Lot 15

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Acquired by the vendor's parents, Melbourne c.1939
Thence by descent
Private collection, Melbourne

Exotically beautiful, dark-haired Rita Lee was one of Norman Lindsay's most revered models. Featured heavily among the finest of his oil paintings, it was during the 1930s and 1940s that she confronted the viewer with her striking beauty and alluring presence on his canvases.

Commencing a modelling career at 18, Rita regularly sat for Lindsay in his studios in Sydney and the Blue Mountains, either to pose as the main subject or within surrounding figures of a work. (1) While it's noted that Lindsay worked with some 130 models across the span of his career, he often referred to Rita as "the perfect model for the metier of oil painting." (2) Captivated by her natural beauty and temperament, he described Rita as a "quiet reticent girl who seldom spoke, but who secreted within her all those emotional intensities from which any variation on the feminine image may be extracted." (3)

With mastering skill, Lindsay manifests Rita in this elegant, majestic portrait created in the late 1930s. Shimmering drapery draws our attention to Rita's dress, carefully slid from her shoulders uncovering her glowing, smooth skin. While appearing slightly more romantic than previous depictions of Rita by Lindsay, here he uses other painterly means to engage and entice the viewer. The glistening translucency of the gown itself, subtly revealing her breasts from beneath the folds of the gown, is one such technique.

Born to a Spanish mother and Chinese father, Rita naturally bared long limbs, dark eyes and voluptuous features, instantly captivating Lindsay- "she had the loveliest breasts I ever painted, and they drove me to despair. No crude combination of colour extracted from the earth can hope to capture the pearly shimmer of light on the youthful feminine breast." (4) Lindsay revels in her beauty through countless watercolours and etchings- but most notably in the oil paintings, Crete 1940 and Reverie 1939 as well as the beautiful watercolour portrait, Rita of the Eighties, to name a few, are arguably some of the most impressive works created by Lindsay throughout his career. Across his multiple portraits of Rita, Lindsay in many cases paints her as he saw her with her striking features true to life, however, in others he took on artistic licence and his imagination once again took hold. Here, Lindsay has depicted her with sharp blue eyes and a hint of red glistening across her hair - a combination he used on occasion in depictions of Rita.

As we so often see in Lindsay's art, his masterpieces are centred on the pure nakedness of the female figure and while Lindsay's technical brilliance glows in this piece, it is Rita that captivates us. Radiating an alluring aura of confidence, she reminds us of the importance of the model within the artist's realm. Rita's presence in this work is commanding, her strong gaze holds our attention bringing our awareness to her as a personal subject, not just a character in a Lindsay fantasy.

Lucy Foster | Fine Art Specialist

(1) Stewart, D., Norman Lindsay: A Personal Memoir, Thomas Nelson Limited, Melbourne 1975, p.175
(2) Lindsay, N., My Mask: For What Little I Know of The Man Behind It, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1970, p.241
(3) Ibid
(4) Ibid