BRETT WHITELEY

Brett Whiteley delighted in painting and drawing 'windowscapes', both in their own right and as features within major subject pictures. There is Grey Harbour of c.1978, or Lavender Bay in the Rain of 1981, the latter incorporating the open window into the view-through picture. Both show palm trees and numerous boats. Another classic example is Self-Portrait in the Studio, 1976, which won the Archibald Prize for that year. The central triptych window again depicts the favoured motif of the palm tree, now laden with pods, the source in the painting and in this ink drawing, Palm Tree, most likely being the same. As if to emphasise the importance of the palm tree in the 1976 painting, Whiteley repeats it in three orange versions in a painting within the painting on the left of his studio wall in a ceaseless play of illusions, of pictorial depth and the detailed riches sporting across  the picture plane.

1976 was a highly successful year for Brett Whiteley, with awards of both the Archibald and Sulman prizes. But then, most years in the seventies were, topped only by 1978 when he won the trifecta of Wynne, Archibald and Sulman. His 1977 solo exhibition at the Australian Galleries, Melbourne, which included Palm Tree, covered a wide range of his interests: interiors, numerous still lifes, landscapes, self portraits and windowscapes at Lavender Bay and Bundanon. Within the inspired visual dialogue of one of the major paintings, Interior with Time Past, 1976, Whiteley again brought the background, of the view through to Sydney Harbour and the 'compulsory' motifs of Bridge, boats and jetties, into the main play. As a recurring motif, the palm trees continued their role as central characters within the drama of Whiteley's life and vision. There were two other ink drawings of the palm tree in the exhibition. To remind the viewer that the present drawing is an interior – looking out – Whiteley introduced the white crossbar of the window, an imaginative play on visual negatives and positives, giving added depth to both the concept and the pictorial imagery, highlighted in the collage and brilliance of the red fruits. The image fills the composition with its fruitful abundance.