Rosaleen Norton: The Witch of King's Cross

Picture of Rosaleen Norton sitting at her alter to the Greek gad Pan, holding her cat. 
(Picture found on Johnson's article)

 Rosaleen Norton was a female artist in Sydney, Australia creating her works between the 1940’s to the 70’s. Norton is known for her strong and independent personality that came through in her art making. She practiced self exploration through trance and sex magic to raise her consciousness, where she then incorporated the images she saw into her artworks (The Witch of King’s Cross). In these works Norton depicted the spiritual beings she would encounter in these heightened states such as Lilith, Lucifer, and Pan. 
            Though Norton faced backlash from media and police intervention, she saw her goal in life as being a catalyst. When the media began labeling her as a witch,  she in return embraced that title by stylizing her physical appearance through clothes and makeup to fit the iconic witch characteristics (The Witch of King’s Cross). At case hearings and detainments for charges related to her works being obscene and indecent she never apologized for her behavior. This decision of not backing down and apologizing was the opposite reaction women of that era were told by societal norms to do. 
            She found solace in her community of fellow pagans, most notably Gavin Greenlees and Sir Eugene Goossens. Norton, Greenlees and Goossens all had an open relationship with one another and practiced sex magic together (The Witch of King’s Cross). Her and Greenlees created a book together that was privately published by Walter Glover as a way to be seen by the court as finding employment. For the book Norton created the illustrations while Greenlees wrote poems to go with them. This publication made headlines as being obscene and Satanic, this was taken to court and ruled to be banned. A large amount of copies were burnt, while by chance Goossens happened to find a copy and decided to reach out to both Norton and Greenlees (Johnson)(The Witch of King’s Cross).
Image highlighted in "The Witch of King's Cross"
Firebird by Rosaleen Norton.
(Highlighted in "The Witch of King's Cross")

Goossens was a renowned composer and conductor for the ABC’s Sydney Symphony Orchestra. When Norton’s flat was unethically searched by law enforcement they found the letters of explicit communication between the two along with photos of the sexual act between the three of them (The Witch of King’s Cross). This discovery led to the immediate stop of Goossens career where he then retreated back to the UK. Greenlees never recovered mentally after this was announced through the media and was admitted into a mental hospital (The Witch of King’s Cross).

As for the events that took place involving Norton it’s upsetting that at least two of her artworks were ordered to be burned by police. Considering how many have surfaced and popularized today, could she have had a larger impact on art history for female artists and or alternative exploration for art making? In the wake of the censorship and banning, her work was subject to, it is difficult to gauge and see all the work she created.


Bibliography


Johnson, Marguerite. “Why Rosaleen Norton, ‘the Witch of Kings Cross’, was a groundbreaking bohemian.” ABC News, 4 Feb. 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-05/rosaleen-norton-witch-of-kings-cross-groundbreaking-bohemian/13121738. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024. 


“The Witch of King’s Cross.” Dir. Sonia Bible. Journeyman Pictures, 2020. Kanopy. https://www.kanopy.com/en/ccad/video/11613144. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024. 

 

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