Reference: George Baldessin CV, Australian Galleries, 2023:
GEORGE BALDESSIN Born 1939, San Biaggio di Callalta, Italy
1949 Emigrated to Australia
1958-61 Diploma Fine Arts (painting), RMIT
1962 Studies in printmaking, Chelsea Art School, London
1963 Further studies, Brera Academy, Milan
1964 Part-time lecturer, RMIT
1965-66 Full-time lecturer, RMIT
Alcorso-Sekers Travelling Scholarship for Sculpture (went to Japan) 1967 Winner: Maitland Print Prize
1970 Winner: Second International Biennale for Drawing, Yugoslavia Winner: Geelong Print Prize
Shared winner: Shepparton Print Prize (with Jan Senbergs)
1971 Comalco Invitation Award for Sculpture
1973 Ballarat Gallery Prize
La Trobe Valley Ronald Award
1975 Represented Australia at Bienal de Sao Paulo, Brazil (with Imants Tillers)
1976 Worked at Atelier Lacourière et Frélaut etching workshop, Paris; Completed
MM of Rue St Denis drawings in Paris
1977 Returned to Australia
1978 Lecturer, RMIT; Died in car accident, aged 39
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 ‘George Baldessin’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne
2021 ‘Rare esoteric drawings from the Baldessin Estate’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne
2018 ‘Baldessin/Whiteley: Parallel Visions’, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
‘Works from the Estate’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne
2014 ‘Being Human: The graphic work of George Baldessin’, Heidi Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
2010 ‘Paintings, sculpture and etchings', Australian Galleries, Derby Street, Melbourne
2009-10 ‘George Baldessin’, TarraWarra Museum of Art, Victoria
2006 ‘Portraits and Performers’, Australian Galleries Works on Paper, Sydney
2004 ‘George Baldessin – Prints of Darkness’, Australian Galleries Works on Paper,
Melbourne
2003 ‘George Baldessin 1939-1978’, La Trobe Regional Gallery
2001 ‘George Baldessin – drawings, sculpture, etchings’, Australian Galleries Works on Paper, Melbourne and Sydney
2000 ‘George Baldessin – Occasional Images from a City Chamber 1975, Australian Collection Focus’, Art Gallery of New South Wales
1998 ‘George Baldessin Estate Prints 1963 – 1978’, Brisbane
1997 ‘George Baldessin Estate Prints 1963 – 1978’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne and Sydney
1992 ‘George Baldessin Prints and Drawings’, Sherman Galleries, Sydney
‘Etchings Prints 1963 – 1978’, Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne
1991 ‘Drawings and selected sculpture’, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
‘Exhibition of drawings’, Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne
‘An exhibition of drawings’, Heide Park and Art Gallery, Melbourne 1987 ‘Selected prints and bronzes’, Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne
9 October 2022
1983 ‘George Baldessin Retrospective’, Wollongong City Gallery, NSW ‘Etchings’, Stuart Gerstman Galleries, Melbourne
‘George Baldessin: Sculpture and etchings – a memorial exhibition’, National
Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1978 ‘Personages, remnants and discards’, Bonython Gallery, Adelaide 1977 ‘M M of Rue St Denis’, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane
‘Etchings’, Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane
‘M M of Rue St Denis’ (drawings), Rudy Komon Art Gallery, Sydney 1974 ‘Etchings’, Rudy Komon Art Gallery, Sydney
‘George Baldessin: Complete etchings’, Mornington Peninsula Arts Centre,
Victoria
‘Etchings’, Festival of Perth, Desborough Galleries, Perth 1972 (Etchings), Crossley Gallery, Melbourne
‘Sculpture 1971-72’ Rudy Komon Art Gallery, Sydney 1971 ‘Drawings and sculpture’, Ballarat Art Gallery, Victoria 1970 ‘Etchings’, Gallery One Eleven, Brisbane
