Biography
French was born in Brunswick, Victoria to a family of Cornish origin and initially worked as a sign writer.
His stained glass creations include a series of panels in the cafe and foyer of the National Library of Australia in Canberra, and a stained glass ceiling for the great hall at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, which is one of the largest in the world. Another important piece of work French created was in seven panels, The Legend of Sinbad the Sailor, in 1956. It hung in the Legend Cafe in Melbourne. In 1987, French completed a major commission for the Haileybury Chapel in Melbourne, including dozens of stained glass mosaic windows of varying shapes and sizes and a large reredos. In 2009, Earth Creations, a stacked triptych, was hung in the St John's College Chapel, on the St. Lucia campus of the University of Queensland, two years after it was commissioned.
French's work has been the subject of more than 40 solo exhibitions in Australia, and been part of many group exhibitions outside Australia.
French's advocacy was instrumental in fostering the career of the previously unknown naive artist Sam Byrne, after discovering his work while judging the annual Broken Hill Art Prize in 1960. French introduced Byrne to Sydney gallerist Rudy Komon.
At the time of his death in early 2017, French resided in and painted in his studio in Heathcote, Victoria. He was married three times, and had seven children and five grandchildren.
A biography of French, The Boy from Brunswick: Leonard French by Reg MacDonald, was published by Australian Scholarly Publishing in November 2018.
