Strelow

• It comes at a time when the renowned Australian writer is, as they say, having a moment.
• Clift’s typewriter has been still for over half a century, but the fascination with her life and writing shows little signs of abating.
• Recent years have seen new Australian editions of her work in its various genres: fiction, memoir and journalistic essays.

A riveting portrait

• But there is a hint to be found in a fragment of her extraordinary life – a photographic moment that condenses her charismatic and enigmatic essence into a single, riveting image.
• It is a photograph that is remarkable in itself, but made extraordinary by the use to which it would be put.
• It was the work of Liselotte Strelow (1909-1981), a significant German portrait photographer.
• Her portrait of Clift is as well realised as anything in her body of work.
• She first attracted attention by winning a beach-girl photo competition in 1941 with a image taken by her sister, Margaret.

Existential yin and yang

• The stylised chevrons are highlighted by “of-the-moment” saturated colours and fonts that are typical of postwar design.
• What is unexpected is the use of an author photograph to adorn a travel memoir in the 1950s.
• Both the front and back covers featured drawings by her friend, Australian artist Cedric Flower.
• But somebody – very likely Clift herself – selected this image and promoted its use on the front cover.
• Peel Me a Lotus is made memorable because of its evocation of Clift’s existential yin and yang of exhilaration and despair, belonging and deracination.