Brett Whiteley: Art, Life and the Other Thing (Ashleigh Wilson, Text)

It just so happens that I was reading Our Man Elsewhere by Thornton McCamish and considering what makes a good biography when Ashleigh Wilson’s Brett Whiteley: Art, Life and the Other Thing arrived for my consideration. A good subject is important, and Brett Whiteley was a genius who occupied a unique place in Australian culture. He was creative, selfish and, in the end, destructive, pushing boundaries artistically and socially. A good biography also requires good writing, and Wilson fulfils the second criteria admirably, gently teasing his subject to life in a fast-paced, thrilling way, and I am delighted in his clever selection of detail. After winning scholarships early in life, Whiteley travelled far: he toured Italy, lived in London, New York and Fiji, and ‘settled’ in Sydney. At the age of 22 he had already sold a painting to the TATE gallery and went on to win all the major art prizes. Whiteley made himself available for TV, met with royalty, made friends with musicians, delighted in ignoring his critics and, in spite of his bad habits, continued to work. He was a ball of art, intellect, sex and life that eventually exploded. This is an excellent biography and will appeal to readers who enjoy artists’ stories and are interested in Australia and its cultural development in the 20th century.

Clive Tilsley is the owner of Fullers Bookshop in Hobart

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