Norman Lindsay

Early life

Norman Lindsay was born in Creswick, Victoria, the fifth child of an Anglo-Irish doctor, Robert Charles William Alexander Lindsay (1843–1915) and his wife, Jane Elizabeth Lindsay (1848–1932). Jane Lindsay was the eldest daughter of the Thomas Williams, an amateur artist, who became a significant presence in the life of his Creswick grandchildren. The Lindsay children were all encouraged to draw. Percy Lindsay (1870–1952), Lionel Lindsay (1874–1961), Ruby Lindsay (1885–1919), and Daryl Lindsay (1889–1976) all became professional artists and drawings by Isabel Lindsay are in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ballarat.

For some years, it was a comfortable life for the Lindsays. Their wooden house, Lisnacrieve, was extended to accommodate the growing number of children, and later their grandfather. Daryl Lindsay wrote of the large vegetable garden, the paddock with a cow for fresh milk, the sitting room lined with books, and their mother encouraging the children to draw. For some years, Norman had a skin condition that reacted badly to the sun, so he spent more time indoors than his siblings, and drew.

Norman described his older sister, Mary, as "the dominant figure of my infant days". He was slow at learning to read, so she read to him.

Career

The comfortable family life of the Lindsays ended in the early 1890s when Dr Lindsay's investments and savings were eliminated with the banking crisis. After Lionel moved to Melbourne on the half-promise of work as an illustrator, Norman pleaded to join him. In 1895, after Lionel agreed to look after him, Norman left Creswick for Melbourne.

His talent for drawing was soon recognised. In November 1895, the reviewer of the Victorian Artists Society exhibition wrote: "A quaint subject by a youth, Mr Norman Lindsay, has a touch of undeveloped genius about it". Two years later, his brother Lionel, who was the art critic of the The Tocsin, wrote that Norman Lindsay "is the most powerful and original of the younger school of Australian artists. His splendid capacity amounts to genius, and the promise of his early work–he is only 18 years old–should be fulfilled in a brilliant future".

It was a time of both poverty and adventure. The Lindsay brothers became part of a lively community of young artists and writers, which Norman later described in his 1913 novel, A Curate in Bohemia. The book contains thinly described pen portraits of many of his friends including brother Lionel, Max Meldrum and Hugh McCrae. When their friend, Ernest Moffitt died, Norman made the woodcut illustrations for A Consideration of the Art of Ernest Moffitt, which Lionel wrote in his honour.

In May 1900, Norman married Katie Parkinson, the sister of his friend Ray. Their son, Jack, was born five months later. His concern at having insufficient funds to support a wife and child was solved when Katie's brother, Jack Elkington,, took a folio of Norman's drawings to Sydney and arranged for them to be exhibited at the Society of Artists' rooms where they attracted the attention of A.G. Stephens of The Bulletin, Australia's leading magazine. His appointment as The Bulletin's cartoonist, which lasted for 58 years, soon made Norman Lindsay a household name.

In 1903, when Katie returned to Melbourne to be with her family for the birth of Raymond.,her second child, Norman and Will Dyson created a ménage à trois with the young artist's model, Rose Soady. Rose later dropped Dyson from the arrangement, which led to ongoing bitterness. The early months of his relationship with Rose were later fictionalised in his 1932 novel, The Cautious Amorist. Later, when Dyson married Ruby Lindsay, the couple refused to know Rose.

Reception

Early in his career, Norman Lindsay's art was widely praised for the quality of his drawn line, and the sweet sensuality of his subjects. His most controversial early drawing, Pollice Verso (1904) was bought by the National Gallery of Victoria for the then record price of 157 guineas and ten shillings.

Despite his local fame, Norman Lindsay was less successful internationally. In 1923 his work was included in an exhibition of Australian art held at the Royal Academy in London.. While the exhibition as a whole received favourable reviews, William Orpen, an artist Lindsay admired, was scathing about his work. His critique in the London Daily Express was republished in Australia in The Barrier Miner: "The Australian art exhibition is good, and shows great promise for a young nation; but please ignore its black spot, Norman Lindsay. His work has no sign of art, no technique, nothing. Ignore it."

As with many provincial artists of his generation, Norman Lindsay was hostile to modern art, and modern artists returned the compliment.

Tastes change with time. In the late 1940s, Norman Lindsay offered a large representative collection of his work as a gift to the Art Gallery of NSW. The Gallery, which by then was collecting the work of modern artists such as Sidney Nolan, was reluctant to accept the gift. The offer was eventually withdrawn. He was increasinlgly seen as an historic figure, an artist from the past. He was eventually able to bequeath his house and a significant collection of art to the National Trust of Australia. Shortly before he died, Norman Lindsay also donated a large collection of his work to the University of Melbourne.

Norman Lindsay's house has become a popular tourist destination and was the location for the 1994 film Sirens, starring Sam Neill as Lindsay.

The differing views on Norman Lindsay's art tend to reflect the age and prejudiced of those who have written on him. In 1969, after Lindsay died, the modernist Australian art critic Alan McCulloch called Norman Lindsay's figures "galumphing".

Poets of the same generation were more sympathetic. A.D. Hope in a book of Lindsay pencil drawings wrote that: "These are faithful and loving studies of the model in which the breasts and thighs are as individual and eloquent as the faces, and every part of the body thinks, feels and speaks."

Personal life

Lindsay married Catherine (Kate) Agatha Parkinson, in Melbourne on 23 May 1900. Their son Jack was born in Melbourne on 20 October 1900, followed by Raymond and Philip in 1906. They divorced in 1918. He later married Rose Soady who was also his business manager, a most recognisable model, and the printer for most of his etchings.

