Talking With Painters

Learning about someone through their letters is a fascinating exercise and this is precisely what Claire Roberts set out to do when she amassed over 700 letters of the celebrated 20th century artist Ian Fairweather. Together with cultural historian John Thompson, Roberts has produced a brilliant book 'Ian Fairweather A Life in Letters' which not only gives us an insight into Fairweather's life in his own words but provides context by setting periods of letters in chapters with their own introduction. The book is published by Text Publishing. Claire Roberts is an art historian, curator and Associate Professor of Art at the University of Melbourne, specialising in modern and contemporary Chinese art and the cultural flows between Australia and Asia. It was the author Murray Bail who suggested she write this book.  He had written a monograph on Fairweather and had already located many letters but while that monograph focussed on Fairweather's art, this book looks more at the man himself.  354 letters a