The Yellow House at 57–59 Macleay Street, Potts Point, was an artists' collective that existed from 1970 through to the beginning of 1973 in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The collective was established by artist

Martin Sharp Martin Ritchie Sharp (21 January 1942 – 1 December 2013) was an Australian artist, cartoonist, songwriter and film-maker. Career Sharp was born in Bellevue Hill, New South Wales in 1942, and educated at Cranbrook private school, where one ...

on his return from London at the beginning of 1970. Initially operated as a space for the exhibition of his work, Sharp and filmmaker

Albie Thoms Albie Thoms (28 July 1941 – 28 November 2012) was an Australian film director, writer, and producer. He was born in Sydney, Australia. He was nominated for at the 1979 AFI Awards for Best Original Screenplay for Palm Beach. He is best known ...

expanded the facility in 1971 to incorporate input from a variety of artists and performers. They modelled it on

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...

's Yellow House at Arles and the Dutch artist's partially realised dream of establishing an artists' community there. The British

Arts Lab The Arts Lab was an alternative arts centre, founded in 1967 by Jim Haynes at 182 Drury Lane, London. Although only active for two years, it was influential in inspiring many similar centres in the UK, continental Europe and Australia, inclu ...

movement of the late 1960s was also an influence on Sharp, who was resident in London between 1966-9. Many well-known artists contributed to the multi-media performance art space that may have been Australia's first 24-hour-a-day ‘

happening A happening is a performance, event, or situation art, usually as performance art. The term was first used by Allan Kaprow during the 1950s to describe a range of art-related events. History Origins Allan Kaprow first coined the term "happen ...

’. The canvas was the house itself and almost every wall, floor and ceiling became part of the gallery and performance space. The rooms of the house were inspired by Pop Art,

Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...

and

Conceptualism In metaphysics, conceptualism is a theory that explains universality of particulars as conceptualized frameworks situated within the thinking mind. Intermediate between nominalism and realism, the conceptualist view approaches the metaphysical co ...

. Overseas visitors to the Yellow House included members of the rock band

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

Marty Feldman Martin Alan Feldman (8 July 1934 – 2 December 1982) was a British actor, comedian and comedy writer. He was known for his exophthalmos, prominent, strabismus, misaligned eyes. He initially gained prominence as a writer with Barry Took on ...

and David Litvinoff. Apart from the exhibition of painting, drawing, sculpture and photography, there was also a puppet theatre, light shows, performance of plays and regular screening of films. These included a range of classic, avant-garde and modern works such

Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish-Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and m ...

and

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarr ...

's ''Un Chien Andalou'',

Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...

's ''Metropolis'', Phil Noyce's ''Better to Reign in Hell'',

Leni Riefenstahl Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (; 22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, photographer and actress known for her role in producing Nazi propaganda. A talented swimmer and an artist, Riefenstahl also became in ...

's ''Olympia'' and

Peter Weir Peter Lindsay Weir ( ; born August 21, 1944) is a retired Australian film director. He's known for directing films crossing various genres over forty years with films such as '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (1975), ''Gallipoli'' (1981), ''Witness ...

's ''Count Vim's Last Exercise'', as well as works by

Bruce Petty Bruce Leslie Petty, born 23 November 1929 at Doncaster, Victoria, Doncaster, a suburb of Melbourne, is one of Australia's best known political satire, political satirists and cartoonists.

, Mick Glasheen and

Arthur and Corinne Cantrill Arthur Cantrill, AM (born 1938) and Corinne Cantrill, AM (born 1928) are filmmakers, academics, composers and authors based in Castlemaine, Australia. They have worked in children's educational film, experimental 16mm shorts, multiple projection ...

. In 1990 the Art Gallery of New South Wales staged an exhibition which comprised, in part, reconstruction of some of the rooms from the Yellow House. A retrospective history of the Yellow House was compiled by Johanna Mendelson in association with the exhibition. The original building survives, though it now houses a mix of residential and commercial development, including the Yellow restaurant.

Notable members

George Gittoes George Noel Gittoes, (born 7 December 1949) is an Australian artist, film producer, director and writer. In 1970, he was a founder of the Yellow House Artist Collective in Sydney. After the Yellow House finished, he established himself in Bu ...

Brett Whiteley Brett Whiteley AO (7 April 1939 – 15 June 1992) was an Australian artist. He is represented in the collections of all the large Australian galleries, and was twice winner of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes. He held many exhibitions ...

Ellis D Fogg Ellis D Fogg was the pseudonym of the Australian artist Roger Foley (born 24 January 1942). Now known as Roger Foley-Fogg, the National Film and Sound Archive has described him as Australia's "most innovative lighting designer and lumino kinetic ...

Greg Weight Greg Weight (born 2 December 1946 in Sydney, Australia) is an Australian photographer specialising in fine art photography and portraiture. Greg was the inaugural winner of the Australian Photographic Portrait Prize in 2003 and his book ''Aust ...

Juno Gemes Juno Gemes (born 1944) is a Hungarian-born Australian activist and photographer, best known for her photography of Aboriginal Australians.David Litvinoff * Tim Burns * Jon Lewis * Peter Royles * Tim Lewis

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=September 2019 Peter Royles

External links

NSW Government, Office of Environment and Heritage - Former Artists' Studio "The Yellow House" Including Interior

The Roger Foley Collection, University of Wollongong Library

The Yellow House, University of Wollongong

''Martin Sharp Art to Eternity'', Peter Royles Youtube video
Arts centres in Australia Australian artist groups and collectives Culture of Sydney