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gelatin silver photograph on paper (sheet: 40.7 cm x 25.1 cm, image: 28.0 cm x 24.8 cm)
Patrick White (1912–1990), acknowledged as Australia’s pre-eminent novelist of the 20th century, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1973 for The Eye of the Storm, ‘for an epic and psychological narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature’. He established the Patrick White Award, an annual literary prize, with his Nobel Prize funds.
White was born in London to a family of Hunter River graziers and spent his youth between England and Australia, at one point returning from study abroad to work as a jackaroo. At Kings College Cambridge he studied French and German languages and literature; the experience of the Australian landscape and European literature and thought were to become major sources of influence in White’s writing.
After a spell as an intelligence officer in North Africa during the Second World War, he returned to Australian with his partner, Manoly Lascaris. The two men were partners for fifty years, while White’s friendships with many others were turbulent and often cruelly curtailed.
White’s novels include The Aunt’s Story, The Tree of Man, Voss, Riders in the Chariot, The Vivisector, The Eye of the Storm and The Twyborn Affair. During the 1970s, becoming increasingly depressed at Australians’ complacency and superficiality, White spoke out on various political issues. David Marr’s superb biography of White was published in 1991. In 2012, the centenary of White’s birth was celebrated with a new publication of his first novel Happy Valley and the publication of an unfinished work, Hanging Garden.
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The black and white photographic portrait of Patrick White and Manoly Lascaris was taken in 1987 by Max Dupain. It is a gelatin silver photograph on paper, measuring about 28 cm high by 25 cm wide, surrounded by a wide white border and simple wooden frame. White, and Lascaris, with his arm around a small dog, sit outside beneath a shady arbour.
In the background, light radiates through foliage which is visible above a low white brick-wall. In front is a row of assorted potted plants including a large spiky grass in a half wine barrel between the two figures. A wooden-framed pergola covered by a dense vine obscures the sky overhead.
In the left foreground Lascaris is perched on a weathered wooden table. He is in profile, facing towards our right. His forehead is lined, hair receding in patches of untidy grey-and-white wisps. His eyes are hidden behind large dark glasses. Light reflects off the lenses. Lascaris’ lips are closed and the skin on his neck sags down from his chin into the open collar of his light-coloured button-up shirt.
Lascaris’ arm, sleeve rolled up at the elbow, encircles a small dog, sitting, nestled to his hip. The dog has a short smooth white coat with darker markings. Its head, with little pointed ears and muzzle, is bent down to Lascaris’ hand, palm flat on the table. Behind the dog Lascaris’ legs are swiveled to his left, towards White.
White sits on the right, further back in the scene. His body is left-side on, while his head, almost sinking into his shoulders, is turned forward towards Lascaris. He has thinning white hair combed over his head. His forehead has deep lines etched across it and his eyebrows are drawn together. His eyes are dark and his gaze is lowered to the right of the scene. White’s mouth is a thin downturned arc. He wears a dark open-necked shirt with short sleeves. A pen is suspended from a cord around his neck. White's forearms rest on his simple white metal-framed chair.
On his right wrist he has a slim watch and his hand touches the stem of a walking stick leaning between his legs, its dark wooden handle curved against his lap. White’s left hand hangs loosely from the arm of the chair. He wears pale trousers and his knees and lower legs are concealed behind the table Lascaris sits upon.
Audio description written and voiced by Lucie Shawcross, 2021
