“The biggest legal smash hit since Ned Kelly.”
Short-listed for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards 2022.
“In this compelling book, Peter Edwell takes readers into the art world, the corridors of power, examines media coverage and the subsequent dramatic court case that captivated a nation. The book examines the controversy from multiple angles: the artist and his subject, the trustees of the Art Gallery and the wider artistic community, and the court case that put Dobell and his art on trial initiated by artists Mary Edwell-Burke and Joseph Wolinski, assisted by counsel Garfield Barwick…It is the only complete study of the dispute that echoes to this day. Accordingly, this book about the portrait that shocked and stunned a nation and the impact it had on Dobell, makes a substantial contribution to Australian art history.”
The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, 12 February 2022
”In Australia, sport ‘‘stops the nation’’, not art. But in 1944, the Archibald Prize became a metaphorical blood sport when it divided both the art world and the general public, drawing 153,000 people to an exhibition previously attended by 13,000. In most accounts of this vitriolic affair, says Peter Edwell, the artist Mary Edwards is cast as ‘‘the despised villain’’ who instigated a court case challenging the Archibald trustees’ decision to give William Dobell the prize for his portrait of Joshua Smith. As a historian, Edwell does not seek to exonerate Edwards so much as provide a fuller, more nuanced picture of her role as a key protagonist, and show how the painting acted as ‘‘a lightning rod in the midst of a prolonged and severe storm’’ between traditionalists and modernists in the Australian art scene, leaving all involved nursing wounds that would last a lifetime.”
Published by Halstead Press
Hardback, 232 pages
$50 including GST and postage (local pick-up available).
Pay securely by credit card via the “Shop” tab or by bank transfer by emailing peteredwell@gmail.com.
For International orders please send an email to the above address.
Signed copies on request.
Portrait of an artist, William Dobell, 1943
When William Dobell’s portrait of fellow-artist and close friend, Joshua Smith, was awarded the Archibald Prize in January 1944 it immediately drew praise and derision from a range of quarters in Australia’s bitterly divided art world. Spearheaded by Mary Edwards, one of the most controversial figures in the history of Australian art, the growing protest against the portrait soon spilled over into the political, legal, business and society worlds of the time.
Criticised by some as a caricature and by others as hinting at Smith’s homosexuality, the portrait, its subject and its creator were hounded by the press and vilified by conservative sections of the public and society. Many believed, however, that the portrait was a masterpiece and that it heralded a major achievement in Australian art. Dame Mary Gilmore described it as a work of genius that would live on while Kenneth Slessor claimed that it “shone like a tropical butterfly in a museum” when it was put on display on the first day of the court case. Enormous interest in the portrait and the controversy saw more than 150,000 Sydney-siders attend the exhibition of Archibald Prize finalists in 1944 and by the time of the court case in October it was replacing World War II on the front pages of some newspapers.
In the worlds of art and culture the portrait was seen by many as indicative of the impact of modernism, which had been the subject of intense and vitriolic debates in Australia over the previous two decades. For some in Australia modernism was an influence to be embraced but for others it was seen as a dangerous short-term vogue, which had contributed to decadence and corruption overseas. Behind the scenes an intense personal friendship between William Dobell and Joshua Smith was falling apart and the seeds of bitterness and resentment that would last half a century were sown
The Case that Stopped a Nation deals with all of these issues as it develops a better understanding of an extraordinary moment in Australia’s history. A moment in which one painting sparked a controversy that captured the attention of the nation.