Brett Whiteley is an icon of Australian art. Often fusing the abstract and the figurative, calm and chaos, Whiteley creates emotionally heightened worlds of ballooning forms and elongated figures. His imagery is always immediate, reflective of his pursuit for “beauty which can best be described as being on time for the appointment.”

Brett Whiteley’s ‘Waves’ teems with the artist’s talent — his feeling for line, shape and poetry distilled into an image. In strong swirling black lines, the influence of Japanese printmaking and Whiteley’s hero, Vincent Van Gogh, also emanates forth. Waves appear almost figurative, with rounded forms of the ocean reminiscent of bodily curves. Under his hand, Whiteley reminds us of the interconnectedness of life — the unity of person, land, sea, sky and feeling. In 1982, Whiteley reflected that “A good print should have the same feeling of “rightness” that a one-off drawing should have.” 

Whiteley’s work is represented across Australian public collections and internationally at the Tate Gallery in London and MoMA in New York. An adjunct of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, his studio has become a permanent public gallery. For collector’s of important Australian art, Whiteley is a prize.  

Brett WHITELEY (1939 - 1992)
'Waves' 1977
linocut on paper
Edition of 25 - (posthumous reprint for the Whiteley Estate)
Image Size: 21 x 15 cm 
Framed Size: 43 x 37 x 2 cm
Signed: editioned and signed with artist’s chop in margin: 17/25. B/W (as a red stamp) and signed verso, lower right: Wendy Whiteley

Literature: Brett Whiteley: The Graphics 1961-1992, Deutscher Fine Art, Melbourne, 1995, p.112, cat.38 (illus. p.48 another example).

Condition: Very Good describes a work of art's image as excellent, but may show some small signs of surrounding wear to paper or frame. There are no tears to paper margin or disruption to the paint surface.

(c) Wendy Whiteley / Copyright Agency