LENNOX, JOHN (1941-1996)

"Untitled" (c.1975)
mixed media
54 x 58cm
unsigned
*gift of the artist
 
Lennox is a tragic, award-winning Australian Figurative Painter. He studied at the National Gallery School in Melbourne, followed by the legendary George Bell School Of Art. He later pursued further tuition in London and greater Europe. Specialising in oil, Lennox was an alluring and charismatic painter who sought to show beauty as well as delve deep into the psyche of a world more akin to a surreal dream. He also was heavily inspired by the Australian Impressionist School, and recreated several classic pieces with a contemporary slant. Renewed interest in Lennox’ career comes at a time when many academics and critics across the world have once again focused their attention on the place of outsiders in art history – those that are under-discovered or part of alternate histories – those artists that on occasion are some of the best contributors to grand narratives in art. Lennox is represented in the Queensland Art Gallery, Benalla Art Gallery, St Vincent’s Hospital and in numerous private and corporate collections in Australia, UK and Europe. During his short lifetime, Lennox exhibited consistently from 1972 for 24 years until his accidental, premature death in 1996. He was survived by his widow, Deirdre, a regular muse for his paintings, who authenticated this unfinished piece. The work comes from the collection of one of the subjects in this painting. Lennox was a finalist in the Wynne Prize (1974) and won the Camberwell Rotary Prize (1974) in that same year. In 2008 Lennox had a touring retrospective at Benalla Art Gallery.