A Small Unsigned Painting - Stephen Scheding

Title: A Small Unsigned Painting
Author: Stephen Scheding
Publisher: Vintage / Random House Australia
Format: Paperback
First Published: 1998
ISBN: 0 09 183647 6

Condition: Good second-hand condition. Light shelf wear and minor creasing to covers with some edge wear from age and reading. Binding remains solid and pages are clean and readable throughout.

Part detective story, part art history, and part personal obsession, A Small Unsigned Painting follows Australian collector and historian Stephen Scheding as he attempts to identify the creator of a mysterious unsigned painting purchased at a Melbourne auction.

Believing the work may be connected to renowned Australian artist Lloyd Rees, Scheding embarks on an investigation through archives, X-rays, forgotten histories, and the hidden stories behind the Australian modernist art world of the 1920s.

As the mystery deepens, the book becomes more than an inquiry into authorship. It explores how paintings acquire meaning and value, how memory shapes cultural history, and how art can carry traces of love, tragedy, and personal identity across generations.