MEANJIN BACK ISSUE

PORTRAITS OF THE ARTIST
V ol. 64, nos. 1-2, 2005

A bumper double issue incorporating two numbers in an expanded format that also includes sixteen pages of illustrations and graphics in full colour by some of Australia's leading contemporary visual and digital artists. Following the sell-out success of our first issue with this title in 2003, we now bring you an all-new volume presenting a brilliant gallery of verbal and visual portraits of or by artists in a broad range of fields: writers, painters, musicians, gardeners, film-makers, photographers, cartoonists, dancers, theatre directors. and more.

FEATURED AUTHORS AND SUBJECTS INCLUDE: Nikki Gemmell, Robert Dessaix, Helen Garner, Patrick White, Hannie Rayson, Arthur Boyd, Brenda Niall, Michael Blakemore, Ava Gardner, Marcus Clarke, Henry Handel Richardson, John Mateer, Marion Halligan, Peter Goldsworthy

FEATURED VISUAL ARTISTS INCLUDE: Stelarc, Sally Smart, Bill Leak, Jan Senbergs, William Robinson, Cherry Hood, David Noonan, Lewis Miller

With this Issue we also welcome Meanjin 's new Poetry Editor, the prizewinning Sydney poet Judith Beveridge. She has chosen 32 poems in a wide range of styles and moods.

Contents

Essays And Memoirs

Sara Dowse One Touch of Venus

How do film stars such as Ava Gardner exercise their godlike appeal?

Brenda Niall Prelude to Tragedy

The early years of portrait painter Judy Cassab in Eastern Europe

Sheridan Palmer Maladies of the Soul

How Arthur Boyd came under the influence of European émigré intellectuals

Cathy Lowy Losing Brancusi

How the NGV missed out on acquiring a modern masterpiece

Jenni Mitchell Bohemia in Eltham

Recollections of a famous cultural 'quarter' of outer Melbourne

Marion Halligan Where Truth Lies

What sorts of truth can artists provide?

Martyn Jolly The Face of Australia

How photographers contribute to our self-images as Australians

John Mateer Someone Else's Mirror

On the erosion of psychological engagement in art today

Eden Liddelow The Memory Poets

What makes particular poems so memorable?

Tony Moore Urban Iconoclast

New light on Marcus Clarke

Rodney Wetherell Uncheery Soul

On Patrick White, Anglican worshipper

Lyndel Rowe The Golden Age of Russell Street

The MTC under directors John Sumner and George Ogilvie

Richard England Undisputed Sovereignty

The imaginary worlds of children who went on to become prominent authors

Nikki Gemmell The Identity Trap

The ups and downs of trying to write anonymously

Patrick McCaughey Dematerialising MoMA

A guided tour of the revamped Museum of Modern Art in New York City

Marina Vaizey Wrapped — But not too Rapt

The disappointments of Christo's latest project, The Gates , in Central Park

Review Essays

Ian Cummins Love and Death

Chasing Robert Dessaix chasing Turgenev

John Thompson Everything in the Garden

On Australian garden writing

Christina Hill A Room of her Own

The most recent biography of Henry Handel Richardson reveals dark truths

John Rickard Stages in a Life

On expatriate theatre director Michael Blakemore and his memoir

Carla Sari Melpomene and Thalia

How Helen Garner's Joe Cinque's Consolation mingles tragedy and comedy

 

Cinema

Brian McFarlane Portraits in Celluloid

How movies depict the lives of artists

 

Interviews

Jane Grant Seeking Heide

Talking to art historian Janine Burke about Joy Hester, the Reeds and Sidney Nolan

Haydon Manning Political Arts

Talking to cartoonist Bill Leak

Richard Gate Battle of the Sounds

Talking to some of the world's great conductors and instrumentalists about the contemporary music scene

Julie Clarke Face-off

Talking to performance artist Stelarc

Hilary Glow Class Action

Talking to playwright Hannie Rayson

 

Dialogue

Margaret Cameron, Cynthia Troup, David Young Ready, Fire, Aim

Three artists in different media discuss their recent collaboration

 

Diary

Sam Sejavka Ship of Words

Two weeks in the life of a playwright during the staging of his most recent work

 

Fiction

By Meg Mundell, Philomena van Rijswijk, Penelope Sell, Leone Britt, Jennifer Robertson, Peter Goldsworthy.

 

Poetry

By Angela Gardner, Pauline Reeve, Stephen Edgar, Alan Gould, S.K. Kelen, John Nijjem, John Mateer, Danny Gentile , Geoff Page, Michael Farrell, Paul Mitchell, Martin Harrison, Mani Rao, Rose Lucas , Jan Owen, Emily Ballou, Emma Lew, Phyllis Perlstone, Jason Nelson, Elizabeth Smither, Kathleen Stewart, Michael Monsell-Davis