Litigation, Art and Therapeutic Jurisprudence: The Travails of William Dobell

Abstract

The extraordinary litigation in 1944 that enveloped Sir William Dobell, one of Australia's best known artists, ostensibly addressed whether his painting of a fellow artist, Joshua Smith, constituted a portrait or a caricature and thus whether it qualified for the prestigious Archibald Prize. However, there was much more to the litigation than a clash between modernism and traditionalism in portraiture. It constituted an archetypal example of the ways in which litigation can have counter-therapeutic effects for all who are party to it unless suitable prophylactic measures are taken or at least strategies are exercised to reduce its toxicity.

Key words:

• art
• counter-therapeutic effects
• litigation
• psychiatric harm
• therapeutic jurisprudence

Notes

1. See eg J Bressler, Art Law: The Guide for Collectors, Investors, Dealers and Artists (4th edn, Practising Law Institute, New York 2013); JB Prowda, Visual Arts and the Law: A Handbook for Professionals (Lund Humphries, New York 2013); A-M Rhodes, Art Law and Transactions (Carolina Academic Press, 2011); JH Meryman, AE Elsen and SK Urice, Law, Ethics and the Visual Arts (5th edn, Kluwer Law International, 2007); O Ben-Dor (ed), Law and Art: Justice, Ethics and Aesthetics (Routledge-Cavendish, New York 2012).

2. See eg B Smith, Place, Taste and Tradition: A Study of Australian Art Since 1788 (OUP, Oxford 1979).

3. Attorney-General v Trustees of National Art Gallery of NSW (1944) 62 WN (NSW) 212 per Roper J.

4. See eg Johansen v Art Gallery of NSW Trust [2006] NSWSC 577; Bloomfield v Art Gallery of New South Wales Trust, unreported, NSWSC, 23 September 1983 per Helsham CJ in Eq; Perpetual Trustee Co Ltd v Groth (1985) 2 NSWLR 278.

5. S Lawson, The Archibald Paradox: A Strange Case of Authorship (Miegunyah Press, Melbourne 2007).

6. See P Ross, Let's Face It: The History of the Archibald Prize (Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney 2013).

7. Johansen v Art Gallery of NSW Trust [2006] NSWSC 577 at [4].

8. See eg Ross (n 6) 15. See too JS Starke, ‘Literary and Artistic Competitions’ (1984) 58 Australian Law Journal 52; M Kirby, ‘Hanging Judges and the Archibald Prize’, address to the Art Gallery of NSW, 28 March 1986, www.hcourt.gov.au/assets/publications/speeches/former-justices/kirbyj/kirbyj_28mar86.pdf; Z Cowen, ‘An Artist in the Courts of Law’ (1945) Australian Law Journal 112.

9. Art Gallery of New South Wales, The Archibald Prize: An Illustrated History, 1921–1981 (Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney 1982).

10. EJ Jensen, Acute Misfortune: The Life and Death of Adam Cullen (Black Inc, 2004).

11. Ross (n 6) 15.

12. Ross (n 6) 19.

13. S Bevan, Bill: The Life of William Dobell (Simon & Schuster, Sydney, 2014), at p131.

14. See S Pierse, Australian Art and Artists in London 1950–1965: An Antipodean Summer (Ashgate Publishing, Dartmouth 2012), referring also to the earlier period in which Dobell had been in England. See also B Pearce, H Kolenberg, P Raissis and P Davidson, William Dobell, 1899–1970: The Painter's Progress (Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney 1997).

15. See Y Close, Joshua Smith: Artist (Yve Close, NSW 1998) 27–28.

16. See E Donaldson, William Dobell: An Artist's Life (Exisle Publishers, Wollombi 2010) 62.

17. See Bevan (n 13) 117.

18. Bevan (n 13) 136.

19. See WH Wilde, Courage a Grace (Melbourne University Press, Melbourne 1985).

20. Donaldson (n 16) 35.

21. B Adams, Portrait of an Artist (Vintage, Sydney 1992) 90–91.

22. Donaldson (n 16) 35.

23. Bevan (n 13) 138.

24. Bevan (n 13) 137.

25. Dobell entered three paintings but it was his portrait of Smith that got the trustees’ attention.

26. Gleeson, op cit, at p145.

27. S Bevan, ‘The William Dobell Portrait that broke a friendship and Divided a Nation’ Sydney Morning Herald (18 October 2014). See too Bevan 2014, at p145.

