Martin Sharp and Tiny Tim / William Yang

P3/284

fonds

1982

Graphic Materials, Photographs

9662303

1 photographic print - silver gelatin, colour - visible image 33 x 50 cm, mount 47 x 64 cm

Martin Sharp (1942-2013), was a prominent Australian artist, cartoonist, writer, graphic artist, songwriter and filmmaker. He co-founded satirical Sydney magazine ‘Oz’ in 1963 alongside Richard Neville and Richard Walsh. After Neville and Sharp went to London in 1966 they re-launched 'Oz with Sharp as art director. In London Sharp produced many iconic posters of the period including 'Mister Tambourine Man' (Bob Dylan) and 'Explosion' (Jimi Hendrix). Sharpe also created album covers for the band Cream. Eric Clapton of Cream introduced Sharp to the music of Tiny Tim who became an inspiration to Sharp and was the focus of many of his artworks and poster designs.

Tiny Tim (1932-1996, real name Herbert Khaury, was and American singer best known for his falsetto rendition of 'Tiptoe Through the Tulips'.

William Yang (1943-) is an Australian photographer recognised for documentation of the Sydney LGBTIQ+ community from the beginning of the early 1970s. Born in Queensland, he moved to Sydney in 1969 and and worked a playwright before he began taking photographs of his friends and celebrities that he saw at openings and parties. He took portraits of Australians in the creative arts scene such as Martin Sharp, Brett Whiteley, Linda Jackson, Jenny Kee and Jim Sharman. In the mid 1970s Yang began selling his images to magazines and from the 1990s Yang began adding handwritten scripts to his images.

References:
'Drawings, cartoons, collages, posters and prints, ca. 1962-1995 / by Martin Sharp'. State Library of New South Wales. Accessed 17 July 2023.
https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/1wN2Wgpn
Grimes, William. 'Tiny tim, singer, dies at 64; flirted, chastely, with fame.' New York Times (1923-). Published 2 December 1996. Accessed 17 July 2023 http://ezproxy.sl.nsw.gov.au/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/tiny-tim-singer-dies-at-64-flirted-chastely-with/docview/109609220/se-2
Library acquisition file
'Martin Sharp. 1942-2013' National Portrait Gallery. Accessed 17 July 2023
https://www.portrait.gov.au/people/martin-sharp-1942
Warnes, Diana. 'OZ AND BEYOND: Martin Sharp fultils the Pop art idiom of merging art and life.' National Portrait Gallery. Accessed 17 July 2023.
https://www.portrait.gov.au/magazines/23/oz-and-beyond
'William Yang. b. 1943' National Portrait Gallery. Accessed 17 July 2023
https://www.portrait.gov.au/people/william-yang-1943
'William Yang photographs and ephemera relating to exhibitions, and social life in Sydney in the 1970s' State Library of New South Wales. Accessed 17 July 2023.
https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/YzOpKwM9

Donor purchased the photograph at the William Yang 'My Generation' exhibition, Maunsell Wickes at Barry Stern Galleries, Paddington, 2013

1 photograph of Martin Sharp and Tiny Tim taken at Wirian, Sharp's home. Sharp designed a poster (Tiny Tim, eternal troubadour) for Tiny Tim's 1982 performance at the Sydney Opera House, which Tim can be seen holding in the photograph.

In copyright:
Copyright holder:: William Yang
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy William Yang

"'Martin Sharp & Tiny Tim.' William Yang. 1982. 1/20" written in gold ink on the lower left corner.