Brett Whiteley Biography

Famous Australian painter, draftsman and sculptor. Brett Whiteley was a prolific artist but he struggled with addiction which hindered his growth and cut his life short. He produced paintings, drawings, prints, collage, sculpture, and ceramics. Here’s some Brett Whiteley Quotes and Sayings. Popular Brett Whiteley paintings include “Untitled Red Painting”, “Self Portrait in the Studio”, “The Jacaranda Tree”, and “Alchemy”.

Summary biography: Born Brett Whiteley on the 7th of April, 1939 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. His mother was Beryl Mary Martin and his father was Clem Whiteley. Whiteley was married to Wendy Susan Julius and they had one child together: Arkie Deya Whiteley. Brett Whiteley died on the 15th of June, 1992 in Thirroul, New South Wales, Australia. Whiteley was 53 years old when he passed away.

Brett Whiteley Biography

Lived between 1939 and 1992 in Australia.
Famous Works
The Soup Kitchen 1958
Untitled Red Painting 1960
Alchemy 1972-73
Self Portrait in the Studio 1976
The Jacaranda Tree (on Sydney Harbour) 1977
Visible Influences
Francis Bacon, Henri Matisse, Chinese Calligraphy.
Movements & Styles
Abstraction (early in his career)
Surrealism (majority of his work)
Known for his skill as a great draughtsman.
Produced mostly nudes, landscapes, and abstract works (early in his career).
Also produced still lifes, portraits, cityscapes, and erotic works.

Brett Whiteley Life / Chronology

1939
Whiteley was born on the 7th of April in Sydney, Australia.
1946
Wins his first art competition, the Anual RSPCA exhibition held at Farmer’s Blaxland Gallery. The work was titled “The Driver Sits in the Shade But What About the Horse?”
1948
Whiteley is sent to boarding school at Scots College, Bathurst.
1954
See’s Australian painter Lloyd Rees’ European paintings, exhibited at Macquarie Galleries, Sydney.
1956
Wins art award, Young Painters Section at the Bathurst Show in New South Wales. Whiteley leaves school and begins working at Lintas Advertising Agency, Sydney, in the layout and commercial art department.
Whiteley’s mother Beryl Whiteley leaves Australia for London.
1956-1959
Meets his future wife, Wendy Julius from the National Art School East (Sydney) where Whiteley was also attending life drawing classes.
Attends various sketch clubs occasionally.
Converts a glasshouse at his family home into a painting studio.
Occasionally attends life drawing classes at the Julian Ashton Art School.
On weekends Whiteley paints landscapes around Bathurst, Sofala, Hillend and the South Coast of New South Wales.
Does sketches in the Sydney Soup Kitchen and Night Refuge, frequented by the poor and homeless.
1959
Leaves Lintas Advertising Agency to begin painting works for an Italian scholarship.
Wins the Italian Government Travelling Art Scholarship in November.
Judged by Australian artist Sir Russell Drysdale at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
The works exhibited were Sofala, Dixon Street, July, and Around Bathurst.
1960
Whiteley arrives in Naples Italy on the 25th February.
Spends March through to May in Rome and Florence. Stays in an apartment in Rome near the Spanish Steps with Beryl Whiteley (mother).
Briefly visits Paris and London. Is selected to be in a group exhibition at the McRoberts and Tunnard Gallery in London after taking his portfolio around the galleries.
Meets up with Wendy in Paris on the 14th of June. After spending two weeks in Paris they return to his Florence Studio.
Exhibits work in the group exhibition at the McRoberts and Tunnard Gallery, London from the 20th July to the 1st of September. Sells three gouache paintings.
Travels around Italy to such places as Siena and Arezzo. Spend much time in the Uffizi Gallery absorbing work by artists from the 14th and 15th centuries (Cimabue, Duccio, and Piero della Francesca).
Travels to Venice in August with Australian artist Michael Johnson to view the Biennale and visits Morandi in Grizzana.

