tonio

Here is the portrait of Lord Tonio Abbattoir (aka Tony Abbott), painted by the famous portrait artist and occasional cartoonist, Sir Gus de Leon-y-après-ski.

 

Sir Gus de Leon-y-après-ski's influence has been enormous — revolutionising contemporary portrait painting with the inclusion of shitty props. Not only did the three-quarter pose become the standard, but Sir Gus de Leon-y-après-ski’s preliminary drawings encouraged other artists to make freer studies for their paintings and stimulated connoisseurs to collect those drawings. All these Sydney-esque works have so far been rejected by contemporary, classical, underground, Chinese and modern galleries alike… 

 

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After cartoonist Johannes Leak triggered a Twitterstorm early last year when a hamfisted depiction of US Democratic vicepresidential candidate Kamala Harris drew criticisms of racism, it was always going to take someone with nerves of steel to give Leak his next high-profile gig.

Step forward, Tony Abbott, who has handpicked Leak to paint his official portrait to be hung in Parliament House. Leak, a cartoonist at The Australian who is the son of the broadsheet’s late celebrated cartoonist and provocateur Bill Leak, scored the official government portrait contract earlier this month via the Historic Memorials Collection. Department documents show he’ll be paid more than $40,000 for the honour, too.

Perhaps sensing the commission might ruffle some feathers inside the more progressive wings of the federal government’s bureaucracy, the Department of Parliamentary Services wouldn’t offer much information about the gig yesterday. A spokeswoman declined to tell CBD who Leak would be painting. ‘‘The process to produce official portraits involves the subject of the portrait selecting an artist. Their selection is then approved by the National Portrait Gallery prior to the contract being awarded,’’ a spokeswoman said. ‘‘The subject of official portraits is formally announced when the portrait is unveiled.’’

Abbott, a good friend of Leak Sr and Jr, did not return CBD’s calls. The usually chatty Johannes declined to comment. The last prime minister to have their portrait completed was Julia Gillard. Her realist portrait by Vincent Fantauzzo was unveiled in 2018.

 Read more SMH 10/02/2021  -------------------  Here are a few Sir Gus de Leon-y-après-ski's masterly rendered studies for Abbott's final portrait. There are many many many too many studies of Abbott on this site:  symbolisation of Tony Abbott's doggish dedication to his new master:     An excellent rendition in multiplicity:    Loving Chinese food:    You be the judge...