Percy Lindsay: artist and bohemian
In April 2011 Australian Scholarly Publishing in Melbourne released Percy Lindsay: artist and bohemian. This is the first biography of Percy Lindsay (1870-1952), one of Australia's most respected landscape painters and cartoonists. The work includes a forward by the Director of the Art Gallery of Ballarat, Gordon Morrison. Here is the blurb on the back of the book:
A lovable lush who would rather party than paint - that's the enduring image of Percy Lindsay. His brother Lionel reinforced the notion when he said that Percy was 'immoderately fond of company, any company'. And while it's true Percy was the life of every gathering, from grand balls to afternoons at the local pub, it sells him short. The first born in one of Australia's foremost artistic families. Percy has long been dismissed as the lazy one among talented siblings including Norman and Lionel, with little lasting recognition of his sensitive landscapes and phenomenal career as a 'black and white' artist. In this first book on the life of percy Lindsay, Silas Clifford-Smith sheds new light on an artist who was admired by his contemporaries - artists and critics alike - as well as being loved by all who met him for his warmth, humour and sense of mischief.
Here are three reviews:
Christopher Menz (Director of the Art Gallery of South Australia 2005-10) writing in the June 2011 issue of Australian Book Review (ABR): Until now, Percy Lindsay has lacked a full biography. Here, he has been well served with a balanced assessment that presents an engaging but not particularly ambitious figure, a talented painter and draughtsman, fond of company and overfond of drink. Photographs, selected paintings, and illustrative works, along with useful appendices, including a 'who's who', exhibition listings, and illustrated book titles, make this a most practical volume, which fills a gap in biographies of Australian artists.
Art historian Stephen Scheding writing in the November 2011 issue of Australiana [journal of the Australiana Society]: [This is] an Australian art book that certainly deserved to be written… Biographer Silas Clifford-Smith goes about the task of restoring Percy’s reputation with marvellous enthusiasm. The project must have been a hugely daunting given the oceans of words written about the Lindsay family that needed to be waded through… It has taken some nice detective work on the part of Clifford-Smith to bring his character to life… this is a very worthwhile book and I was left with the strong feeling that we need another full-scale exhibition of Percy’s paintings.
Gerrie Boeyen and Monica Bordignon writing in the March 2012 issue of History (magazine of the Royal Australian Historical Society): In this publication Percy Lindsay's qualities as an artist are closely examined, but perhaps the most valuable aspect of this book is its success in evoking a manic, intoxicated world of Australian bohemia at the beginning of the twentieth century. This work not only examines the reasons that Percy Lindsay has 'moved off the radar' but will no doubt go some way to restore him to the public eye.
The unpublished manuscript for this monograph was awarded the Isabella Brierley History Prize. Signed copies can be ordered through me or directly from Australian Scholarly Publishing http://www.scholarly.info/
A lovable lush who would rather party than paint - that's the enduring image of Percy Lindsay. His brother Lionel reinforced the notion when he said that Percy was 'immoderately fond of company, any company'. And while it's true Percy was the life of every gathering, from grand balls to afternoons at the local pub, it sells him short. The first born in one of Australia's foremost artistic families. Percy has long been dismissed as the lazy one among talented siblings including Norman and Lionel, with little lasting recognition of his sensitive landscapes and phenomenal career as a 'black and white' artist. In this first book on the life of percy Lindsay, Silas Clifford-Smith sheds new light on an artist who was admired by his contemporaries - artists and critics alike - as well as being loved by all who met him for his warmth, humour and sense of mischief.
Here are three reviews:
Christopher Menz (Director of the Art Gallery of South Australia 2005-10) writing in the June 2011 issue of Australian Book Review (ABR): Until now, Percy Lindsay has lacked a full biography. Here, he has been well served with a balanced assessment that presents an engaging but not particularly ambitious figure, a talented painter and draughtsman, fond of company and overfond of drink. Photographs, selected paintings, and illustrative works, along with useful appendices, including a 'who's who', exhibition listings, and illustrated book titles, make this a most practical volume, which fills a gap in biographies of Australian artists.
Art historian Stephen Scheding writing in the November 2011 issue of Australiana [journal of the Australiana Society]: [This is] an Australian art book that certainly deserved to be written… Biographer Silas Clifford-Smith goes about the task of restoring Percy’s reputation with marvellous enthusiasm. The project must have been a hugely daunting given the oceans of words written about the Lindsay family that needed to be waded through… It has taken some nice detective work on the part of Clifford-Smith to bring his character to life… this is a very worthwhile book and I was left with the strong feeling that we need another full-scale exhibition of Percy’s paintings.
Gerrie Boeyen and Monica Bordignon writing in the March 2012 issue of History (magazine of the Royal Australian Historical Society): In this publication Percy Lindsay's qualities as an artist are closely examined, but perhaps the most valuable aspect of this book is its success in evoking a manic, intoxicated world of Australian bohemia at the beginning of the twentieth century. This work not only examines the reasons that Percy Lindsay has 'moved off the radar' but will no doubt go some way to restore him to the public eye.
The unpublished manuscript for this monograph was awarded the Isabella Brierley History Prize. Signed copies can be ordered through me or directly from Australian Scholarly Publishing http://www.scholarly.info/