Brett Whiteley

BRETT WHITELEY

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.
1963
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 an exhibition 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.