LLOYD, NORMAN (1895-1983)

"Fighting Bulls Of Andalusia" (1932)
oil on canvas
67.5 x 88cm
signed lower right
*Leger Galleries, London, 1933
*private collection, Sydney
 
Lloyd is an important, forgotten Australian Modernist. He studied painting under Julian Ashton & James R. Jackson in Sydney. In 1916 he enlisted with the Australian Imperial Forces & was transported to Europe where he was seriously wounded in battle a year later. After returning to Sydney in February 1918, he returned to the Julian Ashton Art School. From 1921-26, Lloyd exhibited in Sydney & Melbourne, showing landscapes & Sydney harbour scenes painted in the traditional style of his teachers. From 1926-29, Norman Lloyd visited Europe & travelled widely in Italy & France, exhibiting in the UK, France & Australia, culminating in a solo exhibition at Macquarie Galleries in Sydney. In the 1930s, Lloyd migrated to London with his wife Edith for good, setting up a boarding house in upmarket St Johns Wood. His mansion became a meeting point & home for many Australian expats, among them painters Will Ashton, Alison Rehfisch & George Duncan. He was elected member of the exclusive Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 1936 & the London Sketch Club, over which he presided during 1941-42. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Art Society of NSW. From 1933-70, Lloyd exhibited regularly with the ROI, & showed at the Royal Academy of London. Lloyd’s love was mediterranean Europe - Italy, Spain, France, Turkey & Morocco, inspiring joyful land, sea & mountainscapes, in a style that evoked impressionism. Lloyd was a prolific painter who was able to paint fast, preferring textural oil & pastels. Lloyd’s work is now represented in the Art Gallery of WA the Queensland Art Gallery, the Sydney University Art Collection. This stunning piece was painted in the years preceding the Spanish Civil War & was originally exhibited at Leger Galleries in London.