Manly Art Gallery & Museum is proud to present an exhibition of life drawings by leading portrait artist, cartoonist and Northern Beaches favourite cultural export to the nation, Bill Leak.

This unique and previously unseen collection of life drawings stretches back over a 40-year period of Leak’s career.

Northern Beaches Council Mayor Michael Regan said most people will remember Leak for his high-profile cartoon work at the Sydney Morning Herald and at The Australian.

“However, what is often overlooked is that he was a very accomplished life drawing artist.”

Bill Leak passed away in 2017, leaving a remarkable legacy of paintings in public and private collections across the country, as well as political cartoons and a TV series ‘Face Painting’.

MAG&M’s Ross Heathcote and Leak’s son, Johannes Leak curated the exhibition.

“Bill’s commitment to life drawing stretched back to his school days and art school studies, and persisted throughout his celebrated career,” Mr Heathcote said.

“The works in this collection are selected from an archive of four decades and presents works never seen in public before.”

“In 2014, MAG&M presented the first public gallery exhibition of Bill Leak’s oil painting portraits of the famous and infamous. It was a watershed exhibition here for the gallery and for the artist, with Leak making a triumphant return to his old stomping ground,” Mr Heathcote said.

For more information about the exhibition, please visit Council’s website.