Brett Whiteley: Art, Life and the Other Thing
By (Author) Ashleigh Wilson
Text Publishing
The Text Publishing Company
30th October 2017
Australia
General
Non Fiction
Winner of Mark and Evette Moran Nib Literary Award 2017 (Australia)
Paperback
432
Width 154mm, Height 232mm, Spine 38mm
640g
Named among the best books of 2016 in Readings, the Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald
Written with unprecedented behind-the-scenes access, and handsomely illustrated with classic Brett Whiteley artworks, rare notebook sketches and candid family photos, this acclaimed biography reveals for the first time the full portrait of Australias most celebrated artist.
This new book is an engrossing look at the life, artistic development and person behind theenfant terribleof the spotlight. * Readings, Best Art & Design Books of 2016 *
'Ashleigh Wilsons new telling of Whiteley is a remarkable exercise in sustained authorial disciplineWilson has given Whiteley the biography he deserves. Accommodating, even forgiving on occasion, but never indulgent. Engaged and attentive, unaffectedly interested in the artist, but not uncritical.' * Sydney Morning Herald, Best Books of 2016 *
A full-dress life of Whiteley that speeds and soars and never ceases to do homage to the colossal confrontation and contradiction the artist representsWilson has written that rarest of things, a 400-page biography that is hard to put down[It] will make you weep for this exasperation of a man and hunger for his art. * Australian, Best Books of 2016 *
'Ashleigh Wilson has produced an intriguing, absorbing and assured account of Brett Whiteley's life and work. -- Mark Knopfler
With relentless precision, Ashleigh Wilson has provided a peerless grasp of the life and genius of Brett Whiteley. This storied journey of one of Australias most mercurial twentieth-century artists will be impossible for the reader to put aside until it is finished. It is the dispassionate biography Whiteley has long needed: a career clarified from the brilliant clouds of myth. -- Barry Pearce, Emeritus Curator of Australian Art at the Art Gallery of NSW
An essential and invaluable resource for any Whiteley scholar...Wilsons achievement is considerable...Ashleigh WilsonsBrett Whiteley: Art, Life and the Other Thingis a benchmark publication in Whiteley studies. * Sydney Review of Books *
For those readers who delight in much of Whiteleys best work, this book is essential reading...Neither hagiography nor hatchet job, Brett Whiteley: Art, Life and the Other Thing is a clear-eyed account of an artist whose output was vast, if uneven, and whose legacy looms large in the history of modern art. Ashleigh Wilson provides an object lesson in writing the life of an artist. * Australian Book Review *
A vivid portraitSturdy and diligently researched. * Herald Sun *
[Wilson brings] his subject to life in a fast-paced, thrilling wayClever selection of detailAn excellent biography. * Books+Publishing *
A fast-paced, well-researched biographyWilson traces the development of Whiteley's practice with extraordinary detail, revealing how travel, social issues, music and drugs (particularly heroin) influenced his artAn absorbing and intimate biography of a passionate yet volatile artist. * Big Issue *
The pages fly by in a way thats more reminiscent of a thriller than a comprehensive biography. Youll be left breathless and exasperated by the life of this amazing artist. * Look Magazine *
Wilsons masterly biog captures an Aussie Icarus in full flightIts all there, and yet dealt with in a judicious manner rather than through a desire to sensationalise. * Limelight *
A dense and absorbing chronology of the artists life. * Listener NZ *
Ashleigh Wilsons biography of Brett Whiteley is hard to put down. The narrative hums along beautifully, allowing readers a rare insight into Whiteleys complex genius. A colossal undertaking, helped by extraordinary access. Wilson has delivered readersand historyan absorbing, detailed and fascinating read. * Walkley Magazine *
Unlikely to be surpassed for its richness of detail, cast of characters and sheer narrative driveall achieved without a trace of novelistic flourish. * West Australian *
Ashleigh Wilson methodically tracks this mercurial artist from early family days to his final yearsa motley of sex, drugs and rocknroll, and importantly, art. * Art Almanac *
Ashleigh Wilson is the author of Brett Whiteley: Art, Life and the Other Thing (2016) and On Artists (2019). He was a journalist and editor for more than two decades, based in Sydney, Brisbane and Darwin, and won a Walkley Award for a series on unethical behaviour in the Aboriginal art industry. Wilson lives with his partner, a designer, and their son, and works at the Sydney Opera House.