Lethe Wharf

Lionel Lindsay’s wood engravings are among the crowning achievements of his career, especially his sophisticated and stylishly designed images of animals and birds. He first experimented with the technique in 1910, buying tools from fellow artist John Mather, but did not begin to make them
in earnest until the 1920s, using discarded wood blocks from the Evening News. His most sustained influence was the work
of English wood engraver Thomas Bewick (1753–1828), both in technique and subject matter, and for technical guidance
he used a book by W J Linton, Wood engraving, a manual of instruction (1884), which urged ‘artist engravers’ to ‘cut a line
with meaning’.

Lindsay exhibited his new prints with the Society of Artists and published ‘A book of woodcuts’ in 1922, which was well
reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement, which further encouraged him. He published another book, Twenty one woodcuts in 1924, leading to his friendship with Harold Wright, an influential English art dealer who responded to them with enthusiasm, cementing his reputation as an significant and international talent. Lindsay’s wood engravings remain some of the most distinctive and memorable prints made in Australia in period prior to the Second World War.

from Anne Ryan, 'Australian etchings and engravings 1880s–1930s from the Gallery's collection', AGNSW, Sydney 2007