Jean Bellette
(Australia, Spain 1908–16 Mar 1991)
- Title
- Greek girl
- Place of origin
-
Majorca →
Spain
- Year
- 1975-1976
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
-
97.3 x 162.8cm stretcher; 111.0 x 176.8 x 3.8cm frame
- Signature & date
- Signed l.r., black oil "JB". Not dated.
- Credit
- Bequest of Margaret Olley 2012
- Accession number
- 199.2012
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
Included in Jean Bellette’s final solo exhibition at Holdsworth Galleries in 1976, 'Greek girl' 1975–76 is representative of the final phase of the artist’s career. Bellete and her husband, German-Swiss artist/art critic Paul Haefliger, left Sydney in 1957 for the Spanish island of Majorca, acquiring a farm in Fornalutx where Bellette lived until her death in 1991 (Haefliger died in 1982).The works from this period draw on the historical and aesthetic characteristics of Bellette’s adopted home.
In 'Greek girl', a single female figure, partially cut from the composition, is depicted standing on the far left of the picture plane, back turned against a typically Mediterranean terrain with eyes closed and arms extended.
Restraint in treatment and colour featured in earlier works has been replaced with painterly expression and lighter tones of yellow, white and purple. Mythology and timelessness, however, epitomized by the monumentality of this classical figure and ancient landscape, are retained.- Bibliography (4)
-
'The art of enigma' by John McDonald, pg. 19., The Sydney Morning Herald 02 Apr 2005-03 Apr 2005, 02 Apr 2005-03 Apr 2005, 19. Review of Jean Bellette Retrospective in Spectrum section.
Christine France (Australia) (Author), Amanda Beresford (Author), Barbara Hall (Author), Jean Bellette retrospective, Sydney, 2004, 57 (colour illus.), 72.
'Mind, myth and modernism: revaluing Jean Bellette' by Amanda Beresford., Art and Australia (Vol. 31, No. 3) Autumn 1994, Autumn 1994, 377 (colour illus.).
'Bellette at home in past' by Nancy Borlase., The Sydney Morning Herald 25 Mar 1976, 25 Mar 1976.
- Exhibition history (6)
-
Jean Bellette (1976), Holdsworth Galleries, 16 Mar 1976–03 Apr 1976.
Jean Bellette retrospective (2004-2005), Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, 10 Dec 2004–16 Jan 2005.
Jean Bellette retrospective (2004-2005), S.H. Ervin Gallery, 12 Mar 2005–15 Apr 2005.
Jean Bellette retrospective (2004-2005), University of Queensland Art Museum, 06 May 2005–12 Jun 2005.
Jean Bellette retrospective (2004-2005), Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, 12 Jul 2005–28 Aug 2005.
Jean Bellette retrospective (2004-2005), The Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, 10 Nov 2005–18 Dec 2005.
