Sir Lionel Lindsay (1874-1961) was a vocal art critic and productive artist. Influential, with a wide circle of friends, his artistic skills were many: watercolourist, etcher, wood engraver, black and white artist and book illustrator. One of ten children, five of whom became professional artists, he became noted for his etchings and engravings of Sydney architecture and of Australian birds and animals. He was a supporter of the conservative landscape tradition and an anti-modernist, calling the movement 'the cult of ugliness'. In 1899 Lindsay wrote A Consideration of the Art of Ernest Moffitt, the first monograph on an Australian artist. He later produced others on Conrad Martens and Hans Heysen. Comedy of Life, his autobiography, was published posthumously in 1967.
Gift of Sir Richard Kingsland AO CBE DFC 2003. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
© National Library of Australia
Lionel Lindsay (age 49 in 1923)
Sir Richard Kingsland AO CBE DFC (2 portraits)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
A visual exploration of themes depicted in 'The Jester' by Lionel Lindsay.
Michelle Fracaro describes Lionel Lindsay's woodcut The Jester (self-portrait).
