Leo Whelan was one of the most distinguished portrait painters in Ireland in the first half of the twentieth century, celebrated for his depictions of the figures who shaped modern Ireland – politicians, academics, lawyers and leaders of the independence movement among them.

He competed in the painting section of the arts competition at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games, one of eight Irish artists to enter exhibits in the painting competition staged at the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art.

Whelan studied at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art.