A rare Whiteley adds the wow factor at Philip Bacon Galleries
A rarely seen work by Brett Whiteley is at the centrepiece of a multi-million dollar exhibition of Australian paintings at Philp Bacon Galleries
There’s a certain mystique surrounding Australian artist Brett Whiteley so to view a largely unseen work by him is quite something. And in Brisbane right now you can do just that at Philip Bacon Galleries in Fortitude Valley.
The painting on display in Bacon’s latest show, Important Australian Paintings is Ning’s garden. Whiteley, who died in 1992, had a penchant for gardens, among other things, but this one will be new to everyone.
Because it has been in the possession of a private collector in London since 1977. Until now, that is. And when the collector finally decided to part with it, the work became the centerpiece of Bacon’s latest show.
If the title of the exhibition sound ambitious it is and rightly so considering that it is a museum quality exhibition featuring, as well as several works by Whiteley … art by John Coburn, Tim Storrier, Arthur Boyd, Sidney Nolan, Margaret Olley, Robert Dickerson, Vida Lahey and Kenneth Macqueen, among others.
Prices for Whiteleys have skyrocketed in recent years.
The highest price recorded for the artist is $6,136,364 for Henri’s Armchair 1974-75 sold by Menzies in November 2020.
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“Whiteley’s prices have been extraordinarily strong,” Philip Bacon says. “Whiteley has always been sought after but there have also been questions about his work from some … inverted commas … experts. Was he just fashionable? No, I think he’s in incredible.
“I have known about this picture in London, I know the collector and we have talked about when he would be ready to sell it,” Bacon says. “I saw him in London in January and we agreed we would include it in this show. I wanted it as the centerpiece.”
Considering the elevated prices for Whiteleys, was this a bargain at just under a million dollars? Because it has already sold along with several others before the show, which features several million dollars’ worth of Australian art, even opened.
But as Bacon points out, there are works in the exhibition within reach of newish collectors, including a Cressida Campbell sketch for $15,000 and an exquisite Kenneth Macqueen circa 1950, a watercolour, for just $16,500.
Mind you if you wanted to get your hands on the amazing Jeffrey Smart painting The traffic island, you are too late because it has already sold for $585,000.
But it’s not all about the money. Philip Bacon enjoys being something of an art museum, educating gallery-goers in the ways of Australian painting, a passion of his.
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The Whiteleys are exquisite and the black ink sketch Head of Buddha is simple and soulful to behold.
Fred Williams’ Bedarra rainforest painted in 1974 is interesting and is the result of a visit Williams and wife Lyn made to our tropical north.
The Sidney Nolan painting Deserted Miners’ Camp, Queensland, is historically significant and was painted around 1952 after Nolan was commissioned to create a suite of paintings recording a terrible drought in our state. A companion piece in a similar rustic style is Arthur Boyd’s 1949 painting Man clearing land, Harkaway, a scene painted on the Boyd’s family property when the young artist was emerging as one of our greats.
There is a distinctive and unusual portrait by Margaret Olley, Eileen Kramer – an East Sydney Technical College life model painted in 1944 in Sydney after Olley had abandoned her art studies in Brisbane.
Early morning shopping painted in 1995 is a classic piece by Robert Dickerson, one of Philip Bacon’s foundation artists. It’s a Parisian scene featuring a typically sharp featured Dickerson figure possibly carrying croissants home, figures Bacon.
There is a magnificent painting entitled Billy Rose and the McElhone steps, by John Olsen and it also sold before the show went up. It’s a strong, classic painting by one of our most loved artists and a rare treat to see it in the flesh, as it were.
There is an amazing rainforest work of William Robinson’s and pieces by other Queenslanders including David Allen, Viday Lahey and among others, one of the gallery’s newest stars, Michael Zavros, whose skeletal painting Abs is spooky, funny and quite beautiful. It’s quite a gathering of some of Australia’s finest artists and worth a look at what has been humorously dubbed the New Farm Regional Gallery.
Technically it’s still Fortitude Valley but the joke still holds since New Farm is just across the road.
Important Australian Paintings, until June 29, Philip Bacon Galleries, 2 Arthur Street, Fortitude Valley
philipbacongalleries.com.au