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Our book for October is: Blue Poles by Tom McIlroy!Liked it? Loved it? Didn't finish it? Come anyway!
The FALS Book Club is a no-shame book club, so grab a drink*, order something from the menu* and share your thoughts with fellow Australian literature lovers.
This month's book club will be extra special, as author Elliot Hannay will be joining us to discuss Embedded and his writing career, so get your questions ready!
Please RSVP by Wednesday 28th October so we can confirm numbers at the venue.
*at bar/menu prices
From the publisher:
The captivating story behind the iconic Blue Poles - the painter, the process, the patronage, the politics and the national scandal.
In 1973, Blue Poles, the iconic painting by America's great abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock, was acquired by the Australian government for A$1.4 million. This record-setting price for an artwork sparked a media sensation and controversy both in Australia and the United States.
Blue Poles: Jackson Pollock, Gough Whitlam and the painting that changed a nation details how Jackson Pollock rose to fame, the negotiations that led to the artwork's move to the National Gallery of Australia, and the many successes and turbulent turns in between.
This story covers Pollock's entree into an art circle which included renowned patron Peggy Guggenheim, as well as his relationship with artist Lee Krasner, and the larger-than-life accounts that surrounded his artistic practice - including questions around the creation of Blue Poles.
It was Gough Whitlam's commitment to the arts and cultural capital that would see the painting move to another continent, where the media feasted on stories of its cost and brows were raised over its merit. The value of Blue Poles to the Australian art and museum landscape was yet to be foreseen.
Journalist Tom McIlroy tells a compelling account of one of Australia's most prized paintings, which stirred up many storms from the time of its creation to its placement in the NGA.
About the author:
Tom McIlroy is a political correspondent with the Australian Financial Review, reporting from the press gallery at Parliament House. Born and raised in Melbourne, he has reported for a range of newspapers in Australia and overseas, including The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Ballarat Courier, Canberra Times and Houston Chronicle.
A graduate of Melbourne University and RMIT University, McIlroy has been featured in a range of publications including Meanjin and Art Monthly Australasia. Based in Canberra, he writes on national politics, the arts, tax and the economy. Blue Poles is his first book.
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