NAS Archive and Collections News
JOSHUA SMITH
JOSHUA SMITH (b.1905, Annandale, Sydney; d.1995) left school at 14 to become a commercial artist.
Five years later Smith walked into the office of NSW Minister Albert Bruntnell (1866-1929) declaring he wanted to paint him for the Archibald Prize. The portrait was a finalist in 1924, and Bruntnell was so impressed that he granted Smith one year’s free tuition at the National Art School, where he studied sculpture in the mid-1920s under Rayner Hoff.
In addition to his studies at NAS Joshua Smith modelled at the school, continuing to sit for artists such as Margaret Fink up to his death in 1995.
Despite his 67 Archibald portraits painted over seven decades (and his win in 1944) Joshua Smith is best known for the 1943 court case over whether William Dobell’s Archibald Prize winning portrait of him was a distorted caricature.
The case was a soul-destroying experience for both artist and model. In a 1991 interview Smith called Dobell’s portrait “a curse, a phantom that haunts me. It has torn at me every day of my life. I’ve tried to bury it inside me in the hope it would die, but it never does”.
If you are a National Art School alumni and still have work you did as a student, or photographs of your time at NAS, we’d love you to contact us.
The National Art School’s Collection and Archives are open to the public by appointment.
To get in touch reach out via email to [email protected] or [email protected]
Margaret Fink
(b.1933, Sydney)
National Art School student 1950-1952
National Art School Fellow 2021
Portrait of Joshua Smith, Bathurst 1992
charcoal on paper
48 x 35 cm
Gift of Margaret Fink, 2021
National Art School Collection
Vaike Liibus
(b.1917, Estonia; d.2008, Australia)
National Art School student 1930s
Portrait of Joshua Smith 1956
oil on canvas
1100 x 100 cm
Gift of Vivien Jackson, 2015
National Art School Collection
Greg Weight
(b.1946, Sydney)
Joshua Smith 1994
unique photograph
44.5 x 34 cm
Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Patrick Corrigan AM, 2017
National Art School Collection
Vaike Liibus
(b.1917, Estonia; d.2008, Australia)
National Art School student 1930s
Joshua Smith (sketch for painting) 1956
graphite on paper
51 x 31.5 cm
Gift of Vivien Jackson, 2015
National Art School Collection
E.A. (Edmund Arthur) Harvey
(b.1907, UK; d.1994, Australia)
National Art School student 1922; 1930
National Art School teacher 1935-1971
National Art School Senior Head Teacher 1971
Joshua (Portrait of Joshua Smith)
red conte on paper
26.5 x 19.2 cm
Gift of Antony Harvey, 2019
National Art School Collection
Unknown photographer (copy)
Visit to William Dobell’s studio, Joshua Smith portrait in centre 1949
William Dobell seated in his Kings Cross studio with Wallace Thornton,
John Coburn, Bob White, John Molvig and Charles Doutney
15 x 15.7 cm
National Art School Collection
GRETEL PINNIGER
Best known for her alter-ego Madam Lash, Gretel Pinniger (b.1945) was another popular artists’ model at the National Art School.
Australia’s most famous dominatrix became involved with artists and bohemians at Melbourne University in the 60s and 70s. She was also a painter herself; indeed, at the age of 71, Pinniger said that for her painting is a compulsion “Probably 90 per cent of my waking life is spent in my studio painting – but I haven’t finished one in 20 years!”
In 1986 Pinniger purchased the deconsecrated church The Kirk on Cleveland Street in Sydney, using it for burlesque shows and sex parties (nine years earlier, in 1977, AC/DC’s Let There Be Rock had been filmed inside the church, with Bon Scott standing in the pulpit).
Pinniger (who also dressed up as the Virgin Mary to become the ‘Immaculate Lash’) stood for election to the Senate in 1996 with a promise to bring “rubber, leather, glitter, glamour and, of course, lashes” to Canberra – unfortunately only winning 382 votes.
If you are a National Art School alumni and still have work you did as a student, or photographs of your time at NAS, we’d love you to contact us.
The National Art School’s Collection and Archives are open to the public by appointment.
