| Title | : | Bill: The Life of William Dobell |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1925030563 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781925030563 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 482 |
| Publication | : | First published November 1, 2014 |
His Archibald Prize-winning portrait of Joshua Smith was the subject of a sensational legal case, challenging not only Dobell’s right to the prize, but the very idea of art itself. Dobell won the legal battle but lost so much else. His health was shattered, and his desire to paint was wiped out. He had to get away.
Just north of Sydney, Wangi Wangi is far removed from big city life. Dobell moved to Wangi to escape fame, but in that beguiling little place he found community and friendship, and he rediscovered the passion to paint – and the joy of life.
Through years of research and interviews with Dobell’s friends and long-time locals, acclaimed author and former Wangi resident Scott Bevan discovered how the village protected the artist, cared and posed for him, drank and partied with him. Wangi loved him as one of their own. To the world, he was Sir William Dobell, famous artist, but to Wangi, he was simply Bill.
This is the story of one of Australia’s greatest artists. It explores how ambition and talent took a working class boy a long way in the world, and how the reaction to one painting almost destroyed him. It’s also a celebration of community, and how one man finally discovered where he belonged – in the unlikeliest of places.
Scott Bevan is a Sydney-based writer, broadcaster and journalist. Like Dobell, he was born in Newcastle and has lived in Wangi Wangi. Unlike Dobell, Scott can’t paint. Bill – The Life of William Dobell is Scott’s fourth book.
Bill: The Life of William Dobell Reviews
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Ok I admit it. I gave up half way thru. I think he just must have been an intensely boring man. Either the author was crap and /or there just wasn't much of a story to tell. Surely there are stories of his gay lovers for example? Just not interesting.
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This book is first-rate, detailed and satisfyingly full of information about the man as well as his work. Nonetheless, it could have been even better if the publisher had included more images of the artist's work. I had to seek out another publication that did contain many of the paintings under discussion to have at hand while I was reading in order to make sense of many parts of Bevan's story. It is frustrating and ineffective when an artist's life and work is presented without adequate visual information to accompany the text.
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Still Waters
Life as we live it is an unpredictable, messy business. Only when it is over can a perceptive biographer bring shape and meaning to our existence. Scott Bevan has succeeded admirably as he charts the fortunes of Sir William Dobell, known to his friends simply as ‘Bill’.
This is an excellent biography; the kind you read like a thriller, unable to put the book aside. At 457 pages of text plus a daunting 36 pages of references, this speaks not only for the interest of the subject but also the research and writing skill of the author, Scott Bevan. With carefully-chosen language and strong verbs he brings alive the visual landscapes where Dobell lived and worked. A Cultural Centre glares across the park; Catalinas heave themselves into the sky.
Setting is imperative in this account. After a debilitating court case, it seems that Dobell restored his health and sanity by retreating to the sleepy, lake-side village of Wangi Wangi, on Lake Macquarie’s shore. Living with his older sister Alice at Allowah, their simple cottage by the lake, he resumed painting and found a healing routine walking his dogs, visiting the local library or drinking with mates at the pub. Not the life of an important artist, one might think. But Dobell is presented as a simple man, pulled into the limelight of notoriety by the famous court case challenging his right to paint as he saw.
He cannot avoid the art world and its pretensions, painting and meeting politicians, artists, and the names of the day. Fame attracts him, yet he is more comfortable with the characters who have no claim to fame, except that he chose to portray them in his own visual way. He dislikes publicity yet is constantly in the news. He seems doomed to inspire controversy, though he proclaims he prefers to be left alone to paint. Endearing anecdotes reveal his foibles and fears. He hates driving. His last car has 14 kilometres on the speedo when he dies. He has no egg cups, so uses a cut-up toilet roll to serve a boiled egg to his visitor. His dogs won’t budge from the shop door until he buys them each an ice cream.
Somehow these little points humanise a man who has earned both lavish praise and vitriolic criticism. People describe him as ‘gentle’, ‘nervous’, ‘sensitive’, yet there is often a touch of malice to his portrayals. As he ages, he avoids Sydney, preferring the undemanding charm of Newcastle’s fringes. As a Newcastle resident myself, I enjoyed the part this city played in the life of a complex and gifted man. This is a wonderful read and I heartily recommend it to anyone curious about the dichotomy of this artist’s public and private lives. -
Warmly written, you get a nice feel for the public persona and a social portrait of Wangi to boot. But I was left wanting to understand his art a little more - how and why he made the paintings he did, and why he was considered so great. Could have been edited down quite a bit but a generous and compassionate biography of a good man nonetheless.
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Three and a half really. Some chapters went to four stars and beyond, but others were soporific. Fortuitously there is currently a display of his paintings at the S. H. Ervin gallery. The bad news is that it is a collection of his New Guinea paintings.
