Paul showed us in his presentation, many images of Brett’s artworks, focusing in on them and giving us time to study and ponder over each image, which was much appreciated by us, the audience.

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Brett Whiteley was born in Sydney and went to the Julian Ashton art school where in 1959 he earned an art scholarship to Europe and remained there until 1967.  His time in Europe and the influences he brought back from there are evident in his art – his landscapes became more abstract with sensuous lines and organic shapes.  He lived in London alongside David Hockney and Francis Bacon and in Europe he admired the work of Henri Matisse, Vincent Van Gogh and Pierre Bonnard, amongst others.  Between 1967 and 1969 Brett lived in New York, where he met Andy Warhol and Bob Dylan.  A hedonistic lifestyle, fuelled by alcohol and drugs also returned with him to Australia in the late 1960s.  He and his wife Wendy bought a house on the edge of Lavender Bay on the Northern side of Sydney harbour.  The house commanded extraordinary views across the harbour and the city, often portrayed in his paintings, and many legendary parties were held there.

 

Brett is quoted as saying: “Painting is an argument between what it looks like and what it means”.   His painting Henri’s Armchair, 1974, a reference to Matisse, is of his sitting room with an armchair, coffee table and view out across Sydney harbour.  Deep, rich blues and burnt sienna colours dominate this huge painting.  On the coffee table there is clear evidence of drug use which caused much concern in the art world at the time, with one art gallery refusing to display it.  In 2020 the painting made £6.2 million at auction.

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Brett was fascinated by the female form which is evident in many of his artworks.  In his painting The Balcony, 1975, probably his most famous artwork, there is reference to the female shape in the balcony railings and in a tree on the edge of the bay.   As Australia headed into the 1970s, the country became less conservative with influences arriving from the Far East, again these elements are reflected in Brett’s paintings of the objects found in his studio and sitting room.  The European influence of applied art are also evident in his artworks with the use of perspex as a layer over some of his paintings or by including objects such as hair or cigarette stubbs.  His drug and alcohol dependency could also be seen in some of his paintings where they appeared almost dream-like and other worldly.

 

In 1976 his marriage started to break down.  His painting Interior of times past, 1976, revealed this break down with elements relating back to more harmonious times.  Brett’s drug use was getting out of hand and, although Wendy had taken the decision to stop taking drugs and dry out, Brett was unable to.  In 1976 he won the National Portrait Prize with a self-portrait.  The painting is huge, another influence from Matisse with a mirror and a reflection of his face – he looks weary and unhappy, a true reflection of himself and life for him at that time.  He attaches his own hair to his face in the mirror, another influence of European applied art.

 

In 1978, Brett won the Archibald Painting prize (similar to the UK Turner Prize), with another self- portrait.  It is called Art, Life & the Other Thing and is in three panels of different sizes.  The most disturbing panel is the third one, the other thing, which is of a Baboon screaming as if in pain, with nails in his hands and feet, wearing handcuffs and congealed blood across his limbs.  The Baboon’s eyes are 3 dimensional and Brett has applied cigarette butts and a syringe to the painting.  It is a dark, disturbing image but, arguably, it is also honest in that he is portraying his cravings alongside his inability to say no to drugs.

 

Outside the art gallery of New South Wales in Sydney is Brett’s monumental sculpture Almost Once, 1990/91.  Made of fibre glass it is of two matchsticks, one that is burnt and used, another reference to his drug use.

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In the 1980’s Brett and Wendy divorced and Brett moved to south Sydney to a studio and gallery, which can be visited today.   He failed to clean up and died of an accidental drug overdose in 1992.

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Wendy remains living in the house on Lavendar Bay.  She turned a piece of wasteland beside the house into a garden where both the ashes of Brett and their daughter Arkie, who sadly died of liver cancer shortly after Brett, are scattered.  The garden, known as Wendy’s Secret Garden, is always open and often used by the community.  People get married there, hold street parties and music festivals.

 

Both Brett and Wendy were infamous in the Australian art world and we were given a fascinating and thought-provoking insight into their lives through Brett’s artworks during their time at Lavender Bay.

Vicki Cowan