Norman Lindsay looms large in the exterior view of Australian art but seems to be increasingly inconsequential when interrogating what is being made and produced in this day and age. Edited by Cameron Hurst and Jeremy George, Venus in Tullamarine: Art, Sex, Politics and Norman Lindsay is a great book about an otherwise middling artist. Bec joined me this month to discuss our shared thoughts (and keep my increasingly unhinged pop-culture references at bay). In choosing our Bottom Shelf pick, we knew we wanted straight up Australian art history as neither of us actually grew up here, and in writing about art in Naarm/Melbourne, we’re constantly wanting to learn more. Lindsay is still a household name, especially for those of us who grew up reading The Magic Pudding, but his art is not often encountered “in the wild” so to speak.
We talk broadly about censorship, the death of print media, whether the internet is actually forever, and the shifting tides of Australian art and culture. Ultimately we came to the shared conclusion that while the book is well worth the read, Lindsay’s art perhaps isn’t worth the second glance.
If you’ve picked up Venus in Tullamarine (or will after reading this), let me know your thoughts about the following:
Is Lindsay’s art actually sexy, or is it erotic for the shock factor?
Have you reread The Magic Pudding as an adult, and if yes did it change your view of the values and cultural mores being written about?
Is there going to be a Norman Lindsay renaissance?
Some promised links:
The Magic Pudding / Bánh Thần: https://vimeo.com/319642989
OZ Magazine: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/oz-magazine-archive
Bec’s Further Reading
Books
The Magic Pudding - Norman Lindsay
Lady Chatterley’s Lover - D.H. Lawrence
The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce
Films
Age of Consent
Sirens
Charlotte’s Further Reading
Actual Reading
Those Monuments Don't Know Us - Andy Butler
The Magic Faraway Tree - Enid Blyton
Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art - Lauren Elkin
The Optical Unconscious - Rosalind Krauss
Ulysseys - James Joyce
Artists
Margaret Coen
Frank Frazetta
Samuel Massey
James Nguyen
Nicholas Currie
Cat Lawrence
Katie Paine
Exhibitions
Enemies - TCB
As Long As You Love Me - George Paton Gallery
Venus in Tullamarine - George Paton Gallery