AUSTRALIAN ART FROM THE COLLECTION OF ROGER LANGSWORTH, SYDNEY
Roger’s great passions in life were volunteering, travel and art. He loved travel, setting foot on Antarctica, going on safari in Africa, climbing the steps of Machu Pichu or standing at Nordkapp (North Cape) in Norway. However, no matter how far he travelled, Australia was always home and the art of Australia his great love.
Roger spent over 20 years volunteering for the Australian National Museum, including working in the palaeontology and Australian mammal departments. This, his study of agriculture and work for the family company in the country early in his life drew him to paintings of the Australian landscape, including the subtle beauty of Australian forests captured by Frederick McCubbin and Walter Withers, the early twentieth century rural landscapes of Elioth Gruner and William Rubery Bennett’s broad river valleys. Roger was also fascinated by the sea. He volunteered as a guide at the Australian Maritime Museum and as a senior radio operator at the Marine Rescue NSW unit at Terry Hills. His art collection included Penleigh Boyd’s pristine Harbour Headland, 1922; David Davies’ atmospheric nocturne St Ives, c.1900 and John Allcot’s depictions of tallships battling heavy seas.
Roger had a soft spot for the works of Norman Lindsay. When focusing on acquisitions he competed strongly at auction for major works, setting record prices for some including Norman Lindsay’s remarkable East and West, 1934. It was Roger’s wish that several major works from his collection will be donated to the Norman Lindsay Gallery at Springwood in the Blue Mountains.
