Francis Lymburner (1916-1972) was a Queensland-born artist. Just before the war he moved to Sydney, where he haunted Taronga Park Zoo, making a great number of drawings of animals. In his early twenties he contributed illustrations to the Home. In 1948, its publisher Sydney Ure Smith recognised his talent for drawing animals and published a book of his work, after which he achieved some success in Sydney. Throughout the 1950s he travelled and studied in Europe and the UK, living in England from 1952 to 1964, drawing in theatres, zoos and parks. He came back to Australia keen to exhibit, and Ure Smith published another volume of his drawings and paintings in 1965. However, the following year he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage, and never painted again. His work is held by most major Australian galleries.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003
Tim Fairfax AC (54 portraits supported)
Drop into the Gallery this Spring for free creative activities inspired by our vibrant exhibition Joan Ross: Those trees came back to me in my dreams.
Do we have a treat for the smaller humans in your life! Little Faces is for babies and toddlers (with their grown up) to play, sing and have fun discovering a portrait together.
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
