Primary Artist

Lionel Lindsay (1874–1961)

Title

Rock Davis's Slips, Woy Woy

Other titles

Rock Davis's boat shed, Brisbane Water, Woy Woy

Date made

1917

Reference

Mendelssohn (1987), 150

Category

Print

Print type

intaglio

Technique

etching and drypoint, printed in warm black ink with plate-tone, from one copper plate

Text printed from matrix

Printed lower left within image, 'LIONEL LINDSAY'.

Matrix size

32.4 x 48.6 cm (plate-mark)

Edition information

1st state, proofs only; 2nd state, proofs only; 3rd state edition of 45, (5 on cream wove Japanese vellum, 15 on O.W. hand-made waterleaf paper, 25 on Dutch Van Guelder paper)

Production notes

Mendelssohn (1987), 150, notes edition of 15 on 'Old Whatman' paper. This is a misreading of the information on papers given in the Angus & Robertson advertisment for this print that appeared in Art in Australia, 1:2 1917, which records the edition of 15 on 'O.W. hand-made waterleaf paper'. Lionel Lindsay added to this confusion by inscribing NGA 81.115 as a 'proof on Whatman'. O.W. Paper & Arts Co. Ltd. was established by the English watercolour painter John William North (1842-1924) in 1895. It specalised in fine hand-made papers for watercolour painting and printmaking. Paper was watermarked 'O.W.P. & A.C.L.. This watermark is frequently misread as 'O.W.P. & A.O.L.'.

Subject category

Australia, Art style: Painter-etchers 1860s-1938

Subject description

The 'Big Shed' an A-frame wooden boatshed, built at Blackwall hear Woy Woy, Brisbane Water, N.S.W., by Rock Davis (1833-1904), shipbuilder. The last vessel was built at the shipyard in 1913.

'Rock Davis’ Shipyard was established on Brisbane Water in the forties and remained active until ten years ago. It was the Mort’s Dock of the early days, turning out the largest ships then built in Australia and innumerable schooners for the Islands of the Pacific.
The great roof of the slips, with its 70-foot timbers and 8-foot shingles, makes it a subject peculiarly suited to the etching needle. Its construction is entirely different to any old word type, being probably an adaptation of the big canoe sheds of New Zealand.
Mr. Lindsay has treated the subject with insight and sound technique, attaining the maximum of effect with a minimum of effort. The plate is the largest yet wrought in Australia...'.

[Angus & Robertson advertisement, Art in Australia, no. 2, 1917]

Country of context

Australia

Legacy id

110058

Creators

LINDSAY, Lionel | (1874–1961) Australian | Male | artist

Last Updated

18 Oct 2024