Portrait of Diogenes

Diogenes was the name given by Lenkiewicz to a local tramp called Edward MacKenzie. Diogenes was the philosopher who lived in a barrel and the artist had found Mackenzie: "living in a concrete barrel, a circular container, in the crook of a tree looking down onto Chelson rubbish tip, a precipitous drop, and he had lived there for nine years" (R.O. Lenkiewicz, White Lane Press, Plymouth, 1997, p. 34). Diogenes was painted frequently by Lenkiewicz, and after his death, the artist had Diogenes' body embalmed.