4007 - Australia

Australia Photographer: John William Lindt (1845–1926) and others. Images of John William Lindt’s home and photographic studio, the Hermitage, in Narbethong, Victoria, Australia. 1880s–1890s. 31 albumen prints and 17 gelatin silver prints, some mounted on studio board, 3 albumen stereo views, and 5 albumen cabinet cards. Most are approximately 15 x 20 cm and, on the reverse, 18 x 20 cm; a few are smaller; 2 panoramic views (12.5 x 32 cm). Some bear a title, number, and the photographer’s name on the negative at the lower edge; most are annotated in pencil or ink on the reverse. John William Lindt was a German-born Australian landscape and ethnographic photographer, an early photojournalist and portraitist. After running away to sea at the age of seventeen, he deserted his ship in Brisbane and settled in Grafton, New South Wales, by 1863. He worked for the photographer Conrad Wagner, whose studio he acquired in 1868 and used to establish his own business. In 1876 he moved to Melbourne, where he opened a studio on Collins Street and quickly gained recognition for his society and theatrical portraits, cityscapes, and landscapes. Beginning around 1873, Lindt photographed Aboriginal people from the Clarence River region, both outdoors and in the studio, using the demanding wet-collodion process. The studio portraits depict subjects in elaborate reconstructions of natural settings, surrounded by selected garments and implements, revealing the methods by which the studio shaped its ethnographic imagery. In 1894, Lindt built The Hermitage at Blacks Spur, near Narbethong. It served as a residence, studio, and guesthouse; he moved there a year later and lived there until his death in 1926. Lindt traveled extensively in Australia and abroad, but he was particularly familiar with the mountainous forests between Healesville and Marysville. This collection offers a more intimate glimpse into Lindt’s life, showing him with his family in the gardens and lush surroundings of The Hermitage, including a rare 1869 interior view of his Grafton studio. – Some surface scuff marks; some prints have creases and tears along the edges; a few show slight fading at the edges; gelatin silver prints exhibit silver mirroring; otherwise, most are in very good condition with strong contrast. Provenance: By descent to the current owner.