ARTIST RESEARCH - BRETT WHITELY

1939-59

1939
Born 7 April, Sydney, Australia. Grew up at 18 Lucretia Avenue, Longueville.

1946
Won first art competition: annual RSPCA exhibition at Farmer's Blaxland Gallery forThe driver sits in the Shade but what about the horse?

1948
Sent to boarding school at Scots College, Bathurst.

1954
Saw Lloyd Rees's European paintings exhibition at Macquarie Galleries, Sydney. Briefly attended Scots College, Sydney 1954-55.

1956
Awarded first prize, Young Painters' Section, Bathurst Show, New South Wales. Left school mid year, and worked in Sydney for Lintas Advertising Agency in the layout and commercial art department. His mother Beryl Whiteley left Australia for London.

1956-59
Met Wendy Julius, who was attending the National Art School East Sydney, where Whiteley and Michael Johnson occasionally drew at the Life drawing Class. Sometimes attended sketch clubs such as John Santry's sketch club (also frequented by Lloyd Rees) on Thursday nights. Used the glasshouse at his home in Longueville as a studio. Sporadically attended life drawing at Julian Ashton Art School. Painted on weekends around Bathurst, Sofala, Hill End and the south coast of New South Wales. Painted at Sydney Soup Kitchen and night refuge.

1959
Encouraged by Australian artist William Pidgeon, left Lintas in August to paint works for the Italian scholarship. In November awarded Italian Government Travelling Art Scholarship for 1960, judged by Sir Russell Drysdale at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Whiteley submitted four paintings: Sofala, Dixon street, July and Around Bathurst - the painting for which he was awarded the scholarship.

1960s

1960
Arrived on 25 February in Naples on board the Fairstar. March to May in Rome and Florence. Had an apartment in Rome near the Spanish Steps with his mother Beryl. Visited Australian sculptor Stephen Walker, recipient of the same Italian scholarship, in Florence, and found a studio in the same building as Walker. Brief visits to Paris and London. While in London took portfolio around galleries and was selected for a group show by McRoberts and Tunnard. On 14 June met Wendy in Paris and after two weeks returned to Florence studio. 20 July to 1 September exhibited in group show at McRoberts and Tunnard Gallery, London, with Tadashi Sato, Douglas Swan and Philip Weichberger.

Three gouaches were sold for £18 and one was reserved at £9. Travelled throughout Italy, including Siena and Arezzo. Haunted the Uffizi Gallery immersed in work by artists of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, particularly Cimabue, Duccio and Piero della Francesca. In August spent three days in Venice to see the Biennale with Michael Johnson, visiting Morandi in Grizzana.

In November moved to London, 129 Ladbroke Grove W11, where Michael Johnson was already living. In December met British painters William Scott and Roger Hilton and other Australian artists then in London, including Arthur Boyd and John Passmore. Met Bryan Robertson director of Whitechapel Gallery. Included in 'Survey of Recent Australian Painting' at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, from which Untitled Red painting was purchased by the Tate Gallery.

1962
Solo exhibition 9 March - 31 March, 'Paintings and Gouaches', Matthieson Gallery, London. Exhibited at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, and travelled in Holland with Australian artist Lawrence Daws. Exhibited at the Berlin World Fair in the Stuyvesant Collection, then travelled to Baden-Baden, Stuttgart and to Venice for the Biennale.

Married Wendy Julius on 27 March at Chelsea Registry Office, London. April to September travelled through Europe with his father, Clem, visiting Rome, Paris, Barcelona and the Haute Pyrenees, where they stayed with American painter George Sheridan. Clem returned to Australia (the last time Whiteley saw his father). With friend Wendy Paramour, the Whiteleys spent five months in the south of France in old farm houses at Sigean, from where they travelled to Spain and Germany.

In October travelled to the United States visiting New York, Connecticut and Washington. Met de Kooning. Returned to London in November and moved into 13 Pembridge Crescent.

1963
Spent six and a half months completing Summer at Sigean. Afterwards commenced the bathroom series. Work selected for 'Australian painting' exhibition at the Tate Gallery, London, and 'British painting in the '60s', which opened at the Whitechapel Gallery in London before touring Great Britain and Switzerland.

April in France. On 3 May Clem Whiteley died aged 55. Australian Group Show, Marlborough Gallery, London. Exhibited with Lawrence Daws, Jack Carrington Smith and Vaughan at The National Gallery of Rhodesia, Africa. 15 November to 22 December exhibited in the Dunn International, Fredericton, Canada, and Tate Galley, London. In December moved to Holman Hunt's old studio at 18A Melbury Road, London.

