Norman Lindsay

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A concrete and steel sculpture by Norman Lindsay depicting a female nude in an erotic pose

Norman Alfred William Lindsay (February 22, 1879 – November 21, 1969). Born in Creswick, Victoria. He was a prolific artist, sculptor, writer, editorial cartoonist and scale modeler.

Son of surgeon Robert Charles William Alexander Lindsay and Jane Elizabeth Lindsay. One of ten children, he was the brother of Percy Lindsay (1870-1952), Lionel Lindsay (1874-1961), Ruby Lindsay (1885-1919), and Daryl Lindsay (1889-1976).

He married Kathleen Agatha Parkinson, in Melbourne on 23 May 1900. Their son Jack was born, in Melbourne, on 20 October 1900.

He married Rose Soady on 14 January 1920. Their children, Janet and Helen were born in 1920 and 1922 respectively.

1 Works
2 Film accounts of Lindsay
3 Bibliography
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Works

He is widely regarded as one of Australia's greatest artists.

His sumptuous nudes were highly controversial. In 1939, several were burned by irate wowsers in the United States who discovered them when the train in which they traveled caught fire.

A large body of his work is housed in his former home at Faulconbridge, New South Wales, now the Norman Lindsay Gallery and Museum, and many works reside in private and corporate collections. His art continues to climb in value today. In 2002, a record price was attained by his oil painting, Spring's Innocence, which sold to the National Gallery of Victoria for $AU333,900.

Lindsay was associated with a number of poets, such as Kenneth Slessor and Hugh McCrae, influencing them in part through a philosophical system outlined in his book Creative Effort. He also illustrated the cover for the seminal Henry Lawson book, While the Billy Boils. Lindsay's son, Jack Lindsay, emigrated to England, where he set up Fanfrolico Press, which issued works illustrated by Lindsay.

Lindsay wrote the children's classic The Magic Pudding and created a scandal when his novel Redheap (supposedly based on the town of his birth, Creswick) was banned due to censorship laws. Many of his novels have a frankness and vitality that matches his art.

Lindsay also worked as an editorial cartoonist, notably for The Bulletin. Despite his enthusiasm for erotica, he shared the racist and right-wing political leanings that dominated The Bulletin at that time; the "Red Menace" and "Yellow Peril" were popular themes in his cartoons. These views occasionally spilled over into his other work, and modern editions of The Magic Pudding often omit one couplet in which "you unmitigated Jew" is used as an insult.

Lindsay influenced more than a few artists, notably the illustrators Roy Krenkel and Frank Frazetta.

[edit] Film accounts of Lindsay

Sam Neill played a fictionalized version of Lindsay in John Duigan's Sirens (1994), set and filmed primarily at Lindsay's Faulconbridge home. James Mason and Helen Mirren starred in Age of Consent (1969), Michael Powell's adaptation of Lindsay's 1935 novel.

[edit] Bibliography

Norman Lindsay, The trumpet calls (Sydney: W.A. Gullick Govt. Printer, c.1918); col. lithograph; 91 x 67.2 cm. National Library of Australia . Lindsay produced a number of propaganda and recruiting posters and cartoons for the Australian Government during World War I.