They had two daughters: Jane Lindsay, born in 1920, and Helen Lindsay, born in 1921. Philip died in 1958 and Raymond in 1960. In the Lindsay tradition, Jack became a prolific publisher, writer, translator and activist. Philip became a writer of historical novels, and worked for the film industry.

Death

Lindsay is buried in Springwood Cemetery in Springwood, close to Faulconbridge where he lived.

Legacy

Norman Lindsay's work is held in many Australian public collections. These include the Art Gallery of NSW, Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of South Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia, and Art Gallery of Ballarat as well as the State Library of NSW, Fisher Library (University of Sydney) and the University of Melbourne. 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 children's book, The Magic Pudding, remains in print.

Oral history

Lindsay was interviewed in 1965 by Keith Adam, where Lindsay goes into detail about his art and work, his influences and inspirations, the reasons for writing and hobbies that he pursued. This recording can be found at the National Library of Australia.

Fictional portrayals

Film

The first major screen adaptation of Lindsay's literary works was the 1953 British film Our Girl Friday, based on his 1934 novel The Cautious Amorist. The 1969 Australian-British co-production Age of Consent, adapted from Lindsay's 1938 novel of the same name, was the last full-length feature film directed by Michael Powell, and starred James Mason and Helen Mirren in her first credited movie role.

In 1994, Sam Neill played a fictionalised version of Lindsay in John Duigan's Sirens, set and filmed primarily at Lindsay's Faulconbridge home. The film is also notable as the movie debut of Australian supermodel Elle Macpherson.

Television

In 1972 five novels were adapted for TV as part of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Norman Lindsay festival. These were Halfway to Anywhere (adapted by Cliff Green), Redheap (adapted by Eleanor Witcombe), A Curate in Bohemia (adapted by Michael Boddy), The Cousin from Fiji (adapted by Barbara Vernon) and Dust or Polish (adapted by Peter Kenna).

Searches of the ABC's TARA Online television database, and the collection database of the National Film & Sound Archive conducted in March 2009, failed to return any results for these programs. Regrettably, many videotaped ABC programs, series such as Certain Women and program segments from the late 1960s and early 1970s, were subsequently erased as part of an ill-considered economy drive.

Although the closure of ABC Sydney's Gore Hill studio, uncovered considerable quantities of film and video footage long thought to have been lost, such as the complete The Aunty Jack Show, the absence of any reference on the TARA or NFSA databases and the paucity of citations elsewhere, e.g. IMDb, suggest that the master recordings of the adaptations of the Norman Lindsay novels may no longer exist. The first broadcasts of these programs predated widespread domestic ownership of videocassette recorders in Australia, so it is unlikely that any domestically recorded off-air copies exist either.

Works

Novels

A Curate in Bohemia (1913)

Redheap (1930) (published in the U.S. as Every Mother's Son)

Miracles by Arrangement (1932) (published in the U.S. as Mr. Gresham and Olympus)

Saturdee (1933)

Pan in the Parlour (1933)

The Cautious Amorist (1934) (first published in the U.S. in 1932); movie version: Our Girl Friday 1953

Age of Consent (1938); movie version: Age of Consent 1969

The Cousin from Fiji (1945)

Halfway to Anywhere (1947)

Dust or Polish? (1950)

Rooms and Houses (1968)

Children's books

The Magic Pudding (1918)

The Flyaway Highway (1936)

Poetry book

illustrations in Francis Webb, A Drum for Ben Boyd, Sydney: Angus & Robertson, (1948)

Other

Lysistrata, verse translation by Jack Lindsay, illustrated by Norman Lindsday Sydney : Fanfrolico Press, (1925)

The Etchings of Norman Lindsay, London: Constable & Co, (1927)

Hyperborea: Two Fantastic Travel Essays, London: Fanfrolico Press, (1928)

Madam Life's Lovers: A Human Narrative Embodying a Philosophy of the Artist in Dialogue Form London, Fanfrolico Press (1929)

The Scribblings of an Idle Mind, Lansdowne, Melbourne (1956)

Norman Lindsay: Pencil Drawings, Angus & Robertson, Sydney (1969)

Norman Lindsay's Pen Drawings, Angus & Robertson, Sydney (1974)

R.G. Howarth & A.W. Barker (eds) The Letters of Norman Lindsay, Angus & Robertson, Sydney (1979)

Autobiographical

Bohemians of the Bulletin, Angus & Robertson, Sydney (1965)

My Mask: For what little I know of the man behind it, an autobiography, Angus & Robertson, Sydney (1970) (Written in 1957 with instructions to be published after his death)

Books about Norman Lindsay

John Hetherington, Norman Lindsay, Melbourne: Lansdowne Press, (1961)

Rose Lindsay, Model Wife: My Life with Norman Lindsay, Sydney: Ure Smith, (1967)

John Hetherington, Norman Lindsay: The Embattled Olympian, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, (1973)

Jane Lindsay, A Portrait of Pa, Sydney: Angus & Robertson, (1975)

Douglas Stewart, Norman Lindsay: A Personal Memoir, (1975)

Lin Bloomfield, Norman Lindsay: Impulse to draw, Sydney:Bay Books,(1984)

Lionel Lindsay: An artist and his family, London: Chatto & Windus, (1988)

The Legendary Lindsays, Sydney, Art Gallery of NSW, (1995)

Joanna Mendelssohn, Letters & Liars: Norman Lindsay and the Lindsay Family, Sydney: Angus & Robertson, (1996)