TIM OLSEN AUTOBIOGRAPHY : SON OF THE BRUSH

Tim Olsen’s autobiography SON OF THE BRUSH is a glorious, fascinating read full of joy and warmth that is contrasted with pain and tragedy . It is quite intimately revealing and frank at times, giving a compelling insight into the Australian art scene. There is a table of contents at the front, an index and bibliography at the back and quite a few illustrations. Tim, who runs the Olsen Gallery in Sydney, is the son of one of Australia’s best known artists John Olsen (think Salute to Five Bells at the Opera House for example) and the book also considers how he has struggled to find his own identity rather than living in the shadow of his famous father, as well as his battle with illness and alcoholism.

Olsen was born into a life of modern and contemporary art. The art came first; an absolute vocation for John Olsen, with the family focused on it. John Olsen, at 92, regarded as one of Australia’s greatest artists, is still painting large-scale canvases at his Bowral home in the New South Wales Southern Highlands. To the young Tim, his father was a deity, a ‘sun king’, whom he revered.

At Watsons Bay loquacious John would cook pans of paella and entertain his friends, amongst them – Russell Drysdale, Donald Friend, Barry Humphries, Sidney Nolan , Ian Fairweather, Arthur Boyd, Bob Dylan Mark Knopfler, Barry Humphies , Rudy Komon , Margaret Olley , John Kaldor,  Gough and Margaret Whitlam, Robert Hughes, the Whiteleys. They all mixed with John and his family.

In 1969 the family moved to Dunmoochin, an artists’ community in Victoria owned by the painter Clifton Pugh, during the ‘swinging 60’s’.But the experience was detrimental for Tim and his sister Louise (now famous for her company Dinosaur Designs) – events occurred and hidden things were seen, not appropriate for children. … It also caused ruptures in John and Valerie’s marriage. Tim also discovered that he and Louise had a half sister Jane .

The course of Tim’s life was established by his childhood experiences , and by the passion for art he inherited from both his parents (his mother Valerie was a renowned painter in her own right). Tim’s childhood was dominated by John’s work, which led the family to Europe and to communities around Australia as John sought inspiration and artistic fellowship. To John,  landscape and colour are crucial. John’s love of wine, food, and conversation meant a childhood full of ebullience and inspiration yet blending sadness and tension. We learn of John’s philandering, Valerie’s grief  and Tim’s constant seeking to earn his father’s approval. 

After 20 years of marriage, John left a devastated Valerie, moving to Clarendon in South Australia for a doomed and turbulent marriage to the artist Noela Hjorth. Then there was John’s marriage to Katherine Howard which continued to fracture family relationships. 

Tim’s school life – he attended Cranbrook and then Kings  – was very awkward and difficult. Eventually, while finding it very tough at times, he was able to ‘ find himself ’ at art school – Tim attended East Sydney Tech (now the National Arts School) – like his sister Louise – and Hornsby TAFE working on etchings drawings and paintings and channelling his career as an art dealer.  As he says,  ‘“As a young man I had the temerity to study to become an artist and the wisdom not to become one.”

We also read of Tim’s marriage to Harriet and their breakup and then his marriage to Dominique and their son James.  

Also discussed is how Tim became an art dealer rather than an artist and the reader gains an insight into the stresses and challenges of running a top gallery – programming exhibitions, developing and looking after the ‘stable’ of artists from an insiders’ point of view.  The descriptions of exhibition openings are bitingly, deliciously witty. Mention is also made of the highs, lows and possible perils of the art market and auctions,  and forgeries and fakes.  

The book is very current as it concludes with the start of the Covid crisis and looks to the future.

A compelling, insightful read.

https://www.olsengallery.com/

https://www.sonofthebrush.com/

https://www.dinosaurdesigns.com.au/

https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/other-books/Son-of-the-Brush-Tim-Olsen-9781743318058