artwench blog

When building a collection budget is always an important consideration. To purchase an original painting by a big name artist such as Brett Whiteley and John Brack can set a collector back a six figure sum and often more for a well known or highly sought after work.

If you have a love of a particular artist and desire an example of their work in your collection but an original is not a financially viable option have you considered a graphic or print by the artist?

Although a graphic work will have other editions of the same image the number of editions will be limited. In essence you will still be buying an artwork designed and created by the artist of your choice at a much lower price than an original painting. Eva Breuer Art Dealer has an excellent article outlining the process and concept of print making.

Brett Whiteley’s “Woman Under the Shower“ is a good example of an important image that has been created as a limited edition print. Art writer Maire Flately provides an excellent research and analysis for this work.

“Essentially, drawing is celebration, dreaming, investigating and caressing, like fish around coral.” [Brett Whiteley cited in McGrath. S, Brett Whiteley, Bay Books, Sydney, 1979, p. 40]

Woman Under the Shower 1976 wonderfully demonstrates Brett Whiteley’s deft handling of line. Superbly moving between abstract and figurative elements, Whiteley has an amazing aptitude to convey movement, intimacy and an immediacy to his subject through his pure draughtsmanship.

The short staccato strokes of the falling water, the sweeping curvature of the spine that connects her swollen and enlarged buttocks and breasts, and the repetitious lines in her long wet strands of hair and the threaded shower curtain, which in parts intertwine with her undulating body, ensures the viewer feels drawn in to this sensual and poetic scene.

Similar to the French Neo-Classical painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres in his Masterpiece “The Turkish Bath” 1862, Whiteley has invited the viewer into a private feminine space that is shrouded in mystery and wonder; spectacularly capturing the languid and beautiful contortions of the female arabesque as the casual and flowing gestures of the bathing ritual unfold.

“Woman Under the Shower” 1976 is part of Brett Whiteley’s Bathroom Series, which followed from Brett and Wendy’s honeymoon in Sigean, the South of France and Whiteley’s completion of the monumental painting “Summer at Sigean” 1962-1963.

As Head Curator of Australian Art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales Barry Pearce comments, “From the mid sixties, nudes, principally inspired by his wife (Wendy) appeared consistently in Whiteley’s work for the next three decades… culminating in an exhibition dedicated to the subject in 1981.”  [B. Pearce, Brett Whiteley: Art and Life, Thames and Hudson, Sydney, 1995, p. 52.]

Whiteley had been awarded the auspicious Italian Government Traveling Art Scholarship in November 1960, enabling him to travel widely and experience first-hand the art of the European Masters; particularly fascinated by the Byzantine use of decorative calligraphy and line.

Throughout his oeuvre, Brett Whiteley moved easily and skillfully between mediums, from painting, sculpture, drawing and prints. Working with various master printers in Australia and overseas, such as publisher Bernard Baer of Ganymed Original Editions in London, Whiteley was keen to learn, experiment and master the print medium, as he commented. “…a good print should have the same feeling of ‘rightness’ that a one-off drawing should have.”  [Brett Whiteley cited in Brett Whiteley: The Graphics, Deutscher Fine Art, Melbourne, 1995, p.47.]

The sheer natural beauty and expression that Whiteley communicates through line in Woman Under the Shower 1976 demonstrates that he certainly achieved this.

Brett Whiteley is one of Australia’s most and gifted and controversial artists. The year that Whiteley completed the Woman Under the Shower series he also won both the Archibald and Sulman Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Whiteley is represented in various international and national museums and galleries, including the Tate Gallery, London; Musee d’Art Moderne, Paris; Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; and in many private and corporate collections internationally and nationally.

Brett Whiteley has won numerous awards and prizes overseas and within Australia.

Have you ever considered buying an art work produced by a regionally based artist?

On the Mid North Coast of NSW there is a thriving community of artists who produce fantastic works, usually at prices that are much lower than their urban counterparts. Two that spring to mind are Karen Bulgin and Val Allen who are both based in Port Macquarie and exhibit regularly at various regional galleries.

Their art tends to be influenced and informed by the environment in which they live and work. This will often manifest in a textured, earthy balance of colour, design and subject matter which underlies a deep connection with the natural surroundings of the Mid North Coast. An area synonymous with an abundant ocean, mountain, river and accessible bushland life, the Greater Port Macquarie region is rightly referred to as nature’s wonderland.

Karen Bulgin’s Figures in the Landscape truly incorporates the sense of people living and relishing the natural environment that surrounds them. There is a delicious naivety and earthiness to Karen’s work which as been likened to elements consistent with Aboriginal art - a stunning example of a people intrinsically and spiritually connected to the land.  The perceived simplicity in her work belies an innate sophistication of draughtsmanship and composition encouraging the viewer to interface with the image and subject matter on a more emotional level than would be possible should the painting become more complicated and busy.

Figures in the Landscape is an acrylic and chalk pastel (59 x 83cm) work beautifully framed behind glass and available through Regionale Art Consultants for $1,800 AUD.

Val Allen’s style is abstract and many of her works are large acrylics on canvas. Her commitment and deep connection to the environment is unmistakable and observable at once. In particular Undersea Rhapsody invites the viewer to dive into the magical and dynamic world of the ocean. There is a wonderful, mesmerising movement of sea life and activity which interrelates seamlessly with the solid static structures of the ocean floor. Val’s use of colour and texture is flawless as the catalyst that ‘brings to life’ the imagery of her subject matter. Val has the ability to capture ones imagination at first glance and her works never fail to please and entice the viewer into ’seeing’ more each and every time the work is reviewed.

Undersea Rhapsody is an acrylic on canvas, (152 x 152cm) and available through Regionale Art Consultants for $3,500 AUD.

This blog will be updated on the 1st of each month.