Curio

State Library of New South Wales
Letter to Beryl Whiteley from Brett Whiteley (24 April, 1981)

Letter to Beryl Whiteley from Brett Whiteley (24 April, 1981)

Manuscript and ink wash on paper

ML 1234

Presented by Mrs Beryl Whiteley, 1999

Courtesy Wendy Whiteley

The artist Brett Whiteley had a very close relationship with his mother Beryl Whiteley, and their correspondence (at this period Beryl lived in London) is frank and open. His letters are often illustrated with drawings; this one shows a small bird on a nest, perhaps referring to a mother watching over her eggs. It is rendered in ink wash using the thick, Japanese calligraphy brushes he favoured. Whiteley was also fond of nicknames; his mother’s was ‘Sning’ which his daughter, Arkie Whitely later shortened to 'Ning'.

On 4-9 April 1981, UK band Dire Straits performed at the Regent Theatre, Sydney, as part of their Making Movies Tour. Band member Mark Knopfler was a friend of Brett Whiteley. On 16 March 1984, the band released Alchemy: Dire Straits Live, their first live album. Recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon in London on 22–23 July 1983, the cover of the double album is taken from a section of Brett Whiteley’s painting of the same name. Alchemy now hangs in the Brett Whitely Studio in Surry Hills, which is managed by the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Envious of the power of pop musicians, Whiteley dreamt of creating a painting which would touch a mass audience. Soon after his return from New York to Australia in November 1969, Brett Whiteley began to work on the multi-panelled Alchemy – one of his greatest masterpieces – which he completed in Sydney between 1972-3. 

Spread over 18 wood panels (measuring 203 cm x 1615 cm x 9 cm) Alchemy was a mixed media piece, using everything from feathers and part of a bird's nest to a glass eye, shell, plugs and a brain, and has been regarded as a self-portrait; a giant outpouring of energy and ideas brought forth over a long period of time. It may be read (from right to left) as a birth-to-death vision, and was first exhibited at Sydney’s Bonython Gallery in January 1973.

Businessman Clyde Packer bought Alchemy in 1976, later giving it to Quadrant magazine. When Quadrant was sold, it passed onto a consortium of three Sydney advertising executives — Michael Magnus, John Nankervis and Ted Curl. As there was no way any of them could hang the work individually, it was broken into three separate sections. In 1981, each of the men accepted Whitley’s offer for their panels for one of his landscape paintings - as referred to in this letter. 

Brett was hugely proud of his "Arkle Sparkle", and father and daughter always adored each other. As the child of two heroin-addicted parents, through the pleasure and the pain, she was always part of the saga of their ongoing struggle to overcome their tandem addiction. This letter makes reference to her attempts at achieving a normal life: moving out of home and getting puppy.