1964
Awarded International Drawings Prize for Bather and heater (1964) International der Zeichnung, Darmstadt, Germany.

Awarded travel grant from the Stuyvesant Foundation. Awarded Perth Festival Art Prize, Australia. From March to May exhibited in 'The new generation 1964', Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, with Woman in a bath 5 (1963-64), Bather and Mirror (1964), Figure at the basin (1963) and Sketch for large mirror painting (1964). From May to June travelled to Deya, Majorca. Three works exhibited in Documenta III, Kassel, Germany: Bather and mirror (1964), Woman washing her face (1964) and Woman sitting on side of bath (1963). 6 November daughter Arkie born at St. George's Hospital, London.

1965
Exhibited in Australia, France, Belgium and Italy. 'Treasures from the commonwealth' Commonwealth Festival Exhibition, Burlington House, London. From June to July travelled to Deya, Majorca. November to December exhibited Untitled dark painting (1963), and Christie and Hectorina McLennan (1964) in 'The English Eye', Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York. Exhibited in group show 'Marlborough Prints', at Marlborough New London Gallery, London. Awarded T.E Wardle Invitation Art Prize, Perth, Australia. In December returned to Australia for the summer, staying at Whale Beach, north of Sydney.

1966
In February included in a group show with David Hockney and Arthur Boyd. Exhibited at Clune Galleries, Sydney, with 'The Zoo Graphics'. From 10 March to 16 April exhibition of the Mertz Collection 'The Australian Painters 1964 -1966' at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC, USA. Woman in bath (1964), The boxing match (1965), Cheetah in Rillington Place (1964) and Head of Christie (1964). From 6 April to 22 May exhibited in 'British Graphics' at Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam. Exhibited in group show 'Marlborough Graphics', Marlborough New London Gallery, London. Returned to London via Calcutta mid-year. Work selected for exhibition at Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels.

1967
Exhibited at Pittsburgh International Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, USA, and awarded Harkness Foundation Scholarship. May to June travelled in Majorca, Tangier and Madrid before sailing on the Queen Mary to New York in September. Moved into a penthouse apartment at the Chelsea Hotel. 'Australian Group Exhibition', Whitechapel Gallery, London.

1969
In July fled New York for Fiji and lived in a bure at Navutuleva, about 45 miles along the coast from Suva. Spent five months in Fiji. Group show at Cunard-Marlborough Gallery (on board the Queen Elizabeth II for its maiden voyage). Fined £F50 in Suva for possession of a drug. Returned in November to Australia, moving to Lavender Bay, Sydney.

1970s

1970-72
Involved with The Yellow House artist's community in Potts Point, Sydney.

1971
9-18 November showed in group exhibition 'The Bonsai Show', Australian Galleries, Melbourne. 
Rented Gasworks studio in Waverton, Sydney.

1972
In February began work on Alchemy. 
Exhibited in 'Australian Painters and Tapestries of the Past 20 Years' New South Wales House, London.

1973
In January completed work Alchemy.
Exhibited Alchemy at Bonython Gallery, Sydney. 
In June travelled to Mauritius and Kenya.

1974
'Moved from alcohol to more serious mind altering chemicals', quote from interview with Philip Adams. Exhibited at The World Expo, Spokane, Washington, USA.

1975
Awarded Sir William Anglis Memorial Art Prize, Melbourne. Included in 'Australian Painting' exhibition, People's Republic of China. Moved from Gasworks studio in Waverton to downstairs in Lavender Bay house.

1976
Archibald prize for Self-portrait in the studio (1976). Sir John Sulman Prize for Interior with Time Past (1976) (genre painting).

1977
Wynne Prize for The Jacaranda Tree (On Sydney Harbour) (1977). March to April in London. In August stayed with Joel Elenberg at Arthur Boyd's Italian house, Casa Paletaio, in Pisa. Travelled to Venice, Florence and Rome.

1978
Archibald Prize for Art, life and the other thing (1978). Wynne Prize for Summer at Carcoar (1977). Sir John Sulman Prize for Yellow Nude (1978). June travelled to Bali. August in New Caledonia and back to Bali in September. Exhibited four works at Cologne International Art Fair.

1979
Joel Elenberg shared studio with Whiteley in Lavender Bay.