(Etchings), Crossley Gallery, Melbourne
‘Sculpture’, Rudy Komon Art Gallery, Sydney
1967 ‘Exhibition of prints by George Baldessin’, Geelong Art Gallery, Victoria 1965 ‘Drawings, sculpture and etchings’, Rudy Komon Art Gallery, Sydney 1964 ‘Sculpture, etchings and drawings’, Argus Gallery, Melbourne
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022 ‘Abstraction & Bronze’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne
2021 ‘State of the Mark’, Works on Paper Group Exhibition, Australian Galleries,
Melbourne
2019 ‘Australian Galleries: The Purves Family Business. The First Four Decades’,
Book Launch and Group Exhibition, Australian Galleries, Melbourne ‘Melbourne Modern: European art & design at RMIT since 1945’, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne
‘Baldessin Studio – The Story’, Montsalvat, Melbourne
‘papermade’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne
2017 ‘Sculpture: medium and small sculpture – Mixed Sculptors’, Australian
Galleries, Sydney
2015 ‘An exhibition of paintings, sculpture & works on paper’, Australian Galleries,
Roylston Street, Sydney
2014 ‘one of each’, Australian Galleries, Derby Street, Melbourne
‘Australia Day 2014 Celebratory Exhibition’, Australian Galleries, Derby Street, Melbourne
2013 ‘Works from the Stock Rooms’, Australian Galleries, Smith Street, Melbourne 2011 ‘large exhibition of small works’, Australian Galleries, Roylston Street, Sydney
‘large exhibition of small works’, Australian Galleries, Derby Street, Melbourne 2010 ‘Artists’ Prints made with Integrity I’, Australian Galleries, Smith Street, Melbourne
2008 ‘Summer Stock Show’, Australian Galleries Smith Street, Melbourne
2007 ‘Summer Stock Show’, Australian Galleries Painting and Sculpture, Melbourne
‘Summer Stock Show’, Australian Galleries Works on Paper, Sydney ‘European sensibilities: Baldessin and his circle’, Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum, Castlemaine
‘The story of Australian Printmaking; 1801-2005’, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
2006 ‘50th Anniversary Exhibition’, 5th June, Australian Galleries, Melbourne ‘Fine Australian Prints and Drawings’, Australian Galleries Works on Paper, Melbourne
2005 ‘A selection of works on paper’, Australian Galleries Works on Paper, Melbourne
9 October 2022
2003 ‘Pen to Pixel: 200 years of Australian Prints & Drawings’, NGV Australia, Ian Potter Centre, Melbourne
‘Sculpture at RMIT during the Jomantas years’, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne ‘This was the future...Australian sculpture of the 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s + today’, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
1997 ‘I had a dream: Australian art in the 1960’s’, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1996 ‘Occasional screens with seating arrangement, Grahame Sturgeon Memorial Trust’, Museum of Modern Art at Heide, Melbourne
1995 ‘Rites for an Anxious Spring, selected acquisitions 1981-1995’, Museum of Modern Art at Heide, Melbourne
1978 ‘A tribute to George Baldessin’, Realities, Melbourne
‘Contemporary Australian Drawing’, Perth Survey of Drawing, Festival of Perth, Art Gallery of Western Australia and touring
1975-76 ‘Australian Graphics 1974’, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (organised VAB touring South America 1975)
1975 ‘3 Printmaker: Maddock, Shomaly, Baldessin’, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
‘XIII Biennale de Sao Paulo’, Brazil
1974 ‘Tamarind: Homage to lithography’, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
‘International Biennale of Prints’, Tokyo
1973 ‘Print Council of Australia Print Prize’, National Gallery of Victoria
