Terms and conditions of use
The golden faun
(1932)
from The Great Breath series 1932
- Medium
- linocut on transfer paper
- Measurements
- 31.8 × 13.5 cm (block) 35.1 × 19.1 cm (sheet)
- Inscription
- none
- Accession Number
- P147-1976
- Departments
- Australian Prints / Australian Prints & Drawings
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Mrs Klytie Pate, 1976
© Courtesy of the artist's estate
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of the Joe White Bequest - Gallery location
- Not on display
- About this work
-
In 1930, Napier and Christian Waller befriended publisher Tatlock Miller, who founded Golden Arrow Press. His first publication was Christian Waller’s The Great Breath, featuring these seven linocuts. Christian learned the technique from Napier, and she cut and printed the blocks on a nineteenth-century printing press in their Ivanhoe home. The central theme of the book is the spiritual evolution of humankind through seven stages, as described in the writings of Madame Blavatsky, the founder of the Theosophist movement. The designs draw upon ancient Egyptian and Greek imagery, astrology and numerology, symbols of the zodiac, as well as Art Deco design.