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Notes

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Karl Weschke, born in Germany, came to England as a prisoner-of-war in 1945 and settled there three years later. His work has an emotional power often concerned with the forces of nature, sensuality and the memory of intense visual experiences. In the classical myth of Leda and the swan, the god Zeus, disguised as a swan, seduced the wife of the king of Sparta. In Weschke's austere and strongly designed painting, Leda is no innocent victim of the god's disguise and the work is tense with sexual aggression.

Bristol Museum & Art Gallery

Bristol

Title

Leda and the Swan

Date

1985–1986

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 183 x W 137 cm

Accession number

K5706

Acquisition method

purchased with the assistance of the Arnolfini Collection Trust, the Victoria and Albert Museum Purchase Grant Fund and the Friends of Bristol Art Gallery, 1994