User:Oz50s/LS

Leon Schwengler was an Australian artist. Born in 1923 in Kherson, Ukraine, he was the son of a White Russian father and a French mother who emigrated to Melbourne after World War II.

Schwengler lived common-law with Ruth Fouvy in Carlton (Aus.) in the 1950s and 1960s, his most productive years. A staunch anti-communist but student and admirer of Russian culture, he had a politically notable but brief romance with a dancer touring Australia with the Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra in 1965. It was deftly terminated by the Commissar accompanying the troupe. From the late 1970s until his death he lived common-law with Lynette Daws in Williamstown.

Oils were Schwengler's preferred medium. Like many artists, he had his own vision of light and color. He depicted colors as he saw them, without the preconceptions of everyday vision. His 1967 oil on board "Waterloo Bay before dawn" and 1967 oil on canvas "Portrait" are examples.

Schwengler suffered from a chronic heart condition he attributed to wartime experiences as a young victim of both Germany and Russia. He died in 1982. His remains lie in Altona cemetery, Victoria, Australia.