Six British Paralympic Athletes

1 portrait of Caroline Jane Baird (née Innes)

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© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Six British Paralympic Athletes

by John Lessore
oil on canvas, 2004
Commissioned, 2004
Primary Collection
NPG 6669

Artistback to top

  • John Lessore (1939-), Painter. Artist or producer of 6 portraits, Sitter in 1 portrait.

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This portraitback to top

The portrait by John Lessore is set in the Stadium in Sydney, during the celebrations on the last night of the 2000 Paralympic Games. The six sportsmen and women represented are all multi-gold medallists who took part in the 2000 Games. They are depicted celebrating the success of the British team, among a fireworks display and aeroplane fly-past. Lessore, himself a paraplegic and wheelchair user spent over two years working on this ambitious painting from 2002-2004. He took various trips around the country to study each sitter individually. Lessore's ambitious portrait of the Six British Paralympic Athletes first went on display at the National Portrait Gallery in 2004.

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  • Place portrayed: Australia (Olympic stadium, Sydney)

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Current affairs

Armed robbers raid the Northern Bank in Belfast, stealing £26.5 million. Gunmen entered the homes of two bank officials, kidnapping their families and forcing them to let them into the bank, before loading cash into vans and driving away. Police and the British and Irish governments claimed that the Provisional IRA was responsible and several of the people arrested had PIRA, Real IRA and Sinn Féin connections.

Art and science

A fire at Charles Saatchi's art warehouse destroys some of the icons of Brit Art. Hell by Jake and Dinos Chapman, Everyone I Have Ever Slept With and The Hut by Tracey Emin and works by Damien Hirst, Chris Ofili, Sarah Lucas, Gavin Hume and Rachel Whiteread were among the casualties.

International

An earthquake in the Indian Ocean on Boxing Day causes a tsunami that kills nearly 230,000 people when it hit the coasts of Southeast Asia. The earthquake itself was the second most powerful ever recorded on a seismograph and waves from the tsunami - the most devastating in history - were up to 30 metres high.

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