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y separately published work icon The Artist Is a Thief single work   novel   detective  
Issue Details: First known date: 2001... 2001 The Artist Is a Thief
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Margaret Thatcher Gandarrwuy is an internationally renowned Aboriginal artist from the remote Mission Hole community in the Northern Territory. Her works command high prices - until a new painting is unveiled. It is discovered slashed, with the words hastily scrawled across it, 'The artist is a thief'. Is the artist a thief? Is she to blame, or is she the victim of somebody else's fraud?

'This is a philosophical detective novel with a difference, set in a world where everyone but the 'detective' knows the rules. Jean-Loup Wild, a Melbourne financial consultant sent by ATSIC to Mission Hole, is caught between the art world, with its wealth, fashions, heroes and sophisticated private language, and the Aboriginal community with its poverty, social problems, kinship ties and unchanging traditional law. If Jean-Loup can find the artist he can begin to find the secret of what has been happening at Mission Hole. He can begin, also, to understand how the layers of that mystery lie deep in the bedrock of Australian society.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • c
      Australia,
      c
      :
      Allen and Unwin ,
      2001 .
      image of person or book cover 4087278425858178964.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 282p.
      ISBN: 1865085332

Works about this Work

'White Aboriginals' : White Australian Literary Responses to the Challenge of Indigenous Histories Russell West-Pavlov , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Imaginary Antipodes : Essays on Contemporary Australian Literature and Culture 2011; (p. 71-86)
'Chapter 4 examines the phenomenon of the 'white Aboriginal,' a putative figure of cultural synthesis as proclaimed in Germaine Greer's maverick manifesto Whitefella Jump Up (2003). However, in texts such as Patrick White's A Fringe of Leaves (1976) and David Malouf's Remembering Babylon (1993), Liam Davison's The White Woman (1994), and Stephen Gray's The Artist is a Thief (2001), the 'white Aborigine' figure progressively modulates into a sign of appropriation rather than of reconciliation.' (From author's introduction, 12)
The Invisible Gift Catherine Keenan , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: Australian Author , December vol. 42 no. 3 2010; (p. 12-15)
'Mentoring involves teaching but requires something more strange and intimate than just passing on knowledge. Catherine Keenan talks to writers about the people who lifted them up when they were young'. (p12)
Reconciling Accounts : An Analysis of Stephen Gray's The Artist Is a Thief Christine Nicholls , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Pain of Unbelonging : Alienation and Identity in Australasian Literature 2007; (p. 75-104)
The Artist is a Thief Paul Dawson , 2002 single work review
— Appears in: TEXT : The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , April vol. 6 no. 1 2002;

— Review of The Artist Is a Thief Stephen Gray , 2001 single work novel
Artful Mystery Katharine England , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 22 December 2001; (p. 17)

— Review of The Artist Is a Thief Stephen Gray , 2001 single work novel
The Artist is a Thief Paul Dawson , 2002 single work review
— Appears in: TEXT : The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , April vol. 6 no. 1 2002;

— Review of The Artist Is a Thief Stephen Gray , 2001 single work novel
Artful Pursuit in Conflicting Cultures Michael Sharkey , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 6-7 October 2001; (p. 10, 11)

— Review of The Artist Is a Thief Stephen Gray , 2001 single work novel
Stolen Moments Peter Pierce , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 23 October vol. 119 no. 6298 2001; (p. 98)

— Review of The Artist Is a Thief Stephen Gray , 2001 single work novel
Of Indigenous Art and Charlatans Caroline Gardam , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 3 November 2001; (p. 5)

— Review of The Artist Is a Thief Stephen Gray , 2001 single work novel
A Paradox at the Heart of a Remote Reality Kate Cole-Adams , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 10 November 2001; (p. 9)

— Review of The Artist Is a Thief Stephen Gray , 2001 single work novel
Reconciling Accounts : An Analysis of Stephen Gray's The Artist Is a Thief Christine Nicholls , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Pain of Unbelonging : Alienation and Identity in Australasian Literature 2007; (p. 75-104)
The Invisible Gift Catherine Keenan , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: Australian Author , December vol. 42 no. 3 2010; (p. 12-15)
'Mentoring involves teaching but requires something more strange and intimate than just passing on knowledge. Catherine Keenan talks to writers about the people who lifted them up when they were young'. (p12)
'White Aboriginals' : White Australian Literary Responses to the Challenge of Indigenous Histories Russell West-Pavlov , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Imaginary Antipodes : Essays on Contemporary Australian Literature and Culture 2011; (p. 71-86)
'Chapter 4 examines the phenomenon of the 'white Aboriginal,' a putative figure of cultural synthesis as proclaimed in Germaine Greer's maverick manifesto Whitefella Jump Up (2003). However, in texts such as Patrick White's A Fringe of Leaves (1976) and David Malouf's Remembering Babylon (1993), Liam Davison's The White Woman (1994), and Stephen Gray's The Artist is a Thief (2001), the 'white Aborigine' figure progressively modulates into a sign of appropriation rather than of reconciliation.' (From author's introduction, 12)
A White Voice Explores Indigenous Issues Christopher Bantick , 2001 single work biography
— Appears in: Canberra Sunday Times , 23 December 2001; (p. 45)
Last amended 15 Aug 2016 14:17:34
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