Article
Lindsay, Norman Alfred Williams (1879–1969) By Galletly, Sarah
Article
Norman Lindsay was one of Australia’s most prominent (and most notorious) artists in the early twentieth century. Throughout his extensive career he worked in a variety of media—pen and ink, oils, etching, sculpting—supporting his family through his work as a cartoonist, illustrator, journalist, and novelist. A figure of consistent media interest due to the moral outrage and questions of impropriety surrounding his extensive use of nudes and religious imagery in his artwork, his novels Redheap (1930) and The Cautious Amorist (1934) were both initially banned in Australia despite their critical and commercial success in Great Britain and the USA. Given this reputation, it is perhaps surprising that his most enduring literary contribution is his illustrated children’s novel The Magic Pudding (1918). Despite his early notoriety, Lindsay’s artwork sold well throughout his lifetime, his work as a cartoonist and illustrator for the Bulletin playing a prominent role in setting the style and tone of this iconic Australian periodical.