I was luckily able to go to the opening last night of the big exhibition of Leonard McComb’s work at Oriel Môn, just outside Llangefni.
It’s being held at Oriel Môn, because, unbeknownst to me, his mother spent the latter part of her life in Benllech, so Len knew the island well, loved the local landscape and completed two massive drawings of the local rocks which I have not previously seen, although Rock and Sea Anglesey won the Hugh Casson Prize for Drawing in 2005, so was presumably shown in that year’s Summer Exhibition.
What comes across is how visually sensitive he was as an artist, with a slightly visionary undercurrent, and how good he was as a portrait painter. The NPG have lent both his Self-Portrait, acquired from his estate, and his brilliant portrait of Doris Lessing, a commission. The Tate have lent Young Woman Holding Duck (1993).
It is the first time his work has been shown in any depth since his death in June 2018. I don’t think I knew that he had qualified at the Slade as a sculptor having spent a number of years as a graphic artist, going to evening classes at the Manchester School of Art.
His last retrospective was at the Serpentine in 1983. It’s a good opportunity to see the full range of his work.
This is a portrait of his mother, now in the collection of Manchester Art Gallery:-
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
I was lucky enough to meet Len on a few occasions, with our first meeting being the most memorable. My father, the artist and filmmaker John Christie, was filming Len as he painted Carel Weight’s portrait around 1990. I was a student at (the now closed) art school in Maidstone, and went along to watch and sketch. I thought how generous it was of Len to allow this happen especially as the studio room wasn’t that large. I wedged myself into a corner next to the camera, with a good view of both Carel and Len. He commented on me sketching him whilst he painted Carel, which he found very amusing. During the sitting, Len announced that we were in the presence of someone whose friend had attended Van Gogh’s funeral (Carel had known Lucien Pissarro). Quite a conversation followed that revelation. I wondered if this had influenced Len’s choice of background for the portrait, a mass of yellow stars over a deep blue sky. Afterwards I wrote and thanked Len for the afternoon and he sent me a catalogue of a recent exhibition he’d had, with an inscription wishing me well with my own paintings. I’m still a great admirer of Len’s work. The portrait of Carel Weight is now in the NPG collection.
A very nice memory of him ! Charles