Watercolour portraits of New Zealand patients of Sir Harold Gillies
TitleWatercolour portraits of New Zealand patients of Sir Harold Gillies
ReferenceMS0513/2/2
Level of descriptionseries
Date1917-1920
Admin./ biographical historyErnest Daryl Lindsay was born on 31 December 1889 at Creswick, Victoria. He was the sixth son and ninth child of Robert Charles William Alexander Lindsay (1843-1915), surgeon from Londonderry, Ireland, and his wife Jane Elizabeth (1848-1932), daughter of Rev. Thomas Williams, Wesleyan missionary.
He was educated with his brothers at the local state school and at Creswick Grammar School and went on to join the Ballarat branch of the English, Scottish and Australian Bank as a junior clerk at 17. About a year later Daryl became a jackeroo. He worked for two years at Yeranbah on the Narran River, south Queensland, and then for two years at Kulki near Argoon, before becoming an overseer - first at Ercildoune, then at Trawalla near Ballarat.
Daryl enlisted as a driver in the Australian Army Service Corps, served in France for almost two years and became batman to his brother-in-law Will Dyson who encouraged him to make drawings of trench life and portraits of diggers. On leave in London in 1918 his talent in drawing was noticed and he was posted with the rank of honorary lieutenant to the Australian section for wounds to the face and jaw at Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup, Kent. Here he met Henry Tonks, head of the Slade School of Fine Art, at whose suggestion he was given one day a week to study drawing at the Slade, his task at Sidcup being to make medical diagrams for facial surgery. Tonks and Lindsay became lifelong friends and his taste in art was largely fashioned around the work of the artists of the New English Art Club, such as Walter Sickert and Wilson Steer, and patient study of the English water-colour tradition.
Back in Melbourne in June 1919 Lindsay held an exhibition of war sketches at the Decoration Art Gallery in August. He joined Dillon's Sun Art studios and designed posters for Robur tea and Swallow & Ariell puddings, and illustrations for Pals magazine. Sun Art studios published his Digger Book (1919). About 1920 he obtained a commission from the directors of the Mount Morgan Gold Mining Co. Ltd, Queensland, to make a series of drawings and water-colours of the mine. In 1921 he returned to London for further study, taking with him a letter of introduction from Sir Baldwin Spencer to Frank Rinder, adviser to the Felton bequest committee. Rinder introduced him to men of influence in London's art world such as Harold Wright of Colnaghi's, D. W. Cameron, Sir Charles Holmes, and (Sir) George Clausen, a former Felton adviser.
In London he married Joan à Beckett, writer and daughter of Theyre à Beckett Weigall, barrister, at the Marylebone Registry Office on 14 February 1922. On returning to Melbourne they lived at St Kilda and Toorak before making a permanent home at Mulberry Hill, Baxter. Lindsay continued to work with Dillon but developed his landscape painting, sketching often in company with George Bell. In June 1924 the Fine Arts Society Gallery, Melbourne, held an exhibition of the water-colour drawings of Joan and Daryl Lindsay, and in July 1928 a second exhibition of his water-colours.
In 1930 the Lindsays returned to Europe and Daryl held an exhibition of water-colour paintings at Colnaghi's. During a visit to Ireland he painted hunters, then landscapes on the Norfolk Broads with Sir Alison Russell before returning to Australia. In June 1931 the Fine Arts Society Gallery held an exhibition of his oil paintings, and in August Art in Australia published a Daryl Lindsay number.
In the late 1930s Lindsay became a close friend of Sir Keith Murdoch and encouraged him to collect and take an active interest in art. In 1937 Lindsay and his wife again visited Europe, travelling widely on the Continent. In London he bought pictures for Murdoch, made drawings of the de Basil ballet, and was elected an associate of the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours. In 1939, on Murdoch's advice, he applied for and was appointed keeper of the prints, National Gallery of Victoria. He was appointed director in 1941.
