Rose Lindsay

Rose Lindsay (1885–1978), née Rosa Soady, was an Australian artist's model, author, and printmaker.[1]

Rose Lindsay
Born	Rosa Soady (1885-07-05)5 July 1885 Gosford, New South Wales
Died	23 May 1978(1978-05-23) (aged 92) Lane Cove, New South Wales
Known for	Artist's model, printmaker, author
Spouse(s)	Norman Lindsay

Early life

Rose Lindsay (née Soady) was born at Gosford, New South Wales on 5 July 1885 and named Rosa.[1] Her parents were John and Rosa Soady.[2]

Career

Artist's model

She was introduced to Norman Lindsay in 1902 by Julian Rossi Ashton, and began modeling for Lindsay that same year.[1][3] She became his principal model and later his lover, and after his marriage ended she joined him in London in 1910.[1] She was Lindsay's business manager and most recognizable model, as well as being the printer for most of his etchings.[3] In 1913 a pen-and-ink drawing she had posed for called Crucified Venus was shown at the Society of Artists' exhibition in Melbourne, but the Melbourne committee removed it from public view due to scandal over its eroticism.[1][4] However, Julian Rossi Ashton, who was the president of the Society of Artists, said he would withdraw all the New South Wales paintings from the exhibit unless Crucified Venus was shown again, and it was put back up within the week.[1] Rose also modeled for Julian Rossi Ashton, Harold Cazneaux, Sydney Long, Dattilo Rubbo, and Sydney Ure Smith.[1] In 1926 Rayner Hoff sculpted a statue of her.[1] Pictures of her are in Australia's National Portrait Gallery.[5]

Printmaker

Rose was a skilled printmaker working with an etching press.[1][6][7] In the 1960s Rose compiled seven albums of hundreds of pencil sketches and proof etchings by Norman Lindsay, an almost complete record of his etchings from the early 1900s until the 1950s.[8]

Author

Rose wrote two autobiographical books in her seventies. Ma and Pa (1963)[2] and Model Wife (1967)[9] were later republished in a single volume as Rose Lindsay: A Model Life (2001).[1]

Personal life

Norman and Rose Lindsay by photographer Harold Cazneaux ca.1920

Rose and Norman bought a house and built a studio at Springwood, and famous people including Miles Franklin, Henry Lawson, Nellie Melba, and Banjo Paterson visited them.[1] They married in 1920, though their marriage was held two weeks before Norman's divorce became absolute.[1][10] They had two children, Helen and Janet.[1] In 1973 the Springwood property was bought by the National Trust of Australia and became the Norman Lindsay Gallery and Museum.[1]

Rose Lindsay died on 23 May 1978 at an aged care home in Lane Cove.[1]

References

1. "Biography – Rose Lindsay". Australian Dictionary of Biography.
2. Lindsay, Rose (1963), Ma and Pa : my childhood memories, Ure Smith, retrieved 30 June 2016
3. "Norman Lindsay – Biography".
4. "Venus Crucified". The National Advocate. New South Wales. 20 September 1913. p. 4. Retrieved 1 July 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
5. "Rose Lindsay".
6. Lindsay, Norman; Lindsay, Rose; Bloomfield Galleries (1974), Norman Lindsay, master craftsman etcher ; Rose Lindsay, master etching printmaker : an exhibition to commemorate Angus & Robertson's two volume limited edition book of the Two hundred published etchings of Norman and Rose Lindsay, Bloomfield Galleries, retrieved 30 June 2016
7. Dolce, Joe (November 2013). "The Eros and obscenity of Norman Lindsay". Quadrant. 57 (11): 82–85.
8. "Drawings and proofs of etchings, 1894-1925 / drawn by Norman Lindsay". acmssearch.sl.nsw.gov.au. State Library of New South Wales. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
9. Lindsay, Rose; Lindsay, Norman, 1879–1969 (1967), Model wife : my life with Norman Lindsay, Ure Smith, retrieved 1 July 2016CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
10. "NORMAN LINDSAY". The Chronicle. LXI (3, 175). Adelaide. 28 June 1919. p. 13. Retrieved 1 July 2016 – via National Library of Australia.

Further reading

• Lindsay, Rose. 1883–1978; De Berg, Hazel, 1913–1984. (Interviewer) (1965), Rose Lindsay interviewed by Hazel de Berg in the Hazel de Berg collection, retrieved 1 July 2016CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)