‘Ballarat Gallery Prize’, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery
‘First Biennale of Sydney’, Sydney Opera House, Sydney
1971 ‘1971 Victorian Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition’, Geelong Art Gallery
‘Multiples’, Crossley Gallery, Melbourne
‘Comalco Invitation Award for Sculpture’, National Gallery of Victoria 1970 ‘Ten printmakers’, National Gallery of Victoria
‘Shepparton Print Prize Exhibition’, Shepparton Art Gallery, Victoria ‘Geelong Print Prize Exhibition’, Geelong Art Gallery
‘Second International Biennale for Drawing’, Yugoslavia
1969 ‘International Print Biennale’, Cracow, Poland ‘International Print Biennale’, Bradford, UK
1968 ‘International Print Biennale’, Ljubljana, Yugoslavia
1967 ‘11th Annual Maitland Art Prize Exhibition’, Maitland Art Gallery
‘Georges Invitation Art Prize’, Georges Art Gallery, Melbourne
1966 ‘Australian Prints Today’, Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, USA
‘Alcors-Sekers Travelling Scholarship for Sculpture’, Art Gallery of New South
Wales, Sydney
1965 ‘Recent Australian Sculpture’, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 1964 ‘Australian Print Survey 1963-64’, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
‘Mildura Sculpture Triennial’, Mildura Art Gallery, Victoria
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS AND CATALOGUES
Connors, Anne; Seven Printmakers, Tasmanian School of Art Gallery, Tasmania 1976 Cross, Elizabeth; Artists’ Objects, Heide Park and Art Gallery, Melbourne 1988
Draffin, Nicholas; Australian Graphics, AGNSW, Sydney 1974
Kempf, Franz; Contemporary Australian Printmakers, Lansdowne Editions, Melbourne 1976 Klepac, Lou; Contemporary Australian Drawing, AGWA, Perth 1978
Lindsay, Robert and Holloway, Memory; George Baldessin: Sculpture and etchings, a memorial exhibition, NGV, Melbourne 1983
McCulloch, Alan; Selected drawings from the collections of the Mornington Peninsula Arts Centre, Mornington Peninsula Art Gallery, 1984
McCulloch, Alan & McCulloch, Susan; The Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Allen and Unwin, Sydney 1994 (and all previous editions by McCulloch, Alan)
9 October 2022
Mollison, James and MacKean, Margaret; Australian Prints, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1972
Phipps, Jennifer; I had a dream: Australian art in the 1960’s , NGV, Melbourne 1997
Ryan, Anne; George Baldessin Occasional images from a city chamber, Australian Collection Focus, Art Gallery NSW, Sydney 2000
Scarlett, Ken; Contemporary sculpture in Australian gardens, G & B Arts International, 1993 Scarlett, Ken; Australian sculptors, Thomas Nelson, Melbourne 1980
Siedel, Brian; The arts in Australia, Longmans, Melbourne 1965
Sturgeon, Graeme; Sculpture at Mildura: The story of the Mildura Sculpture Triennial 1961- 1982, Mildura City Council, 1985
Sturgeon, Graeme; The development of Australian sculpture 1788-1975, Thames and Hudson, London 1978
Turner, Dick; European sensibilites: George Baldessin and his circle; printmaking in Melbourne during the 1960s and 1970s, Castlemaine Regional Art Gallery and Historical Museum, 2007
The permanent collection: Bathurst Regional Gallery, Bathurst Regional Gallery 1980 Verbeek, Anne (editor); Directory 1988: Australian artists producing prints, Print Council of Australia, 1988
Wood, Lilian (editor), Directory of Australian Printmakers, Print Council of Australia, Melbourne 1976
Zimmer, Jenny, & Richie, John (gen. editor); Australian Dictionary of Biography Vol 13, Melbourne University Press, 1993
PERIODICALS
Allen, Christopher; “Images of the body”, Sydney Review, November 1991
“Aluminium legs walk off with $2,000 prize”, Sydney Morning Herald, 26 July 1966