1961
Is awarded a grant under the Dyason Bequest from The Art Gallery of NSW. This grant allowed Whiteley to stay in London.
Works in Paris from September to October after being awarded the Arts Advisory Board Scholarship.
Awarded International Prix at the 2nd Bienalle, Paris.
Represents the Australian National Committee in June at the International Association of Plastic Arts, organized by UNESCO at the Meeting of Young Painters.
Three works selected for the “Survey of Recent Australian Painting” exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London. Paintings include, “Untitled Red Painting (1960)”, “Untitled White Painting (1960)”, and “Untitled Dark Painting (1961)”.
Meets the British artist Francis Bacon.
1962
Exhibits at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
Exhibits at the Berlin World Fair in the Stuyvesant Collection, and travels to Baden-Baden, Stuttgart and to Venice for the Biennale.
Brett Whiteley marries Wendy Julius on the 27th of March at the Registry Office in Chelsea, London.
The newly married Whiteleys spend 5 months in the south of France in old farm houses at Sigean, then travelling onto Spain and Germany.
Travels to the United States, visiting New York, Connecticut, and Washington.
Whiteley meets the artists Willem deKooning.
Returns to London in November and moves into an apartment.
1963brett whiteley photograph
Work on the large work “Summer at Sigean” for 6 months.
Starts work on the Bathroom series of paintings and drawings.
Work selected for the “Australian Painting” exhibition at the Tate Gallery in London. Painting were also hung in the “British Paintings in the 1960s” exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in London, that also toured Great Britain and Switzerland.
Clem Whiteley, the artist’s father dies on May 3, aged 55.
1964
Awarded International Drawing Prize for “Bather and Heater (1964)”, International der Zeichnung, Darmstadt, Germany.
Awarded travelling grant from The Stuyvesant Foundation.
Awarded the Perth Festival Art Prize, Australia.
Exhibits at the Whitechapel Gallery, London in “The New Generation 1964” exhibition.
Travels to Deya, Majorca.
Arkie Whiteley is born at StGeorge’s Hospital in London on the 6th of November.
1965
Exhibited in De Hendendaagse Schilderkunst in Austalia, France, Belgium, Germany, and Italy.
Exhibits in the “Treasures from the Commonwealth” Commonwealth Festival exhibition, Burlington House, London.
Spends time in Deya, Majorca from June to July.
Exhibits work in “The English Eye” exhibition at the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in New York.
Awarded the T.E. Wardle Invitation Art Prize, Perth, Australia.
Returns to Australia in December and spens time at Whale Beach, north of Sydney.
1966
Exhibits in a show with British artist David Hockney and Australian artist Arthur Boyd.
Exhibited at Clune Galleries, Sydney with “The Zoo Graphics” series of works.
Included in an exhibition of the Mertz Collection “The Australian Painters 1964-1966” at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC, USA.
Exhibits in “British Graphics” Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam.
Exhibits in a group show at Marlborough New London Gallery, London.
Exhibits in a group show at Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels.
1967
Exhibits at Pittsburgh International Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, USA and is awarded the Harkness Foundation Scholarship.
Spends May to June travelling throughout Majorca, Tangier, and Madrid.
Moves into a penthouse apartment at the Chelsea Hotel, New York.
Exhibits in a group exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery, London.
1969
Leaves New York in July for Fiji and lives in Navutuleva for 5 months.
Fined for possession of drugs in Suva.
Returns to Australia and moves into a home in Lavendar Bay, Sydney.
1970-72
Becomes involved with The Yellow House artist’s community in Potts Point, Sydney.
1971
Exhibits in a group show “The Bonsai Show”, Australian Galleries, Melbourne.
Rents the Gasworks studio in Waverton, Sydney.
1972
Begins work on the large “Alchemy” painting in February.
Exhibits n the “Australian Painters and Tapestries of the Past 20 Years” New South Wales House, London.
1973
Completes “Alchemy” in January and exhibits it at Bonython Gallery, Sydney.
Travels to Mauritius and Kenya in June.
1974
“..moved from alcohol to more serious mind altering chemicals” (Whiteley quoted from an interview with Phillip Adams.
1975
Awarded the Sir William Anglis Memorial Prize, Melbourne.
Included in the “Australian Painting” exhibition, China.
Moves from the Gasworks studio in Waverton to a downstairs studio in his Lavender Bay House.
1976
Awarded the Archibald Prize for “Self Portrait in the Studio”.
Awarded the Sulman Prize for “Interior with Time Past”.
1977
Awarded the Wynne Prize for “The Jacaranda Tree”.
Spends march and april in London.
Stays with Australian artist Joel Elenberg at Arthur Boyd’s Italian house, Casa Paletaio, in Pisa during August.
Travels to Venice, Florence, and Rome.
1978
Awarded the Wynne Prize for “Summer at Carcoar”
Awarded the Sulman Prize for “Yellow Nude”
Awarded the Archibald Prize for “Art, Life and the Other Thing”
Travels to Bali and New Caledonia.
Exhibits 4 works at the Cologne International Art Fair.
1979
Joel Elenberg shares Whiteley’s Lavendar bay studio with him.
1980
Spends june to september in Bali with Joel Elenberg and his family. Elenberg dies.
1981
Moves in to studio at Reiby Place, Circular Quay, Sydney.
Spends November in Vanuatu.
1982
Travels to Spain, Germany, and France.
1983
Travels to Central Australia with Michael Driscoll and works on the publication Native Rose
1984
Brett is awarded the Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales with “South Coast After the Rain”
1985
Purchases an old Tshirt factory in Surry Hills, Sydney and converts it into a studio. (The Brett Whiteley Museum is now currently situated here)
1986
Arrives in India to meet Wendy at Bombay, then returns with to Australia.
1987
Travels to London
1989
Brett and Wendy Whiteley are divorced.
Spends from May to August in London and Morocco.
Stays in an apartment on Rue de Tournon, Paris and works on a series of drawings.
Travels to Bali, Tokyo, and Kyoto with girlfriend Janice Spencer.
1991
Awarded the Order of Australia in the Genral Devision.
1992
Brett Whiteley Dies in a hotel room in Thirroul, New South Wales. June 15.
After a long struggle with the drug heroin, Whiteley loses his battle with it and overdoses, alone in a hotel.

Brett Whiteley Quotes

The fine art of painting, which is the bastard of alchemy, always has been and always will be, a game. The rules of the game are quite simple: in a given arena, on as many psychic fronts as the talent allows, one must visually describe, the center of the meaning of existence. Brett Whiteley

Art should astonish, transmute, transfix. One must work at the tissue between truth and paranoia. Brett Whiteley

More on Australian Artist Brett Whiteley

How has Brett Whiteley influenced your art making? Is he the greatest Australian artist of the 20th century? What about Fred Williams or Sidney Nolan? Let us know what you think about Brett Whiteley in the comments below.

For more on the popular Australian artist here’s three popular Brett Whiteley books: “Brett Whiteley: Art, Life and the Other Thing“, “Brett Whiteley: Art and Life“, and “Whiteley Documentary“.