For Brett Whiteley, birds represented both freedom and stability. As a child, he would steal eggs from their nests and as an adult, he depicted them in his work. Forever moving around, he often thought of the flight paths of birds, their ability to flee at the outstretch of their wings and build a home wherever, an entwined expansiveness and domesticity that he yearned for in his own life.

‘Kookaburra’ is an original hand-signed screenprint. It is, as the best of Whiteley’s art is, a burst of energy, the beloved Australian bird pictured cackling in frenzied lines. Its caw can almost be heard, the quintessential canned laughter of the bush. On drawing animals, Whiteley once reflected that “...One has to work at white heat because they move so much.”

‘Kookaburra’ is a museum-quality work. Impressions of it are represented at the Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art and the Art Gallery of Western Australia, it has been published in three monographs on Whiteley and exhibited at the Art Gallery of Western Australia (another impression). From the echelons of Australian art, ‘Kookaburra’ is a commanding find for collectors of important works on paper, birds and Whiteley. Collect it and have the last laugh!

Brett WHITELEY (1939 - 1992)
'Kookaburra' 1983
screenprint with offset lithography
Edition of 50
Signed: Signed lower right: brett whiteley, numbered lower left: 36/50, stamped lower right with artist's monogram
Comes with Letter of Provenance
An impression of this work is represented at QAGOMA, Accession Number: 2013.110;
An impression of this work is represented at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Accession Number: 1983/00Q1

Literature: Mandy, R., Brett Whiteley: The Complete Graphics, 1961-1982, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 1983, p.69, cat.94 (illus., another example)
Brett Whiteley: The Graphics 1961-1992, Deutscher Fine Art, Melbourne, 1995, p.114, cat.75 (illus. p.78, another example)
Sutherland, K., Brett Whiteley Catalogue Raisonné, Schwartz Publishing, Melbourne, 2020, vol.5, p.150, cat.126P (illus., another example), vol.7, p.835

Exhibited: Brett Whiteley: The Complete Graphics, 1961-1982, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 30 March - 24 April 1983 (another example)
Life and Death: A Visual Experience in Opposites, Australian Galleries, Melbourne, 28 May - 18 June 1983 (not catalogued, another example)
Brett Whiteley: Some Recent Works: Birds (11), the Drought of 83 (7), Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney, 30 July - 17 August 1983, cat.32 (another example
)Brett Whiteley: Review of Prints, 1976-1983, Chapman Gallery, Canberra, 13 November - 7 December 1983, cat.15 (another example)

Condition: Excellent
(c) Brett Whiteley / Copyright Agency