The Sitters
Published on 1. September 2003
Book
Paperback/Softback
144 pages
978-1-74114-227-3 (ISBN)
Description
A sensuously written, peculiar novel about the relationship between a painter and his subject.
A narrow, vertical painting, tightly enclosing the scene. Her pale arm and her pale thigh. Viewed at a diagonal through an exceedingly tall doorway . . . just a glimpse of something . . .
An ageing portrait artist meets a woman who unsettles him, yet inspires him to paint her. Reluctantly, at first, they are drawn together. The ambiguity of the relationship between painter and subject is revealed through Alex Miller's subtle, sensuous narrative. The artist must watch and wait to trap the shy beast. For the skill of portraiture is in seeing beyond the face, beyond the likeness.
A narrow, vertical painting, tightly enclosing the scene. Her pale arm and her pale thigh. Viewed at a diagonal through an exceedingly tall doorway . . . just a glimpse of something . . .
An ageing portrait artist meets a woman who unsettles him, yet inspires him to paint her. Reluctantly, at first, they are drawn together. The ambiguity of the relationship between painter and subject is revealed through Alex Miller's subtle, sensuous narrative. The artist must watch and wait to trap the shy beast. For the skill of portraiture is in seeing beyond the face, beyond the likeness.
Reviews / Votes
An awesomely elegant, subtly sensuous, stylish exploration of the inner self of an ageing portrait artist . . . If there were doubts about the maturity of Australian fiction, this book puts those doubts to rest. -- Frank Moorhouse Like Patrick White, Miller uses the painter to portray the ambivalence of art and the artist. In The Sitters is the brooding genius of light. Its presence is made manifest in Miller's supple, painterly prose which layers words into textured moments. * The Sunday Age * Elegant yet compassionate, austere yet profoundly human. * Australian Book Review *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
St Leonards
Australia
Dimensions
Height: 194 mm
Width: 130 mm
Thickness: 11 mm
Weight
138 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-74114-227-3 (9781741142273)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Alex Miller has twice won the prestigious Miles Franklin Literary Award, Australia's premier literary prize; the first occasion in 1993 for The Ancestor Game, and again in 2003 for Journey to the Stone Country. He is also an overall winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, for The Ancestor Game, in 1993. British by birth, he now lives in Victoria.