Talking With Painters

Reading Scott Bevan’s biography of 20th century artist William Dobell is like viewing one of Dobell’s portraits; Scott takes us behind the exterior of the subject and into their inner life. He just uses words instead of paint. Scott is a journalist, TV and radio presenter, musician and biographer. In this podcast interview, I talk with him about the life of Dobell in the context of the changing art world of the 20th century.  In particular, we go back seventy seven years to when William Dobell famously won the Archibald Prize with a portrait of his friend Joshua Smith. With less than flattering facial features and elongated arms and neck , the painting was a clear and challenging departure from the more traditional portraits of the previous years. Almost every Australian held a view on that painting. Some were excited, some were shocked - others were even angry. In an unprecedented turn of events, two entrants who missed out on the prize started a court action to try to stop Dobell from receiving the