. His first overseas trip was sponsored by the American millionaire John Galvin and the experience made a lasting impression on the artist. He has known and painted with many other Australian artists including Albert Namatjira, Will Ashton, Norman Lindsay and Robert Johnson. His works may be found in many private collections and boardrooms and he is represented in many public galleries around the world.

Leonard Long moved to Melbourne in 1980 where he still lives.

Long continues to paint every day. He attributes his continued health to an active life and a medicinal scotch in the afternoon. This centenary celebration will be his final solo exhibition and we encourage all who have an appreciation of fine art to come and honour a great Australian.

100 Long Years
14th – 22nd May 2011
10am - 5pm Daily

Kim Nelson Fine Art & Editions Studio
67 Comur Street Yass NSW Australia

E: info@kimnelson.com.au
T: 02 6226 1796

Click on images below for a sample of the art of Leonard Long from over the last the four decades