Under Lindsay the gallery broadened its appeal to the general public, abandoned its traditional hostility to modern art, and made notable acquisitions both of old masters and contemporary work. With Murdoch's assistance he took steps to establish the National Gallery Society of Victoria in 1947. He visited America under the auspices of the Carnegie Corporation of New York in 1952. Lindsay retired as director in December 1956 and was knighted for his services to Australian art next year. In 1960 he returned to the Northern Territory, camping with cattlemen while sketching and painting. The Legend Press later published a portfolio of reproductions of his paintings entitled 'A tribute to the men and horses of the Northern Territory'. Lindsay was a member of the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board in 1953-73 (chairman 1960-69) and founding president of the Victorian branch of the National Trust of Australia. In 1964 a book of essays was published to commemorate his services to the National Gallery of Victoria, entitled In Honour of Daryl Lindsay. He published an autobiography, The Leafy Tree, in 1965.
Survived by his wife (d.1984), Lindsay died on 25 December 1976 at Mornington and was cremated. His portrait by George Bell is at Mulberry Hill, which was left to the National Trust.
[Source: Edited from the Austrailian Dictionary of Biography online], Herbert Cole was a British book illustrator and portraitist influenced by Sir Edward Burne-Jones and Walter Crane. Cole illustrated volumes of poetry, literature and children's books published by John Lane, J.M. Dent, and other notable publishers, during the period circa 1890s-1920s. Worked primarily in ink, pencil and watercolour.
Some of the works which Cole provided illustrations for include:
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Froissart's Chronicles
Bayard: The Good Knight Without Fear and Without Reproach
English Fairy Tales
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
Gulliver's Travels
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
White Lilac
Southward Ho!
Heraldry and Floral Forms as Used in Decoration
Tales for Children from Many Lands
The Wind Among the Reeds (W.B. Yeats)
[Source: biography at www.artmagick.com, accessed June 2013]
He was educated with his brothers at the local state school and at Creswick Grammar School and went on to join the Ballarat branch of the English, Scottish and Australian Bank as a junior clerk at 17. About a year later Daryl became a jackeroo. He worked for two years at Yeranbah on the Narran River, south Queensland, and then for two years at Kulki near Argoon, before becoming an overseer - first at Ercildoune, then at Trawalla near Ballarat.
Daryl enlisted as a driver in the Australian Army Service Corps, served in France for almost two years and became batman to his brother-in-law Will Dyson who encouraged him to make drawings of trench life and portraits of diggers. On leave in London in 1918 his talent in drawing was noticed and he was posted with the rank of honorary lieutenant to the Australian section for wounds to the face and jaw at Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup, Kent. Here he met Henry Tonks, head of the Slade School of Fine Art, at whose suggestion he was given one day a week to study drawing at the Slade, his task at Sidcup being to make medical diagrams for facial surgery. Tonks and Lindsay became lifelong friends and his taste in art was largely fashioned around the work of the artists of the New English Art Club, such as Walter Sickert and Wilson Steer, and patient study of the English water-colour tradition.
Back in Melbourne in June 1919 Lindsay held an exhibition of war sketches at the Decoration Art Gallery in August. He joined Dillon's Sun Art studios and designed posters for Robur tea and Swallow & Ariell puddings, and illustrations for Pals magazine. Sun Art studios published his Digger Book (1919). About 1920 he obtained a commission from the directors of the Mount Morgan Gold Mining Co. Ltd, Queensland, to make a series of drawings and water-colours of the mine. In 1921 he returned to London for further study, taking with him a letter of introduction from Sir Baldwin Spencer to Frank Rinder, adviser to the Felton bequest committee. Rinder introduced him to men of influence in London's art world such as Harold Wright of Colnaghi's, D. W. Cameron, Sir Charles Holmes, and (Sir) George Clausen, a former Felton adviser.
In London he married Joan à Beckett, writer and daughter of Theyre à Beckett Weigall, barrister, at the Marylebone Registry Office on 14 February 1922. On returning to Melbourne they lived at St Kilda and Toorak before making a permanent home at Mulberry Hill, Baxter. Lindsay continued to work with Dillon but developed his landscape painting, sketching often in company with George Bell. In June 1924 the Fine Arts Society Gallery, Melbourne, held an exhibition of the water-colour drawings of Joan and Daryl Lindsay, and in July 1928 a second exhibition of his water-colours.
