16/09/2026
“Night Owl” 1978, painted the same year Brett Whiteley achieved an unprecedented “hat-trick” by winning the Archibald Prize for portraiture, the Wynne Prize for landscape, and the Sulman Prize for genre painting all in the same year. “Night Owl”, painted at the height of Whiteley’s career, fame and popularity. Signed and stamped with the artists monogram. The work is in pristine condition in a water gilded frame.
BRETT WHITELEY
Night Owl, 1978
Sepia Ink on Paper
74.5cm x 52.5cm
$55,000
Signed “Brett Whiteley” and stamped with artists monogram lower right
Provenance: Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney, 1979. Cooks Hill Galleries, New South Wales. Private collection, New South Wales. Lawsons, Sydney, 27 July 1999, lot 180 (as The Owl). Art Galleries Schubert, Queensland (label attached verso, stock no.4538). Private collection, Melbourne. Menzies, Sydney, 13 September 2012, lot 92 (as Night Owl 1979). Private collection, Brisbane.
Exhibited: Brett Whiteley: Birds and Animals, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney, 1979, cat.42 (as Owl).
Reference: Whiteley, B., Zoo, Pegasus Books, Melbourne, 1979, p.48 (illus.). McQueen, H., ‘Brett Whiteley’, Art and Australia, Sydney, vol.17, no.1, September 1979, p.153 (illus.). Klepac, L., Brett Whiteley: Drawings, The Beagle Press, Sydney, 2014, p.219 (illus. p.153, as Night Owl 1979). Sutherland, K., Brett Whiteley: Catalogue Raisonne, Schwartz Publishing, Melbourne, 2020, vol.3, p.527, cat.154.78 (illus.), vol.7, p.440
Water-gilded frame.
#1978
