FROM THE ARCHIVES: Art Historian Visits Archives

By Eloise Armstrong, Archivist for the Archdiocese of Hobart

In late March the Archives welcomed Art Historian, Dr Anna Parlane, from the Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture at Monash University. Anna has a particular interest in religious art and art produced by untrained artists. She has come to Tasmania to study artworks held at the Archives, produced by the late Mr Leo Kelly of Queenstown.

Leo Kelly, who died in 2014, was born in Gormanston and spent the rest of his life on the West Coast. He was a private and reclusive man, who was deeply committed to his Catholic faith.  Over his lifetime he produced an extraordinary and unusual body of art – paintings, sculptures and devotional objects. Interestingly, Leo also made the framing for his paintings using recycled materials, developed his own photographs and was rumored to have made his own spectacles. He was clearly a man of many talents.

In 2011 Leo opened his home (which included a chapel, observatory and dark room) to English artist Lindsay Seers and Raymond Arnold, a local artist. It was during this visit, that his collection of art works was discovered. They were later exhibited in Queenstown and MONA.

Leo left his artworks to the Catholic church.

Dr Anna Parlane spent four days at the Archives studying, documenting and cataloguing Leo’s art works.  Anna finds Leo’s art fascinating, which is deeply bound to his faith and also to the natural and industrial landscapes of Queenstown.  She says his art expresses a complete vision of his world and what was important to him – religion, the landscape he belonged to and astronomy.

As part of her research trip to Tasmania, Anna spent several days in Queenstown, meeting with people who had known Leo Kelly. She says this gave her a greater understanding of his life and character and the context in which he created his art works.

Before going to Queenstown Anna was already familiar with Leo’s art and as she travelled around the area she recognized many of the places depicted in Leo’s paintings.  Anna describes Leo’s work as visionary in that “you know that what he is showing us, is more than what was there.”

Archives staff have provided Dr Parlane with full access to the artworks and have also used this opportunity to photograph each piece, while out of storage. Dr Parlane is hoping to include her research about Leo Kelly’s art in future academic publications.

Top image: Dr Anna Parlane studying one of Leo’s paintings

Photos by Freya Harrington, Archives.