AustLit

The first 48-page issue of Vision appeared in May 1923 with more than a dozen Norman Lindsay (q.v.) sketches of nymphs and satyrs prominently displayed. Planned as a vehicle for the aesthetic philosophy of Lindsay and to a lesser extent the ideas of poet Hugh McCrae (q.v.), its editors hoped the magazine would usher in an Australian renaissance to bolster the literary and artistic traditions rejected by European modernists. The editors also believed that the magazine would invigorate an Australian culture they claimed was stifled by the regressive provincialism of publications such as the Bulletin.

Proposed during regular meetings at a Sydney coffee cellar, the magazine was edited by Frank C. Johnson, Jack Lindsay (Norman's son) and Kenneth Slessor (qq.v.). Johnson, an assistant at Dymock's book store, acted as business manager, setting the price of the magazine at 3 shillings and sixpence per copy. He also attracted a variety of advertisers, including Penfolds, Studebaker, Kodak and The Shakespearean Quarterly. Slessor and Lindsay performed the major editorial tasks and provided most of the contributions, including a number of pseudonymous contributions from the latter.

The intellectual programme of the magazine was presented in regular forewords and essays by Norman and Jack Lindsay. Prominent modernists were criticised and often lampooned for their rejection of conventional form and their jaded outlook on modern life. The magazine further asserted its anti-modernist stance by proclaiming 'free verse will not be considered' in its calls for contributions. Proceeding from Norman Lindsay's principles of beauty, passion, youth, vitality, sexuality and courage, Vision consistently provided readers with potentially offensive content. But the editors welcomed any negative attention, stating in the fourth issue, 'Vision has . . . published a vast amount of material which would have been destroyed in moral fury by any other periodical. It blushes for the compliment.' But, despite the strong ideological position exhibited by the magazine in the 1920s, the circumstances of its publication and its later influence were the subject of a significant debate in the pages of Southerly (1952-53) between Jack Lindsay, Kenneth Slessor and Norman Lindsay.

The contributions of Slessor and Jack Lindsay were accompanied by the work of a number of other writers, including Hugh McCrae, Dorothea Mackellar, R. D. FitzGerald and Dulcie Deamer. Many of these contributions exhibit the direct influence of Norman Lindsay's ideas. When the fourth issue of Vision appeared in February 1924, it advertised plans for a larger format in the next issue. Promising one hundred pages with illustrations, uncensored material and popular serials, Vision was to appear bi-quarterly at a new price of one shilling and sixpence. But this did not occur and the editorial team of Vision disbanded. Jack Lindsay subsequently moved to London where he continued the intellectual programme of Vision by founding with P. R. Stephenson the London Aphrodite.