Tim Olsen - Son of the Brush

Thank you to Allen & Unwin for their patience, in particular Sue Hind and Tom Gilliat. With everything that has happened in the last years since I started this book, I hope that it was worth the wait. To Victoria Mills, my life coach, who put me up to this in the first place, and Melanie Cain who introduced me to Allen & Unwin.

I would like to thank Anna Johnson for the first draft of this book and then the assistance of Gudrun Willcocks. To Gretel Killeen, for her critical eye over the first draft and her advice. And to Kylie Norton, for putting this whole jigsaw together, from a draft to a book. Her contribution, research and advice have been invaluable.

Thank you to all the people who gave me an opportunityStuart and Anne Purves, and Caroline Purves of the Australian Galleries Archive for allowing access to the John Olsen records for the purpose of the John Olsen catalogue raisonn also referenced in this book. Thank you also to Ros Oxley, Rex Irwin and, most importantly, to all the wonderfully talented artists who have been with me from the beginning and who have joined me since: Paul Davies, Leila Jeffreys, George Byrne, Sophie Cape, Jacqui Stockdale and Sally Anderson, to name just a few. I am particularly grateful to still be working with Nicholas Harding, Lynne Watkins, Chris Langlois and with Lyn Williams (regarding the estate of her husband Fred Williams), along with Amanda Marburg and Stephen Bird. Great gratitude to Lyn Williams for maintaining her belief in me. Often in the art world it is not easy for people to stick by you, and I am so grateful to those people who have.

A special thanks to all the art lovers, especially Lee Seng Hui and his wife Elaine for their long-term support and trust in the gallery. To Sue and Lang Walker, Laurence Freedman and so many others.

There have been many mentors in my life. Rudy Komon was the first, along with my father, both men of great character. In my latter years, I have contributed to various boards: the City Art Institute, now UNSW Art & Design, and I thank Ian Howard for choosing me as an alumnus; and the board of the University of New South Wales, invited by David Gonski. Attending meetings with some of Australias captains of industry has given me a different perspective.

There are other mentors, too: author and filmmaker Robert Raymond; Pat Corrigan, the great philanthropist and art collector; and Dr Peter Elliott, an old friend of Rudy and Dads, who in my early days introduced important collectors to my gallery and spoke generously of my younger artists. All of these men to me represent mentorship in one way or another but most of all they epitomise true character, their tenacity, honesty and integrity making them people of real value.

To my dear friends who made me accountable to prevent me stepping back into a pub and spent much time with me as sponsors: Roger Joyce, Rick Grossman and Chris Mordue, and Professor Ross Fitzgerald. And to Margaret Olley and Barry Humphries, who never judged me and who, in caring, reached out and facilitated my sobriety. I appreciate that they could see in me what I could not see in myself.

I thank Katrina Arent in Sydney, and Emerald and Adrian Gruin in New York, for helping to keep everything afloat in recent times. My gratitude to Dom Ogilvie, for our time together, for our ongoing friendship and for James. And to Mitchell and Samantha, and Doms sister Sarah and her partner Jane Shaw, who provided profound spiritual advice, not just to me but the family during the toughest time of my recovery. And, of course, my family, especially the continuing love and support from my father, Louise, Stephen, Camille and James.

Where my father, John, my mother, Valerie, or other close members of the family are quoted and no reference is provided, the sources are the many, many discussions Ive had with my parents and other family members over the years, about our early lives in particular. Some stories have been previously published and differ slightly to those told by my father; where known, these have been noted.

Hart, Deborah. John Olsen. Second edition. Sydney: Craftsman House, 2000.

Pierse, Simon. Australian Art and Artists in London, 19501965: An Antipodean Summer. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2012.

Pringle, John Douglas. Australian Painting Today. London: Thames & Hudson, 1963, p. 88.

This collection was sold in 2000. See Luck, Ross K. The Australian Painters, 19641966: Contemporary Australian Painting from the Mertz Collection. Washington, D.C.: Corcoran Gallery of Art, c. 1966.

Olsen, John. Journal entry, 21 May 1966.

Nicklin, Lenore. Our island weavers: Australians are making tapestry. The Sydney Morning Herald, 12 January 1971.

Olsen, John. Journal entry, 18 December 1966.

Schlunke, Juliet. Buns in the Oven: John Olsens Bakery Art School. Melbourne: Thames & Hudson, 2016.

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Olsen, John. Drawn from Life. Sydney: Duffy & Snellgrove, 1997, p. 193.

Olsen, John. Journal entry, 27 January 1970.

The Australian, 15 January 1970.

Olsen, John. Journal entry, 15 March 1970.

Olsen, John. My Complete Graphics, 19571979. Melbourne: Gryphon Books & Australian Galleries, 1980, p. 23.

Nicklin, Lenore. $35,000 mural by Olsen. The Sydney Morning Herald, 29 August 1972.

Olsen, John. Drawn from Life. Sydney: Duffy & Snellgrove, 1997, p. 105.

Quoted in McInerney, Jackson. My Salute to Five Bells: John Olsen explains his beguiling masterpiece. Books & Arts, ABC, 26 August 2015.

McRae, Toni. Opening scene thrills the Queen, The Sun-Herald, Special Opera House Souvenir Issue, 21 October 1973.

Olsen, John. Journal entry, 21 August 1970.

Wilson, Ashleigh. John Olsen retrospective salutes living treasure from September 16. The Australian, 10 September 2016.

Pitt, Helen. The crazy and epic story of John Coburns Opera House curtain call. The Sydney Morning Herald, Arts, 20 April 2019.

Farrelly, Kate. The former Watsons Bay home of legendary artist John Olsen has hit the market. The Sydney Morning Herald, Domain, 23 March 2018.

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Olsen, John. Journal entry, January 1986: My divorce to Valerie came through. He married Noela on 31 May 1986.

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Stephens, Tony. Green before it was fashionable. The Sydney Morning Herald, 12 September 2007.

Serventy, Vincent. Dryandra: The Story of an Australian Forest. Sydney: A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1970.

McDonald, John. Art of the clear, precise and joyful. The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 November 2006.

>, accessed 24 August 2020.

All quotes from Valerie Strong are from Strong, Valerie & de Berg, Hazel. Valerie Strong Interviewed by Hazel de Berg in the Hazel de Berg Collection (sound recording) 1965, TRC 1/119. National Library of Australia.

Strong & de Berg, Valerie Strong Interviewed by Hazel de Berg.

Olsen, John & Norton, Kylie. Interview with John Olsen at OLSEN Gallery, Sydney, 2019.

Wright, Judith. The Cicadas. The Gateway. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1953.

Five Women in Same Art Show. The Sydney Morning Herald, 26 June 1963.

Davies, Linda. Gypsy life led Gil Docking into feted arts administration career.