The vagabond (Spanish beggar)

The Vagabond (Spanish Beggar), a 1922 woodcut, depicts the figure of a man clothed in shawl and sunhat. He wanders barefoot through the stony countryside, leaning on his walking stick. The figure is clothed in black. Behind him, the background is white and blank. This perfectly communicates the vagabond’s isolation, as he is forced to wander from place to place in the white hot sun. Lindsay has cut the block with alternating thin and thick cuts. This gives the print a rough, worn look which is appropriate to depicting the hard life of the subject.

The figure may be dressed like one of Lindsay’s more romantic compositions but the expression on the vagabond’s face hints at the dangerous underside of the picturesque landscapes that make up much of his Spanish work. The vagabond looks warily and wearily over his shoulder, probably in his concern for the approach of others.

Though Lindsay loved the romance of Spanish country life, he generally stayed away from depicting its hardships. Peasants typically figure in his work as devout Catholic worshippers or as farmers riding tired donkeys. Usually, there is little indication of the hunger and violence that characterised the poverty of Spanish peasant life. Just because Lindsay did not typically depict this aspect of Spanish life did not mean he was unware of it, however. When he travelled through Spain in 1902, he "quickly made friends wherever he went, but kept a Smith and Wesson revolver in his pocket". (Australian Dictionary of Biography).

Sources:

Australian Dictionary of Biography, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lindsay-sir-lionel-arthur-7756