Anna Johnson focuses just on Nolan's "breakthrough" years in the early 1940s. This is when he created the Wimmera and Ned Kelly paintings that changed Australian art. He was heavily influenced by his complex sexual relationship with the married couple John and Sunday Reed.
Johnson has had access to the Reed papers and draws heavily on letters between the Reeds and Nolan never before used, to present a dynamic picture of what was arguably the most exciting period in Australian painting.
'Brief Lives' is a series of books just 50,000 words long and illustrated with photographs. The series is a recognition that many Australian lives, while worth a book, are not of sufficient interest to warrant the marathon 400-page approach. This length also allows writers to concentrate on just one aspect or period in the lives of more interesting people.
