The Eighties – No. 451 / 550 – SOLD

Tiffany’s Research Notes on “The Eighties”:

“The Eighties” portrays the dress modes of the 1880’s (from which the etching takes its name). The garments worn by women at this time held a particular fascination and charm for Lindsay who favoured the small waistline and the flowing skirts of the era and he devoted a number of beautiful drawings and paintings to this mode of dress.

Beautiful in its simplicity, “The Eighties” is an effective contrast between black and white. The contrasting tone of the women’s dresses and hair colour creates immediate impact.

Norman Lindsay softens the etching with the feminine beauty of the women’s faces and the stance of the two as they lean towards each other in a display of friendship and intimacy. Lindsay heightens our intrigue by including the beaded drop-bracelet, which sways tantalisingly between the two girls.

This facsimile etching is a reproduction of Lindsay’s original drypoint of 1926. A drypoint is difficult to produce and “The Eighties” was one of 17 of Lindsay’s 200 published etchings where he used a pure drypoint technique to create the soft velvety black in the folds of fabric.

“The Eighties” is represented at the Mitchell Library in Sydney in folio 7 of Norman Lindsay’s etching proofs that were collated by Norman’s wife Rose Lindsay.