Baily, John; “George Baldessin”, Bulletin of the Art Gallery of South Australia, Vol 33 No 3, January 1971
Borlase, Nancy; “We lose a complete artist”, Sydney Morning Herald, 19 August 1978 Campbell, Richard; “The cool breed”, Bulletin, 18 November 1972
Catalano, Gary; “The secret Italian”, Aspect No 29/30, Autumn 1984
Davies, Suzanne; “Occasional images from a city chamber”, Imprint No 4, 1975
Dolan, David; “Baldessin the professional”, Advertiser, Adelaide, 19 August 1978
Eagle, Mary; “Tribute to a winner”, Age, Melbourne, 6 November 1978
Galbally, Ann; “Familiar threshold for a top sculptor”, Age, Melbourne, 15 December 1972 Galbally, Ann; “Enigma of the brooding mysterious figures”, Age, Melbourne, 11 November 1970
Gleeson, James; “Earle treads a different path”, Sun, Sydney, 30 September 1970
Gleeson, James; “Smoke signals”, Sun, Sydney, 26 July 1966
Hannan, Bill; “Sculptors good second-rater?” Bulletin, Sydney, 13 November 1965
Hocking, Ian; “An artist in female guise”, News, Adelaide, 26 April 1978
“Interview by George Baldessin”, Art Craft Teachers Associations Magazine, Melbourne, November 1973
“Is this decent? Sexy girl at open window”, Sun, Sydney, 26 July 1966
Jach, Antoni; “George’s important obscurity”, Melbourne Times, 31 August 1983
Langer, Gertrude; “Two shows are tops”, Courier Mail, Brisbane, 1 October 1977
“Long live memories of the new”, Sun, Melbourne, 17 August 1983
“Lost for words about a winner”, Daily Telegraph, Sydney, 26 July 1968
Lynn, Elwyn; “Popularity without compromise – seriously”, Weekend Australian, 26-27 October 1991
Lynn, Elwyn; “Triumphant first show”, Australian, Sydney, 13 November 1965
McCaughey, Patrick; “Superb etchings from Baldessin”, Age, Melbourne, 22 November 1972 McCaughey, Patrick; “Disconcerting and surprising”, Age, Melbourne, 23 October 1971 McCaughey, Patrick; “The graphic work of George Baldessin”, Art and Australia, Vol 7 No 2, September 1969
McCaughey, Patrick; “After the art boom”, Age, Melbourne, 10 July 1967
McCaughey, Patrick; “Paintings that bounce off the wall”, Age, Melbourne, 10 May 1967 McCulloch, Alan; “Death of George Baldessin”, Art and Australia, Vol 16 No 3, Autumn 1979
9 October 2022
McCulloch, Alan; “Mildura’s Boston Tea Party”, Herald, Melbourne, 22 April 1964 McCulloch, Alan; “Sculptor’s impressive debut”, Herald, Melbourne, 17 June 1964 McGrath, Sandra; “Baldessin: a genuine Renaissance man”, Weekend Australian, 19-20 August 1978
McGrath, Sandra; “Wonderful fantasy”, Australian, Sydney, 11 November 1972
Millar, Ronald; “A final tribute”, Herald, Melbourne, 11 August 1983
Plant, Margaret; “The encounter of Baldessin and Tillers on an etching plate: According to des Esseintes”, Art Bulletin of Victoria, No 22, 1982
Plant, Margaret; “Melbourne Printmakers”, Art Bulletin of Victoria, Melbourne, 1973/74 Plant, Margaret; “Etchings by Baldessin”, Imprint, Melbourne No 3, 1969
Pidgeon, W. E.; “A taste for the sinister”, Sunday Telegraph, Sydney, 28 August 1977 Rooney, Robert; “Warmth lost in ‘cool’ quest”, Weekend Australian, Sydney, 6-7 April 1991 Rooney, Robert; “Baldessin tribute in perspective”, Weekend Australian, Sydney, 27-28 August 1983
Smith, Bernard; “Baldessin sculpture a welcome change”, Age, 17 June 1964
Taylor, Paul (editor); “Anything goes: Art in Australia 1970-1980”, Art and Text, Melbourne,
1984
Thomas, Daniel; “Tillers and Baldessin for Sao Paulo”, Sydney Morning Herald, 31 July 1975 Wallace, Thornton; “Baldessin show at Rudy Komon”, Sydney Morning Herald, 3 November 1965
Warren, Alan; “Bold adventure in art at Mildura”, Sun, 20 April 1964
Waterlow, Nick; “Art: Global crayons”, Nation Review, 1 September 1977
9 October 2022
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