Attenborough in Paradise
Published: 20 April 2023
Attenborough in Paradise (Portrait of Sir David Attenborough)
Acrylic on canvas, 2016
By Bryan Organ
The internationally famous naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough was a regular visitor to Leicester Museum & Art Gallery on New Walk when he was a child. The objects and displays he saw there that had some part in inspiring his love of the natural world.
In the painting, David Attenborough is seated in front of a number of images showing the celebrated BBC natural history documentaries he worked on throughout his long career. The director's chair used in this portrait is the same chair used in Bryan Organ's ‘Portrait of Sir Richard Attenborough’ (later Lord Attenborough), painted 1985-6 and also in the collection of Leicester Museums and Galleries.
Bryan Organ is an internationally recognised artist who was born in Leicester. He studied at College of Art, Loughborough, and Royal Academy Schools, teaching at Loughborough College, 1959–65. He had a first one-man show at Leicester Museum and Art Gallery, 1959.
Organ early established himself as a painter of notabilities, including the composer Sir Michael Tippett, the writer and broadcaster Malcolm Muggeridge, HRH Princess Margaret, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and HRH The Prince of Wales. His work is in public collections in Britain and abroad.
Commissioned by the City of Leicester Museums Trust with the support of the generous donations of visitors to the city museums, 2016.