''Stravinsky's Lunch'' (1999) is a biography by Australian author

Drusilla Modjeska Drusilla Modjeska (born 1946) is a contemporary Australian writer and editor. Life Modjeska was born in London and was raised in Hampshire. She spent several years in Papua New Guinea (where she was briefly a student at the University of Pa ...

. It won the

ALS Gold Medal The Australian Literature Society Gold Medal (ALS Gold Medal) is awarded annually by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature for "an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar year." From 1928 to 1974 it was awarded by the ...

and the

New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, th ...

for Non-Fiction, both in 2000.Austlit - ''Stravinsky's Lunch'' by Drusilla Modjeska
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Outline

The book is a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

reappraisal of the lives and work of Australian painters

Stella Bowen Esther Gwendolyn "Stella" Bowen (1893–1947) was an Australian artist and writer. Early career Bowen was born in North Adelaide, an inner suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, and educated at Tormore House School. As a young girl, Bowen enjoy ...

and

Grace Cossington Smith Grace Cossington Smith (20 April 189220 December 1984) was an Visual arts of Australia, Australian artist and pioneer of Modernist art, modernist painting in Australia and was instrumental in introducing Post-Impressionism to her home country. ...

Reviews

Ann Skea, in her review for ''Eclectica Magazine'' noted: "Questions of compromise lie behind all the lives in this book, including Modjeska's, but this does not make it a dry book of philosophy or polemic. On the contrary, it is a rich and engrossing book about the lives of two Australian women artists, Stella Bowen (1893-1947) and Grace Cossington Smith (1892-1984), whose lives and art were very different and who dealt with this problem in very different ways. It is also a book which is richly illustrated. And Modjeska has a superb ability to describe paintings in such a way that the viewer/reader sees them anew with her, noticing subtle details and sharing the empathy she has developed with the artist through exploring that artist's life." The ''Kirkus Review'' commentary was less forgiving: "The author does a careful job of describing the painters’ lives and methods, but as she progresses she allows more and more of herself into their story, until Smith and Bowen seem in danger of becoming mere foils for what becomes a tiresome self-reference...That’s all to the good, but her subjects get lost in the glare of her reflections—all solid stuff for the postmodern set but not much fun for anyone else. Still, Modjeska capably defends her interest in Bowen and Smith not only as artists, but also as women who for the most part set their own terms in a time when few women could get away with that.""''Stravinsky's Lunch'' by Drusilla Modjeska" ''Kirkus Review'' 15 September 2000
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Awards and nominations

* 1999 winner Booksellers Choice Award * 2000 winner

* 2000 winner

for Non-Fiction

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stravinsky's Lunch 1999 non-fiction books Australian biographies ALS Gold Medal winning works