Artist research
Artist: Brett Whiteley (7 April 1939 – 15 June 1992)
A brief history
Brett whiteley was an Australian born artist who began drawing as a teenager. this early interest pushed him to travel around Europe; that is Italy, France and London. He arrived In London at a time when several Australian artists were popular. Here his ‘untitled red painting’ was bought by the Tate gallery, making him the youngest artist ever to have been bought by the Tate.
In 1962 he married Wendy Julius and continued to live in Britain. His paintings at this time were influenced by British culture. Whitely painted works in several different series: bathing, the zoo and the Christies. His paintings were brownish and in abstract form. His greatest artistic influences were William Scott and Roger Hilton.
Whiteley was interested in animals and painted them (although he complained about their rash movements) he was also interested in murderers such as John Christy. He also painted landscapes such as ‘the beach 11’ and ‘
“Head of Christy” a painting done by Whitely of John Christy.
Whiteley then won a scholarship to study art in America, here he painted his interpretation of new York :
“New York” –Brett Whitley’
While in America, Whiteley was influenced by the peace movement, he painted “the American dream” which was enormous work that used painting and collage and anything else he could find to put on the 18 wooden panels. It started with a peaceful dreamlike serene ocean scene on one side, that worked its way to destruction and chaos in a mass of lighting, red colors and explosions on the other side. It was his comment on the direction the world would be headed if the war continued. The painting which was finally produced was made of many different elements, using collage, photography and even flashing lights, with a total length of nearly 22 meters.
- A detail from “the American dream”
However, despite his efforts, Marlborough-Gerson, his gallery,...