BILL: THE LIFE OF WILLIAM DOBELL
Scott Bevan
Simon and Schuster, November 2014, RRP $35.00
This is a great biography on so many levels. It is obviously written based years of detailed research, skill and passion by the author Scott Bevan. It has all the rigor and depth of a PhD thesis but none of the dryness. Bevan’s passion for his subject shines through. He goes always for balance and presenting both sides of the picture so readers feels an immediate trust in him. Often he goes those extra little steps such as going to Bill’s Kings Cross flat to see what he would have actually seen out of his window. He chooses an immensely wide range of people involved in Dobell’s life.
This is a book for lovers of Australian art. This is also a book for anyone who has even a vague notion of Australian art in general and even minimal exposure to the institutions such as the Archibald prize. This book helps the reader explore the roles and the place of a series of Australian artists and, in particular, the birth and the place of modernism and the tensions created. It does this in a personal, human and real way not at an art critic level. Continue reading