Born in Bangladore, India, in 1933 Michael Leonard (British, b.1933) studied graphic design and illustration at Central Saint Martin’s School of Art in London from 1954 to 1957, after which he worked as an illustrator. Leonard first exhibited as a painter in 1972, and has subsequently had numerous solo exhibitions,

“The nude, particularly the male nude, has been a recurring theme. My 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. This can be seen in Vanitas, (a sleeping man cradling a skull) Watermelons, (a torso as part of a ‘tableau’ with fruit) and in Pomegranate Man and Nectarine Man. Almost all my paintings of the nude are based on drawings which, besides being preparatory studies, are ends in themselves.”