George Gittoes art diaries, 1987-2015

MLMSS 9589

fonds

1987-2015

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Drawings

1207700

4.2 metres of textual material (44 boxes)

George Gittoes, painter, film maker, printmaker, puppeteer, performance artist, was born in Sydney in 1949. He grew up in Rockdale and was educated at Bexley Infants and Primary Schools, Kogarah Boys High and Kingsgrove North High and University of Sydney. A talented drawer, influenced toward art by his mother Joyce and sister Pamela, his early interests also included poetry, Sufism and Islamic culture. He attended the first Power Lecture in May 1968 and met American critic Clement Greenberg, who advised him to travel to New York. There, Gittoes spent time at The Art Students’ League, worked with the African American realist artist Joseph Delaney, met Andy Warhol, and observed the operations of The Factory.

Returning to Sydney in 1969, Gittoes befriended artist Martin Sharp, Albie Thoms and others in their circle. Together they established The Yellow House, based on Van Gogh’s ideal, in 1970 at 59 Macleay Street Potts Point. Gittoes was now a performer and puppeteer and began to create elaborate diaries, visual, collaged and written records of art and ideas. He continued this practice throughout his career, especially in relation to documenting his international expeditions. These diaries are crucial to Gittoes' creative process and are often exhibited alongside his more formal work.

Gittoes moved to Bundeena in 1971 and worked with a group of Aboriginal artists from Mornington Island. Exploring aspects of Aboriginal sensibility, he made paintings, performances, holograms and a film, The Rainbow Way (1977). Gittoes made his first documentary for ABC TV in 1982, Tracks of the Rainbow, then Warriors and Lawmen in 1983. In 1986, Gittoes travelled to Nicaragua to make a war film, The Bullets of the Poets (1987). This initiated a long-term commitment to involve his art with people and cultures in conflict. In 1988, Gittoes’ received his first acceptance in the Sulman Prize and in 1993 was awarded the Wynne Prize with Open Cut. He won the Blake Prize for Religious Art with Ancient Prayer in 1992 and The Preacher in 1995. In 1997 Gittoes was awarded an AM for his services to the arts and international relations. In 2001 he was awarded a Centenary Medal 'for service as an internationally renowned artist’, and in 2008 he received an honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of New South Wales.

Gittoes’ paintings, drawings, photographs and films related to human conflict, including The Rwandan Genocide (1994) and 'The War on Terror' in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and United States (ca. 2001-ca. 2013), led to international recognition. He is a nomadic artist, living and working in Cambodia, Rwanda, Nicaragua, Northern Ireland, Philippines, Bosnia, East Timor, Palestine, Congo, South Africa, Lebanon, Chechnya, Western Sahara, Yemen, Iraq, United States of America, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Norway and Germany. Gittoes’ practice of travelling to combat zones and engaging with soldiers, civilians and victims, his use of cross media, his adaption of journalistic methods of access and image gathering, combined with independent artistic interpretation and publication of the realized work through mass media, is all unparalleled in contemporary art practice.

References: Compiled from the collection and www.gittoes.com/bio (viewed 28/08/14)

George Gittoes' visual diaries closely reference his lived experience, a montage of recorded memories, observations, and philosophy. They also record Gittoes' extensive travel itinerary in volumes he has created on planes, in bus shelters, refugee camps, battlefields, hotels, great cities of the world, and some of the most remote places on earth. The diaries have become a key element of his multimedia installations, and are integrally linked to his wider oeuvre. By 2014, Gittoes had compiled over 40 diaries in this series, with two lost and more in process. The diaries are usually project based or thematic, each being developed into a unique artefact. Some diaries overlap chronologically, or were started, abandoned and restarted at a later date.
The diaries contain handwritten entries relating to Gittoes, his family, friends and associates; planning and analysis of art work; film storyboards; stories and illustrations; working notes; correspondence and printed emails; photographs; published clippings related to war, violence, terrorism, popular culture and politics in the United States of America and Australia; printed ephemera and articles related to Gittoes life, exhibitions, and film screenings; business cards and contact information for family and colleagues; travel documents and reminder notes.
The diaries contain extensive original art work, being mainly black ink drawings, with collages that combine tipped in clippings and text. Some drawings are coloured with paint and some volumes include fabric block prints and stickers. The diaries are created in large artist sketchbooks, each volume containing between 100 and 200 pages of plain white art paper. Acid free glue, coloured ink and pen, gouache and watercolour, acrylic and oil paint, graphite, coloured pencil and found objects have been used in the diaries. The diaries are travel worn and each has a unique painted, printed, or decorated cover. Most volumes are dated by Gittoes on either the cover spine or an affixed label.

