In Memory: Tom Gleghorn

Once described by an Australian art critic as the ‘Pahr Lap of Australian Art’, for winning many art prizes, Lake Macquarie raised Tom Gleghon passed away this year at the age of 100 years.

Born in Thornley, England in 1925, Gleghorn’s family settled in Warners Bay, Lake Macquarie when he was three years of age. With a thirst for education and knowledge, he had completed an engineering apprenticeship, where shortly after in the late 1940s, visited the Art Gallery of NSW for a defining moment – seeing two works by William Dobell, which started him on the path of being an artist.

He is best known for his abstract works, yet had no formal art training. After seeing the two Dobell works, the portrait Margaret Olley, and the landscape Storm approaching Wangi, Gleghorn knocked on the door of William Dobell, who became a supporter and mentor for his art practice.

Gleghorn frequently visited the Museum of Art and Culture, yapang (MAC yapang) when in the region, and the gallery holds nineteen artworks by Gleghorn, many gifted through the generous Shirley Firkin Bequest in 2019 and by Phillip and Marie Williams, 2021.

MAC yapang pays homage to Tom through this exhibition during the Dobell Festival; an artist from Lake Macquarie who was inspired by the Lake.