JOHN WALTER WOLSELEY (AUSTRALIAN B.1938)
COCKEREL - 1966
£450
Auction: 21 October 2020 at 11:00 BST
Description
Signed, gouache
Dimensions
32.5cm x 45.5cm (12.75in x 18in)
Footnote
Provenance: The vendor was a friend of the artist, and acquired it directly.
Biography:
John Wolseley is a painter, printmaker and installation artist, whose work is inspired by the natural splendour of Australia.
Wolseley was born in Somerset, England and studied at St Martins School of Art for a year in 1957, before attending the Byam Shaw School of Art, London, in printmaking from 1958-63 and later in Paris between 1961-63.
In 1976, he travelled to Australia where he travelled extensively through the outback, and ultimately settled. He has made countless journeys around Australia trying to understand 'how the geology contributes to the spirit of the place'. This question, along with the Australian terrain and native flora and fauna, continues to inspire Wolseley and his art. In 1991, he received an Australia Council Fellowship which enabled him to spend eight months in the Simpson Desert, acting as a cartographer of sand dune- an experience which also had a great impact on his artwork.
He has been the artist in residence at Deakin University, Bendigo, the Joye Art Foundation, the Art Gallery of Western Australia and George Cottage Launceston and has taught painting in Northern Territory Communities since 1978. Wolseley has also been involved in both solo and group exhibitions across Australia.
He has won many awards for his work, including the Geelong Gallery Capital Permanent Acquisition Award, the Art Gallery of New South Wales Trustees watercolour prize, and the Alice Prize. He received a bicentennial commission from the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1988, the Australia Council Grant in 1998 and an Honorary PhD in Science from Macquarie University in 2005.
His work can be found in public and private Australian collections, as well as in collections in England and Yugoslavia.