ALMOST 80 years since its controversial unveiling, William Dobell's Archibald Prize-winning portrait of fellow artist Joshua Smith remains one of Australian art's most fascinating chapters.
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Dobell, who was born in Newcastle in 1899 and spent his later decades living in Wangi Wangi before his death in 1970, has previously had his life explored in a 2014 biography by Newcastle Herald journalist Scott Bevan and in a 1981 ABC film.
Dobell is also set to be the focus of a forthcoming theatre production.
What's Art Got To Do With It ? The Dobell Case will be presented by Strange Duck Productions and Lake Macquarie City Council next Friday as part of the Lake Macquarie Dobell Festival, running throughout June.
Dobell is recognised as one of Australia's greatest ever portrait and landscape artists.
He was the winner of Australia's premier award for portraits, the Archibald Prize, on three occasions in 1943, 1948 and 1959.
However, he's best known for his controversial first Archibald Prize award for his peculiar painting of Joshua Smith titled "Portrait of an artist".
The award was contested by two unsuccessful entrants on the grounds that the painting was a caricature, so therefore did not qualify, and the case ended up in the NSW Supreme Court and divided the art world and the general public.
The case even briefly overshadowed the events of the Second World War in news headlines.
What's Art Got To Do With It ? The Dobell Case is a dramatised reading of a play by Adam Cook, that seeks to explore not only the public controversy, as exemplified by the bitter court case brought against the trustees of what was then known as the National Gallery of NSW, but also the lasting private toll that it took on those involved.
The play stars Danny Adcock (A Country Practice), Adam Cook (A Dolls House), Jonathan Elsom (All Saints), Andrew McFarlane (The Flying Doctors, Neighbours) and Linden Wilkinson (A Country Practice, Packed To The Rafters).
What's Art Got To Do With It ? The Dobell Case will be staged next Friday at 2pm and 6.30pm at the Warners Bay Theatre. Tickets are $45 for adults, $40 per concession and $32 for Lake Mac Arts members from lakemac.com.au/dobellfestival.
