Pittwater Life April 2023 Issue

Books
Intriguing Dobell love story
Kim Anderson grew up in Sydney, spending much of her time swimming on the
Northern Beaches. She is a former editor, publisher and media executive. She is
now a non-executive director of several publicly listed companies. Although she
began writing at a young age, The Prize is her first novel.
Books
Q: Tell us about The Prize…
In 1939, when William Dobell
returned to Sydney from
London, he meets fellow artist
Joshua Smith, who is in his
mid-30s and still living at
home. Smith is immediately
infatuated. Dobell, exposed to
the works of Picasso, Braque,
Dali and others, is influenced
by Modernism. Well-heeled
local artist Mary Edwards – an
arch conservative, ardently
believes the scourge of
Modernism is threating to
‘infect’ the Australian art scene.
Edwards, Smith and Dobell
all enter the Archibald, at the
time one of the richest art
prizes in the world. Edwards
has high hopes of winning.
When Dobell’s portrait of
Joshua wins, Edwards mounts
a court case, denouncing the
portrait as a caricature – ‘an
artistic Pearl Harbour’ – and
therefore ineligible to win
under the terms of Archibald’s
bequest. Both artist and sitter
find themselves in the glare of
the spotlight when a court case
to determine the matter turns
into a public spectacle.
Much is at stake.
Homosexuality is illegal, and
a young KC, Garfield Barwick,
is keen to make a name for
himself. Bill and Joshua’s
relationship is put under
pressure and at risk of being
exposed as they are caught in a
world where they must choose
between love and art: between
acceptance and exile.
Q: What inspired you to write
this book?
I came across this story when
I was editing the Bicentennial
history and couldn’t believe the
impact it had on both artist and
sitter. There had to be more to
the story as after the court case
Dobell and Smith never spoke
to each other again.
Q: When did you write it
and how did it come to be
published?
Originally, I wrote it as a
screenplay, but in 2016 I
decided to turn it into a novel. I
like writing on long-haul flights
as there are no interruptions,
and in the middle of the night
when all is quiet. I tend to write
large parts in my head and
then write them down in one
enormous flow before revising.
Q: How do you respond to
people who believe that
authors shouldn’t write
outside their identities?
It had never occurred to me
when talking about love
that it wasn’t universal. That
loving someone and how you
love someone can be defined
so narrowly by gender or
identity. That empathy
can only exist within the
confines of our own identities.
In fact, love is different for
every individual regardless of
gender, race or ethnicity. No
two people love in exactly the
same way. If we can only write
about people who exist with the
same identity as our own, the
world of storytelling would be
a small and uninspiring one.
To suggest that as a woman you
cannot write about two men
in love, or a woman and a man
in love, because you are not a
man, demands a complete lack
of empathy.
Q: Any interesting or
surprising feedback?
I’m a great believer in
serendipity. Long after I
began writing this book, I
had a standing order with
Berkelouw’s second-hand
bookshop in Berrima for any
books on Dobell or art in
Australia in the 1940s. You
can imagine my surprise when
they sent me a book called
Australian Present Day Art
and out of it fell the original
press clippings from the case.
That seemed good luck; then
I read the inscription written
in the book. It was a gift to my
grandmother for Christmas in
1943 from my Aunt Yolande!
I immediately rang my dad
to check it was my aunt’s
handwriting and indeed it was.
*The Prize is available from
April 4 in all good bookstores
and online (RRP $32.99).
WIN: We have five copies to
give away to Pittwater Life
readers. For your chance to
win, email info@pittwaterlife.
com.au with The Prize in the
subject line and your mailing
address in the body of the
email by April 20. Winners
announced next month.
46 APRIL 2023
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