This five dollar silver
proof
piece is part of a set commemorating Australian Art of the Twentieth Century which is itself within the premier Masterpieces
in Silver series. Eight of Australia's greatest artists have been showcased in this set with four released in 2006 and 2007.
This 2006 piece commemorates the life and works of Brett Whitley with the reverse
featuring his painting 'Self Portrait in the Studio'. The reverse also
includes the text "BRETT WHITELEY SELF PORTRAIT IN THE STUDIO" and the denomination "5 DOLLARS". The
obverse features the Ian Rank-Broadley portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II with the
legend
"ELIZABETH II AUSTRALIA 2006."
Brett Whiteley was born in Sydney in 1939 where, after graduating school, he worked as a commercial artist at the Lintas
Advertising Agency.
(NSW Art Gallery, 2017)
While there he undertook life-drawing classes at the Julian Ashton Art School and occasionally attended John Santry's
sketching club. He was awarded the Italian Government Travelling Art Scholarship in 1959 and remained in Europe for a decade,
exhibiting his work in London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. In 1969 he returned to Sydney where he produced largely brightly
coloured works that became highly desirable to collectors. In 1975 he won both the Archibald Prize for portraiture and the
Sulman Prize for genre painting, a year later he also won the Wynne Prize for landscape. In 1978 he won all three prizes
again. At the age of 53 Whiteley died of a methadone overdose.
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