ITEM 01
George Gittoes art diary, ca. 1987-ca. 2011

ITEM 02
George Gittoes art diary, ca. October 2002-ca. January 2003

ITEM 03
George Gittoes art diary, ca. February 2003-September 2003

ITEM 04
George Gittoes art diary, ca. April 2003-ca. August 2003

ITEM 05
George Gittoes art diary, ca. September 2002-ca. January 2004

ITEM 06
George Gittoes art diary, ca. 1992-ca. January 2005

ITEM 07
George Gittoes art diary, ca. July 2004-ca. August 2004

ITEM 08
George Gittoes art diary, ca. October 2004-ca. April 2005

ITEM 09
George Gittoes art diary, ca. October 2009-June 2010

ITEM 10
George Gittoes art diary, ca. July 2005-ca. December 2005

ITEM 11
George Gittoes art diary, ca. September 2005-ca. December 2005

ITEM 12
George Gittoes art diary, ca. December 2005-ca. June 2006

ITEM 13
George Gittoes art diary, ca. June 2006-ca. October 2006

ITEM 14
George Gittoes art diary, ca. September 2006-ca. March 2007

ITEM 15
George Gittoes art diary, June 1 2007-August 1 2007

ITEM 16
George Gittoes art diary, ca. August 2007-ca. October 2007

ITEM 17
George Gittoes art diary, ca. January 2008-ca. May 2008

ITEM 18
George Gittoes art diary, ca. November 2007-February 2008

ITEM 19
George Gittoes art diary, ca. May 2008-ca. February 2010

ITEM 20
George Gittoes art diary, ca. February 2007-ca. February 2009

ITEM 21
George Gittoes art diary, ca. April 2008-ca. January 2010

ITEM 22
George Gittoes art diary, ca. October 2008-ca. February 2009

ITEM 23
George Gittoes art diary, ca. November 2008-ca. May 2009

ITEM 24
George Gittoes art diary, ca. April 2009-ca. December 2009

ITEM 25
George Gittoes art diary, ca. July 2010-ca. December 2010

ITEM 26
George Gittoes art diary, ca. July 2010-ca. December 2010

ITEM 27
George Gittoes art diary, ca. 2010-ca. September 2011

ITEM 28
George Gittoes art diary, ca. September 2011-ca. January 2013

ITEM 29
George Gittoes art diary, ca. April 2011-ca. May 2011

ITEM 30
George Gittoes art diary, ca. October 2011-ca. November 2012

ITEM 31
George Gittoes art diary, ca. December 2011-ca. May 2012

ITEM 32
George Gittoes art diary, ca. July 2012-ca. November 2012

ITEM 33
George Gittoes art diary, ca. 2011-ca. 2012

ITEM 34
George Gittoes art diary, ca. July 2012-ca. December 2012

ITEM 35
George Gittoes art diary, ca. February 2014-ca. July 2014

ITEM 36
George Gittoes art diary, ca. May 2013-ca. November 2013

ITEM 37
George Gittoes art diary, ca. January 2013-ca. April 2013

ITEM 38
George Gittoes art diary, ca. March 2010-ca. November 2011

ITEM 39
George Gittoes art diary, ca. April 2010-ca. July 2010

ITEM 40
George Gittoes art diary, ca. December 2010-ca. September 2011

ITEM 41
George Gittoes art diary, ca. January 2011-ca. July 2011

ITEM 42
George Gittoes art diary, ca. May 2014-ca. December 2014

ITEM 43
George Gittoes art diary, ca. August 2014-ca. April 2015

ITEM 44
George Gittoes Kibeho art diary, ca. 1995-ca. 2015

Copyright status:: In copyright - Life of creator plus 70 years
Copyright holder:: George Gittoes
Rights and Restrictions Information:: The State Library of New South Wales has the right to reproduce and publish any work it owns by George Gittoes; George Gittoes to be advised of each use. All other uses (not by State Library of New South Wales) must clear copyright with George Gittoes.
Research & study copies allowed:
Approval for publication required:
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy George Gittoes.