The Case that Stopped a Nation is a lively illustrated account of the events and characters involved in the court case over the awarding of the 1944 Archibald Prize to William Dobell.

“In Australia, sport ‘‘stops the nation’’, not art. But in 1944, the Archibald Prize became a metaphorical bloodsport 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.”

Author: Peter Edwell
Hardback
232 pages
23.5 x 17cm