Art in Australia : Third number

Edited by Sydney Ure Smith, Bertram Stevens &​ C. Lloyd Jones. Sydney : Art in Australia, 1917. Octavo, pictorial card wrappers, unpaginated, all pages clean, illustrated with tipped-in colour plates, plus b/w plates, a very good copy. Essay by Bertram Stevens on J. Muir Auld; essay by A. Radcliffe Brown on Norman Lindsay’s Watercolours; essay by Lionel Lindsay on Victor Cobb; essay by Julian Ashton on Blamire Young and his work; illustrations by Blamire Young, J Muir Auld, Norman Lindsay, and Max Meldrum et al. Presentation inscription from Angus & Robertson to the contents page.

Printed in an edition of 2000 copies.

Art in Australia was conceived by Sydney Ure Smith as a flagship for Australian painting and graphic art, and has become the most important resource on Australian art in the first half of the twentieth century. Robert Holden writes ‘The magazine became a showcase of Australian printing ability and set new standards of advertising excellence … Artistic layout, quality graphic work in colour, an harmonious choice of typography and carefully worded text were all combined …’ (Cover Up, Sydney: 1995, p. 74).

For over a quarter of a century, and through its different formats, Art in Australia reviewed and discussed all aspects of Australian art exhibited in both commercial public galleries. Its longevity as a journal was due to its modern approach to design, with many covers being icons of art deco style in themselves.