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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

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Leon Gellert with mask

1936
Max Dupain OBE

gelatin silver photograph on paper (mount: 50.5 cm x 40.5 cm, image/sheet: 39.5 cm x 30.3 cm)

Leon Gellert (1892-1977), poet and journalist, was a physical education teacher at Hindmarsh Public School in his native Adelaide when the First World war began in 1914. Eighteen days later he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIR). He began writing poetry on board ship in the Aegean. Wounded at Gallipoli, he was nursed back to health in London, returned to Adelaide and discharged unfit in mid-1916 (a few months later, he tried to re-enlist, but it came to naught). He went back to teaching, and continued to write. Songs of a Campaign (1917) went quickly into repeat editions, the third illustrated by Norman Lindsay. A second book, The Isle of San (1919), also illustrated by Lindsay, proved far less successful. Moving to Sydney, Gellert taught at Cleveland Street Intermediate High until 1922, when he began writing the ‘Man in the Mask’ column in Smith’s Weekly. The same year, he started co-editing Art in Australia and became a director of Art in Australia Ltd. Until 1942, he edited The Home. Henceforth, he worked for the Sydney Morning Herald, the Sunday Herald and, in the 1960s, the Sunday Telegraph, writing elegant, lightly humorous columns, many based around his home in Burran Ave, Mosman. Toward the end of his life he returned to Adelaide, where he lived with his dachshund in a house he named Crumble Cottage. His biography by Gavin Souter, A Torrent of Words, was published in 1996.

Gift of Danina Dupain Anderson 2017. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. Works of art from the collection are reproduced as per the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The use of images of works from the collection may be restricted under the Act. Requests for a reproduction of a work of art can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

Artist and subject

Max Dupain OBE (age 25 in 1936)

Leon Gellert (age 44 in 1936)

Donated by

Danina Dupain Anderson (47 portraits)

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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

The National Portrait Gallery is an Australian Government Agency