28. Bevan (n 13) 141.

29. Bevan (n 13) 147.

30. Bevan (n 13) 149.

31. Bevan (n 13) 157.

32. An entrant in 1943 with no fewer than four portraits: Art Gallery of New South Wales, ‘Archibald Prize Finalists, 1943’ <http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/1943/> accessed 15 January 2015.

33. J Hawley, ‘A Portrait in Pain’ Sydney Morning Herald <http://www.smh.com.au/good-weekend/gw-classics/a-portrait-in-pain-20140916-10c76n.html> accessed 31 December 2014.

34. J Gleeson, William Dobell: A Biographical and Critical Study (Angus & Robertson Publishers, Sydney 1981) 115–16.

35. Bevan (n 13) 143.

36. Bevan (n 13) 143.

37. Gleeson (n 33) 116.

38. Gleeson (n 33) 118.

39. Gleeson (n 33) 119.

40. Gleeson (n 33) 122.

41. Gleeson (n 33) 124.

42. Gleeson (n 33) 125.

43. Gleeson (n 33) 126.

44. Gleeson (n 33) 129.

45. Gleeson (n 33) 135.

46. Gleeson (n 33) 138.

47. Bevan (n 13) 172.

48. Bevan (n 13) 173.

49. Attorney-General v Trustees of National Art Gallery of NSW (1944) 62 WN (NSW) 212 at [214].

50. Attorney-General v Trustees of National Art Gallery of NSW at [214].

51. Attorney-General v Trustees of National Art Gallery of NSW at [214].

52. Attorney-General v Trustees of National Art Gallery of NSW at [215].

53. Attorney-General v Trustees of National Art Gallery of NSW at [215].

54. At 215

55. Ross, op cit, at p37.

56. Bevan (n 13) 175.

57. J Hawley, Encounters with Australian Artists (University of Queensland Press, Brisbane 1993).

58. Bevan (n 13) 181.

59. See M Ricketson (ed), The Best Australian Profiles (Black Inc, 2004) at p85; J Hylton, William Dobell Portraits in Context (Wakefield Press, Mile End, South Australia, 2004).

60. Bevan (n 13) 217.

61. Ben Quilty later won the Archibald Prize for another portrait of her. See M Stewart, Margaret Olley: Far From a Still Life (Random House, Sydney, 2005).

62. M Antoinette, ‘Dobell, Sir William’ in CJ Summers (ed) The Queer Encyclopedia of the Visual Arts (Cleis Press, 2004) 96.

63. P Bernasconi, ‘Newcastle Expatriate Paul Bernasconi Looks at Wangi Artist Bill Dobell in Close-up’ (24 October 2014) Newcastle Herald <http://www.theherald.com.au/story/2647632/bill-dobell-in-close-up/> accessed 31 December 2014.

64. See too Bevan 2014, at pp375–382.

65. TR Tyler, ‘The Psychological Consequences of Judicial Procedures: Implications for Civil Commitment Hearings’ in DB Wexler and BJ Winick (eds) Law in a Therapeutic Key: Developments in Therapeutic Jurisprudence (Carolina Academic Press, Durham 1996) 10.

66. See eg BJ Winick, ‘The Schiavo Case: Interdisciplinary Perspectives: A Legal Autopsy of the Lawyering in Schiavo’ (2007) 61 University of Miami Law Review 595. See too J MacFarlane, The New Lawyer: How Settlement is Transforming the Practice of Law (University of British Columbia Press, Toronto 2008); B Winick, ‘Therapeutic Jurisprudence and the Role of Counsel in Litigation’ in D Stolle, D Wexler and B Winick (eds) Practicing Therapeutic Jurisprudence (Carolina University Press, Durham 2000); Wexler DB (ed), Rehabilitating Lawyers: Principles of Therapeutic Jurisprudence for Criminal Law Practice (Carolina Academic Press, Durham 2008).