The Art of Rosaleen Norton: With Poems by Gavin Greenlees

by Rosaleen Norton

Hardcover, Quarto 80pp. Color and black and white illustrations. Limited to 1000 copies. A book of occult-inspired artist Rosaleen Norton's drawings, with poems by Norton and her lover Gavin Greenlees. The original 1952 edition was banned in the USA on the grounds of obscenity, and had a restricted circulation in Australia, with a court ruling that some of the plates had to be 'blacked out' before copies could legally be sold. This edition reproduces all the material in the original, along with new introductions and additional colour plates.

Genres: Occult, Art, Poetry

80 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

Rosaleen Miriam Norton, who used the name of Thorn, was a New Zealand-born Australian artist and occultist, in the latter capacity adhering to a form of pantheistic / Neopagan Witchcraft largely devoted to the mythological Greek god Pan. She lived much of her later life in the bohemian area of Kings Cross, Sydney, leading her to be termed the "Witch of Kings Cross" in some of the tabloids, and from where she led her own coven of Witches.

Her paintings, which have been compared to those of British occult artist Austin Osman Spare, often depicted images of supernatural entities such as pagan gods and demons, sometimes involved in sexual acts. These caused particular controversy in Australia during the 1940s and '50s, when the country "was both socially and politically conservative" with Christianity as the dominant faith and at a time when the government "promoted a harsh stance on censorship." For this reason the authorities dealt with her work harshly, with the police removing some of her work from exhibitions, confiscating books that contained her images, and attempting to prosecute her for public obscenity on a number of occasions.

According to her later biographer, Nevill Drury, "Norton's esoteric beliefs, cosmology and visionary art are all closely intertwined – and reflect her unique approach to the magical universe." She was inspired by "the 'night' side of magic", emphasizing darkness and studying the Qliphoth, alongside forms of sex magic which she had learned from the writings of English occultist Aleister Crowley.

Reviews

[Bill Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read a lot by and about Rosaleen recently, I'm struck by how much she prefigures the world a decade after her death, how much more she might have prospered in a culture more accustomed to devils and imps. I like her art -- one piece in particular, "Seance at Swan Hollow," I can't stop looking at -- but admire even more the manifesto of the book as a whole, as proud a defiance of crushing mediocrity as I can recall ever seeing.

The introductory material is excellent too.

[Gaze Santos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is technically the third edition of this book, but the first edition printed in the U.S. It is a true facimile of the original 1952 edition of the book, printed in the quality it was originally intended to be. The publishing history of this book itself is almost as interesting as the art represented within. Indeed, this modern edition comes with a lengthy, but interesting, re-telling of the effort that went into initially creating this book. And the various censorship scandels that plagued the sale of it as well. Publishing history aside, it is also a great representation of the artistic works of Rosaleen Norton and Gsvin Greenlees. Both were fixtures of the King's Cross neighbourhood in Sydney. With Rosaleen Norton having the "distinction" of being the "Witch of King's Cross," perhaps at the expense of her artistic credibility. But a look at the pages of this book will make her artistic skill evident to anyone. Both artists wears their occult and religious beliefs plainly on their sleeves. The influence of Rosaleen Norton in particular can be seen in more modern occult art, in likes of Orryelle Defenestrate Bascule for example. This is very much an occult art book. Perhaps even a visual grimoire. Far from being the smut that the newspapers labeled it at its first publication, the pictures and poems reveal an erudition that, despite ideosyncratic, is very rich.