Norman Lindsay’s once-censored artworks go under the hammer in Chicago
More than 50 rare first editions and original artworks from the controversial Australian artist are to go under the hammer.
One of the world’s most significant collections of Norman Lindsay’s work, including a first edition of what once was considered Australia’s most controversial book, original artworks, and a rare hand-illustrated copy of The Magic Pudding, will go under the hammer in Chicago.
More than 50 items by the Australian artist and author – some of whose work famously was banned under obscenity laws in Australia during the 1920s and ’30s – will on November 20 be sold from the estate of American collector Louis Irmo by US auction house Potter & Potter.
A first-edition copy of Satyrs and Sunlight, by Hugh McCrae and featuring illustrations and tinted lithographs by Lindsay, is estimated to fetch between $US800 and $US1200.
The 1909 title is one of just 150 copies, and features erotic and pagan nudes by the Australian artist. At the time of publication, it was considered so offensive staff at publisher John Sands refused to print it.
Another once-controversial Lindsay work, The Funeral March of Don Juan (1924), has a pre-sale estimate of $US2000-$US4000. In 1924, the etching – featuring variously nude and semi-nude women carrying the lifeless body of womaniser Don Juan – was one of three works banned for obscenity by judges at the Artists’ Week exhibition.
Lindsay reportedly withdrew the pieces and entered them at a competing show, which on the back of the controversy ultimately secured a larger crowd.
The highest estimate at the auction – bidders in Australia can participate online – is for The Sinking Galleon (1920s), a watercolour on textured paper. The work, which features a foundering ship and mermaids rescuing a sailor, is listed for $US20,000-$US30,000.
There is expected to be much sentimental interest in a copy of the author’s most famous work The Magic Pudding.
The 1958 edition, which has a pre-sale estimate of $US500-$US700, features a pen-and ink drawing of a tree-bound koala waving to the reader. Accompanying the image is a handwritten message by Lindsay: “The Top of The Tree to you. Norman Lindsay.”
An early copy of Edward Dyson’s Billy Bluegum, illustrated by Lindsay, is one of nine first editions written or illustrated by Lindsay listed for sale.
Other notable items at the Fine Books and Artwork from the George D. Lacy and Louis A. Irmo Collections auction include early Fanfrolico Press editions illustrated by Lindsay, such as Lysistrata (1925) and Fauns and Ladies (1923), complete with original signed woodcuts. Both have upward estimates of $US1500.
An example of the artist’s wartime propaganda also will go under the hammer, with a poster, “Our Reasons for Entering the War” (1916), listed at a modest $US300.
The collection has been consigned on behalf of Irmo’s widow Susan, who said she liked to joke her late husband knew more about Lindsay than did the artist.
“My husband would be very proud and happy to know his collection will be treasured and cared for until the next caretaker/torchbearer comes along,” she said.
One of the great radicals of his time and a fierce opponent of wowserism, Lindsay had a complicated relationship with Australia, from which he fled for the US in the 1930s. His fight intensified when his 1930 book Redheap was banned for indecency. The ban remained in place until 1959.
Lindsay died, aged 90, in 1969. The most expensive work by the artist is Spring’s Innocence, which sold in 2002 for $339,000 at Christie’s. It resides in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria.
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