Leonard William French (b.1928)

In 1982 Harry Oppenheimer commissioned French to design a mural for the Brenthurst Library in Johannesburg. The Bridge was installed and opened in early 1984, and resulted in a series of paintings exhibited in Australia in 1985, and heavily influenced by his time in South Africa. Shown in this exhibition, The Crossing (previously in the Qantas Collection, sold Sotheby's, Sydney, 7 May 2007, lot 6) relates closely to the bridge -- it retains the bridge motif but with the addition of blindfolded figures and armoured horses. The present work is a study of the blindfolded riders in The Crossing.