Bunker
Michael Leunig 1945 – 2024

The internationally beloved Australian cartoonist, artist, poet and writer Michael Leunig has died. The announcement came just before Christmas: ‘The pen has run dry, its ink no longer flowing – yet Mr Curly and his ducks will remain etched in our hearts, cherished and eternal.’

Leunig’s early cartoons appeared in London’s Oz magazine and his first book, The Penguin Leunig, was published in 1974. Of his work for the press he said, ‘It seemed to me that newspapers might carry some small spiritual message of consolation as a tiny reparation for the enormous anxiety and distress I believe they can create.’ During a 50 year career he produced work for Melbourne’s The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, together with many books. In 1999 he was declared an Australian Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia.

This painting, entitled Bunker, neatly includes three of Leunig’s favourite characters. His little man is quietly arranging flowers in a vase. The red teapot is never far away. ‘As the world becomes more disconnected and fragmented, I feel this need to re-state what is constant, and the teapot symbolised it – warm, shared, comforting, familiar thing.’

And the duck. ‘Ducks, well, ducks just waddle along and get on with it, they are pristine and wonderfully self-cleaning, their beaks are smooth and non-threatening, they like food and sex and can be very comical. One of the great English poets wrote, “From the troubles of this world, I turn to ducks…”’

Art in Focus is curated by Meryl Doney.
Reform interviewed Leunig in April 2020

www.leunig.com.au

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This article was published in the Issue 1 – 2025 edition of Reform

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