In 1930 the Lindsays returned to Europe and Daryl held an exhibition of water-colour paintings at Colnaghi's. During a visit to Ireland he painted hunters, then landscapes on the Norfolk Broads with Sir Alison Russell before returning to Australia. In June 1931 the Fine Arts Society Gallery held an exhibition of his oil paintings, and in August Art in Australia published a Daryl Lindsay number.
In the late 1930s Lindsay became a close friend of Sir Keith Murdoch and encouraged him to collect and take an active interest in art. In 1937 Lindsay and his wife again visited Europe, travelling widely on the Continent. In London he bought pictures for Murdoch, made drawings of the de Basil ballet, and was elected an associate of the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours. In 1939, on Murdoch's advice, he applied for and was appointed keeper of the prints, National Gallery of Victoria. He was appointed director in 1941.
Under Lindsay the gallery broadened its appeal to the general public, abandoned its traditional hostility to modern art, and made notable acquisitions both of old masters and contemporary work. With Murdoch's assistance he took steps to establish the National Gallery Society of Victoria in 1947. He visited America under the auspices of the Carnegie Corporation of New York in 1952. Lindsay retired as director in December 1956 and was knighted for his services to Australian art next year. In 1960 he returned to the Northern Territory, camping with cattlemen while sketching and painting. The Legend Press later published a portfolio of reproductions of his paintings entitled 'A tribute to the men and horses of the Northern Territory'. Lindsay was a member of the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board in 1953-73 (chairman 1960-69) and founding president of the Victorian branch of the National Trust of Australia. In 1964 a book of essays was published to commemorate his services to the National Gallery of Victoria, entitled In Honour of Daryl Lindsay. He published an autobiography, The Leafy Tree, in 1965.
Survived by his wife (d.1984), Lindsay died on 25 December 1976 at Mornington and was cremated. His portrait by George Bell is at Mulberry Hill, which was left to the National Trust.
[Source: Edited from the Austrailian Dictionary of Biography online], Herbert Cole was a British book illustrator and portraitist influenced by Sir Edward Burne-Jones and Walter Crane. Cole illustrated volumes of poetry, literature and children's books published by John Lane, J.M. Dent, and other notable publishers, during the period circa 1890s-1920s. Worked primarily in ink, pencil and watercolour.
Some of the works which Cole provided illustrations for include:
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Froissart's Chronicles
Bayard: The Good Knight Without Fear and Without Reproach
English Fairy Tales
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
Gulliver's Travels
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
White Lilac
Southward Ho!
Heraldry and Floral Forms as Used in Decoration
Tales for Children from Many Lands
The Wind Among the Reeds (W.B. Yeats)
[Source: biography at www.artmagick.com, accessed June 2013]
Scope and ContentTwo boxes (A-H and K-W) of watercolours showing individual patients from New Zealand, which correspond to some files in the collection of New Zealand patient case notes kept by Sir Harold Delf Gillies and his team at Sidcup (MS0513/2/1).
Many of the watercolours are unsigned, but known artists include Daryl Lindsay (DL) and Herbert R. Cole (HC).
Where the picture has not been signed, but the artist is thought likely, the probable artist is given in the item description.
The files are arranged alphabetically by patient surname.
Where the artwork corresponds to a patient file in the series MS0513/2/1 the box and file ID numbers are given.
A more detailed list is available from the Archivist on request.
Many of the watercolours are unsigned, but known artists include Daryl Lindsay (DL) and Herbert R. Cole (HC).
Where the picture has not been signed, but the artist is thought likely, the probable artist is given in the item description.
The files are arranged alphabetically by patient surname.
Where the artwork corresponds to a patient file in the series MS0513/2/1 the box and file ID numbers are given.
A more detailed list is available from the Archivist on request.
Extent96 items
LanguageEnglish
System of arrangementAs described in the scope and content.
Conditions governing accessBy appointment only. See College website for contact details of the Archives., Exception to closure: None
Closed until2004
Persons keyword Sir Harold Delf Gillies, 1882-1960, surgeon, Herbert R Cole, 1867-1930, artist, Sir Ernest Daryl Lindsay, 1889-1976, artist
SubjectNew Zealand, Plastic Surgery