To get in touch reach out via email to [email protected] or [email protected]
Katherine Rush
National Art School student 1970s
Madam Lash in 3 poses
ink on paper
38 x 56 cm
National Art School Collection
Katherine Rush
National Art School student 1970s
Gretel as Madam Lash 1974
ink and pastel on paper
33.5 x 21.5 cm
National Art School Collection
Noela Hattersley
National Art School student 1970s
Reclining female model (Gretel Pinniger) 1974
pencil on paper
48.6 x 38 cm
National Art School Collection
Katherine Rush
National Art School student 1970s
Madam Lash in 3 poses
ink on paper
38 x 56 cm
National Art School Collection
FRANK WHYTE
Frank Whyte was one of the National Art School’s longest serving artists’ models, posing for students from the 1930s right through into the 1970s. Whyte was known for recreating classical poses from paintings and was so popular that apparently for many years students’ depictions of male models looked like him, even when they weren’t!
Unlike female artists’ models, males did not pose fully nude at NAS until the mid-1960s. Up until that time men had to wear a G-string, and males and females were never posed together.
Even though he was here for so long we still don’t know very much about Frank Whyte. If you have any information, please be in touch.
The NAS Archive holds artworks by students from as far back as 1922 when the school moved to the site of the old Darlinghurst Gaol. We are open to the public, please be in touch to make an appointment to visit.
We have a number of drawings and paintings of Frank Whyte in the NAS Archive, included here is a selection of drawings from three consecutive decades:
The National Art School’s Collection and Archives are open to the public by appointment.
To get in touch reach out via email to [email protected] or [email protected]
Jocelyn Maughan
(b.1938, Sydney)
NAS student 1953-1958
NAS teacher 1960s
Standing male model, Frank Whyte, back view, with teacher’s sketch by Arthur Freeman on right 1957
brown ink and pencil on paper
56 x 38 cm
National Art School Collection
Gift of Jocelyn Maughan, 2017
Bill Brown
(b.1945, Cowra, NSW)
NAS teacher 1970-2009
Frank Whyte 1966
pencil on litho paper
43 x 35 cm
National Art School Collection
Gift of Bill Brown, 2018
Idris Murphy
(b.1949)
NAS student graduated 1972
NAS Head of Drawing 1997
Frank Whyte 2 1971
pastel on paper
33.5 x 20.5 cm
National Art School Collection
Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Idris Murphy, 2018
Jocelyn Maughan
(b.1938, Sydney)
NAS student 1953-1958
NAS teacher 1960s
Frank Whyte 1957
pencil on paper
56 x 32 cm
National Art School Collection
Gift of Jocelyn Maughan, 2017
Idris Murphy
(b.1949)
NAS student graduated 1972
NAS Head of Drawing 1997
Frank Whyte 1 1971
pastel on paper
33.5 x 20.5 cm
National Art School Collection
Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Idris Murphy, 2018
Idris Murphy
(b.1949)
NAS student graduated 1972
NAS Head of Drawing 1997
Frank Whyte 3 1971
pastel on paper
33.5 x 20.5 cm
National Art School Collection
Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Idris Murphy, 2018
LILLIAN ROXON
Born Liliana Ropschitz, Lillian Roxon (b.1932, Italy; d.1973, Australia) migrated to Australia with her Polish/Jewish family in 1937.
In her late teens Roxon modelled for students at the National Art School.
Ten years later she became Australia’s first female correspondent to the USA.
Roxon was the first mainstream journalist to treat rock music reporting seriously and went on to become the most influential rock journalist in the world – writing an encyclopaedia on the subject which was described by the New York Times as “the most complete book on rock music and rock culture ever written.”
Lillian Roxon’s niece, Nicola Roxon, was the Federal Attorney-General 2012–13.
We have several paintings and drawings of Lillian Roxon in the National Art School Collection, including work by Lindsay Churchland, Tim Collis, John Coburn, Elizabeth Rooney and Tony Tuckson.
If you or someone you know has any student paintings or drawings of Lillian Roxon, or any of our models, we would be so interested to hear from you!
The National Art School’s Collection and Archives are open to the public by appointment.
To get in touch reach out via email to [email protected] or [email protected]
RITA LEE
This painting by 21-year-old NAS student Freda Robertshaw is of 18-year-old Rita Lee, a popular artists’ model of Spanish and Chinese heritage who modelled at the National Art School in the 1930s and 1940s.
