The Lute Player c1924

NORMAN LINDSAY (1879-1969)

The Lute Player c1924

oil on canvas
92.0 x 100.5 cm; 114.5 x 123.0 cm (framed)
signed lower left: Norman Lindsay

Provenance:
The Estate of Norman Lindsay, New South Wales
Thence by descent, private collection, Sydney
Deutscher + Hackett, Sydney, 10 May 2017, lot 28
Private collection, Melbourne
Estate of the above
Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 26 November 2019, lot 23
Private collection, Melbourne

Exhibited:
On long term loan to the Norman Lindsay Gallery & Museum, New South Wales

Reference:
Bloomfield, L., Norman Lindsay Oil Paintings 1889-1969, Odana Editions, New South Wales, 2006, pp.54-55 (illus.)

Related Works:
The Lute Player c1924, pencil on paper, 18.0 x 21.5 cm, National Gallery of Australia collection, Canberra (as [Sketch for Homage to Venus] c1942); illus. in Bloomfield, L., Norman Lindsay Oil Paintings 1889-1969, Odana Editions, New South Wales, 2006, p.54

Estimate: $140000 - 160000

Result Hammer: $140000

By the 1920s Norman Lindsay was well known for his cartoons that were appearing each week in The Bulletin. He dismissed the cartoons as ‘journalistic work’. It was his delicate and intricate pen and ink drawings which were praised by critics and sought after by collectors. It did not matter that his theme was sometimes controversial or risqué. Their interest was an underpinning of his financial security, an outcome few artists achieve and not until they are established in their principal genre.

The Great War affected the Lindsay family as it did every person and family in Australia. In 1918 Angus & Robertson published a Special number of Art in Australia (edited by Sydney Ure Smith and Bertram Stevens). The issue was dedicated to Reg Lindsay, his younger brother killed at the Somme in 1916.

It was a fertile time for Lindsay who was driven in his belief that a cultural renaissance was necessary after the devastation of the Great War. Through reuniting with his oldest son Jack, he came in contact with a generation of young poets and writers. By supplying illustrations for Vision, a short-lived magazine, he assisted their pursuit of the revitalisation of culture. The first years of the peace were a busy time for Lindsay. Between 1917 and 1924 he created over 80 etchings, all of them printed by Rose. He wrote The Magic Pudding. Lindsay was invigorated by his own activities and by the works of those who surrounded him.

The family home at Springwood was filled with the laughter and energy of his young daughters, born in 1920 and 1921. Rose, as ever in charge, reigned supreme, running the household and available as needed to pose for Lindsay.

For some time, he had been experimenting with colour. At first in watercolour, tonal and somewhat dark, reflecting more about his pen and ink work. The challenge of putting colour on canvas was enough for an artist who saw no end to the possibilities of creativity.

Early attempts at painting in oil had been encouraged by Elioth Gruner (1882-1939), whom Lindsay regarded as the finest painter of light. First excursions into the medium were very much determined by his knowledge of early oil painting techniques using thin glazes.

Glazing is a technique used for centuries to create glowing effects.  Thin, translucent layers of paint are applied over dry opaque colour, blending with the paint beneath. The technique allows light to reflect and gives a luminosity to the canvas. In his later oils he employed impasto to give depth.

Mostly dissatisfied with the early attempts, he destroyed the canvases or re-used them as fowl house roofs. After his death, two discarded oils were found rolled up in his studio. After restoration they are now part of the National Trust collection at the Norman Lindsay Gallery.

It is fortunate he was satisfied with The Lute Player. Lindsay may have been familiar with Titian’s Venus with Cupid and Lute Player 1562. Venus, confidently lounging as Cupid crowns her, takes no notice of the lute player, a symbol of the power of women over men. Lindsay believed in the concept of the Feminine Dominant as important to overcome the destructive influence of men.

Venus was a benign Goddess who turned hearts from vice to virtue. From the Renaissance on, artists had depicted Venus naked. Her state of undress was acceptable to both artists and patrons. Even with no suggestion of a goddess, the nude became part of post-classical art.

Lindsay uses the almost square format to focus entirely on the beauty of the central nude.  The two gowned figures and their attendants are placed at the two side edges while the lute player kneels beneath, gazing at the splendor of Venus. The lute often represented love, romance, lust with fleeting sounds that reflected the transience of love.

The photographs he took of Rose show the poses he required (see Figure 1).  The pencil drawing for this work, held in the National Gallery of Australia, indicates the final composition of the painting.

Rose, his constant companion and model from their first meeting in 1902, was in her mid-thirties. She knew exactly what was required by the artist. In the late 1950s Lindsay wrote the following of Rose.

Since the feminine image is the central motif of my work, Rose compacted for me of all its most vital contents mentally, emotionally and physically. All women in one unity so to speak. And since the compelling motif of Rose’s being is a need to dominate action in affairs. – to exploit her femininity to the full.

With Rose I got all that destiny could devise in the complexity of the feminine ego.  In short, all women in one woman.  She was beautiful, she was high-couraged, as she matured from the girl to the woman, her mind matured. 

This painting represents the significance of Rose to Lindsay in an almost romantic depiction of her strength and beauty. It marks the start of his exploration of yet another medium. Completed during a period of prolific creativity, The Lute Player must be considered one of Norman Lindsay’s first major oil paintings.

Helen Glad

Helen Glad is an art historian and granddaughter of Norman Lindsay.  She is the author and co-author of several publications on Lindsay’s work, including Norman Lindsay Pen Drawings 1890-1965 (edited by Lin Bloomfield, Bloomfield Galleries, Sydney, 1987) and The Legendary Lindsays (with Ursula Prunster, The Beagle Press in association with the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1995). 

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