An exhibition celebrating the renowned artist's model Rita Lee in works by artists active in Sydny during the 1930s and '40s.
In 1937, at the age of 17, Rita met the artist Joe Holloway and began posing for him at his sketch club in the Haymarket. Joe introduced Rita to Norman Lindsay while he was working at his studio at 12 Bridge Street, Sydney. When Lindsay moved back to the Blue Mountains to his home, Springwood, in 1940, Rita travelled there to pose for him. She would be the subject of many of his finest paintings.
Rita Young (nee Lee) was born in Sydney’s Annandale to a Chinese father and Anglo-Australian mother. It is believed that her maternal great-grandparents were Spanish Moroccan. Coming of age during the Great Depression, Rita and her three siblings often went hungry. By the time she was 14, Rita had left school and was working to help support her family with factory jobs.
Rita was Lindsay’s favourite model (after his muse and wife, Rose) but she also modelled for many other artists in her time. This exhibition will feature works by those artists for whom she sat including Antionio Dattilo-Rubbo, Norman Lindsay, Rah Fizelle, Freda Robertshaw, Ralph Balson, Hilda Townsend and photographs by Max Dupain and William Buckle. With loans from the Art Gallrey of New South Wales, University of Melbourne, Manly Art Gallery & Museum and the National Art School, the exhibition celebrates the person behind the model.