While she also sat for Max Dupain, William Buckle, Rah Fizelle and Ralph Balson, it was Norman Lindsay who called Lee his ‘perfect model’, painting her regularly from 1936 to 1942 when she married NAS photography teacher George Young.
Norman Lindsay’s daughter Jane remembers Rita: “Serenity was her outstanding attribute … She managed to make a kitchen chair look like a throne”.
In 2021 Rita Lee’s daughter visited the Archive during NAS Open Day and was moved to see this portrait of her mother as a young woman, which she was not aware existed.
If you or someone you know has any student works of Rita Lee, or by NAS alumna Freda Robertshaw, we would be so interested to hear from you! If you would like to see this painting or anything else in NAS’s collection of over 7000 items related to NAS and Darlinghurst Gaol, please feel free to make an appointment.
To get in touch reach out via email to [email protected] or [email protected]
ROLAND ROBINSON OAM
Continuing our look at paintings and drawings of artists’ models in the National Art School Collection we turn our attention to Roland Robinson.
Aside from being a popular NAS model, Roland Edward Robinson (b.1912, Clare, Ireland; d.1992, Lake Macquarie) was also a writer, ballet dancer, dance and book critic for The Sydney Morning Herald – and a poet. Indeed, word is that he composed poetry in his head while modelling.
In 1988 Robinson won the Patrick White Award, and the year before he died was given an Honorary Degree, Doctor of Letters, from the University of Newcastle. After his death Lake Macquarie Council established The Roland Robinson Literary Award, and in 1997 named their new library in Belmont in his honour.
Robinson was also a passionate collector of Indigenous stories and wrote of the influence of Indigenous people on his life.
A number of depictions of Roland Robinson are in the NAS Collection, including student works by Eugene Claux, Fred Jessup, Bruce Sharp and Tony Tuckson.
If you or someone you know has any student works from the 1940s of Roland Robinson, or any of our models, we would be so interested to hear from you!
The NAS Archives and Collection are open to the public – please feel free to make an appointment to visit.
To get in touch reach out via email to [email protected] or [email protected]
ROSALEEN NORTON
Born in Dunedin, NZ, in 1917, Rosaleen Norton and her family moved to Australia when she was eight.
Norton developed strong connections to the National Art School, studying under Rayner Hoff whom she greatly admired, and in later years modelling for students (as well as for the artist Norman Lindsay).
Norton believed that she had been born a witch and that certain bodily features, such as her pointed ears and blue markings on her left knee, were proof. Although she was accused in the press of being satanic, Norton was a life-long worshipper of the god Pan.
On the door of Rosaleen Norton’s home was a placard: ‘Welcome to the house of ghosts, goblins, werewolves, vampires, witches, wizards and poltergeists.’
In 1955 her house was raided by the police, and she was charged with exhibiting indecent images and ‘engaging in an unnatural sexual act’.
That same year the English composer and conductor Sir Eugene Goossens (1893-1962) became one of Norton’s lovers, an association that ended in Goossens resigning his position at both the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the NSW Conservatorium of Music.
The National Art School Collection holds several portraits of Norton by former students and teachers such as Douglas Dundas, Tom Thompson, Dorothy Thornhill and Tony Tuckson.
We would love to hear from anyone with work by Rosaleen Norton or original paintings or drawings of her. Please contact Deborah Beck or Sonia Legge at the National Art School’s Collection and Archives: [email protected] [email protected]
OLIVE RICHARDSON
The National Art School recently acquired a drawing by Fred Leist (1878-1945) of a popular NAS model from the 1930s named Olive Richardson.
After it has been conserved this beautiful work will join NAS’s Archive’s collection of portraits of Olive by former students including Ingrid Ackland, Mary Edwards, James Gleeson, and Elsie Stewart.
From responses to our Instagram post about Olive we learnt: her surname; that her father, John Augustus Richardson, was Jamaican and her mother, Priscilla, was Indigenous; that she had a sister named Teddy; that Olive was one of Norman Lindsay’s models when he had his Bridge Street studio in 1930s & 1940s; that she also modelled for the artist Margaret Coen and that she may still have been modelling at Kogarah Tech in the mid 1970s!
We are still keen to learn more! If anyone has any information about Olive Richardson, please contact Deborah Beck or Sonia Legge at the National Art School’s Collection and Archives: [email protected] [email protected]
