The Baggage Room

Can we start looking at the achievements of women independently of their relationships with their famous husbands?

Most of us won’t achieve even a fraction of the accomplishments that Wendy Whiteley has in her incredible life. Fact.

Brett Whiteley was an incredible artist. Fact.

Both these things are true but I am interested in her story, her life. To say she was “Brett’s wife, or Brett’s muse is reductive and completely misses the point, but of course- this is Australia.

Most Australians have heard of Brett Whiteley- he started painting in the 1960s, won awards, became key part of the London art scene, was acclaimed everywhere he went, was a heroin addict and died of an overdose in 1992. His art was brilliant and prolific and because of his personality, charisma and talent he rose to the very heights of the art world

Wendy was part of all that- but more- she survived him, and heroin, and went on to ensure that his artistic legacy will remain for all Australians. As well as creating her own legacy.

She was Brett’s wife- for only a fraction of her life, for the rest of her life she has been an artist, a designer, a mother. a lover and an award winning garden designer. Not to mention a very savvy businesswoman, art critic and media personality.

Wendy was a talented teenage artist, she aspired to be like her Aunt, a free thinking feminist artist travelling the world. She was in art school, won awards for her art- Then she was introduced to Brett Whiteley., who was working in an advertising agency but had an insatiable ambition.

Wendy says in her biography “A year with Wendy Whiteley” by Ashleigh Wilson”

“Ambition is one thing but you have to actually do something about it, I WAS doing something about it , I was fighting to do something about it, because it wasn’t really accepted that art could be a career for a woman. But coming up against Brett, it would have been impossible to have a relationship with him and take time to be an artist for yourself.”

It’s easy to imagine what may have been if she had taken that time, but it was to 1960s and Brett was the key to escaping Sydney and living a lifestyle that was incredibly exciting.

Brett was insistent that she join him in London, harassing her constantly. She worked two jobs to buy her ticket to meet him and dropped out of art school.

The two of them became a publicists dream, attractive, wild, talented, “ the artist and his muse”, the similarities to Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald were made.

In fact there are many similarities to Zelda and Scott- she was a talented writer who put her dreams aside for the sake of her husbands career. Intoxicants derailed both their lives and ultimately ended hers.

The couple were stellar- the talk of London and New York. However peppered throughout her biography Wendy talks about how close things came to sending differently, how she seriously considered leaving him after it became clear she was expected to clean up after his drunken messes.

How she became sick of “having to drop everything to go with him to do whatever he wanted to do” .

But after she left he would always chase her, eventually dangling the carrot of marriage. She tells a story of being offered a film career after the photo of their engagement came out in the paper, Brett dismissing this “ absolutely not- we are getting married and then we are going to go somewhere else, so you can’t have a job or be in a film”.

So the lifestyle was seductive, glamorous, but always it appeared to be on his terms.

Then came the drugs, and this is where the tide turned. She was now a mother, a more important role to play than a muse or a wife. She was strong enough ( or motivated enough) to not only kick heroin, but also kick the stronger drug of Brett Whiteley.

She divorced him, making the very important point in the divorce court that his art would not exist without her.

This is so powerful, and a point that I think needs to not be overlooked.

Literally his art would not exist without her- She was his model, some of the most famous of his art features Wendy, not only that but she functioned as his agent, his sounding board, his life raft- and she won the case.

And without his life raft Brett did not have long left to live. He died alone in a hotel room with a needle stuck in his arm.

Wendy then surpassed Brett, she did what he would never have been able to do, she made a business out of Brett’s work. She kept his legacy intact all the while managing her grief at losing their only child, and creating a remarkable Sydney landmark- “Wendy’ Whiteley’s secret garden, in Lavender Bay.

The garden is a refuge and a sanctuary. imagine the tenacity it took to clear, plant and maintain a large public space, all for others- a selfless gift to Sydney.

When Wendy was asked how she describes herself now when she needs to fill out official forms she says “ designer” and when asked why she hasn’t pursued a career in art herself she stated “ it could never have been just a nice hobby, it has to be way better than average to satisfy me”. I don’t think anyone could describe Wendy and her achievements as “average”.

References: Wilson, Ashleigh: A Year with Wendy Whiteley