George Baldessin

George Baldessin (19 May 1939 – 9 August 1978) was an Italian–Australian artist.

Early life and education George Victor Joseph (George) Baldessin was born on 19 May 1939 in San Biagio di Callalta, Veneto, Italy. His father, Luigi, was born in 1914 in Monastier di Treviso; his mother, Carmen Cervi, was born in 1920 in nearby Montebelluna and emigrated with her family to Queenstown, Tasmania at the age of five, gaining Australian citizenship in 1928 and moving back to Italy two years later. In 1939, a few months after George's birth, Carmen returned to Australia; Luigi planned to join her with George soon afterwards, but was forced to postpone their departure due to the advent of the Second World War. Father and son finally embarked for Australia on board the ship Ugolino Vivaldi in 1949, landing at Melbourne on 17 February.

At 13, having lied about his real age, George Baldessin began working as a part-time waiter at the Menzies Hotel in Melbourne; Owen Gammel, a fellow waiter and art student, was positively impressed by the artistic quality of his sketches of Port Melbourne docks, and encouraged the young George to enroll in an art school. From 1958 to 1961 Baldessin attended the Royal Melbourne Technical College, where he gradually lost interest in painting and became more interested in sculpture and printmaking; After gaining his Diploma of Fine Art (Painting), in 1962 Baldessin moved to London, where he studied printmaking at the Chelsea School of Art; in September of the same year he visited Spain. In this period, and most notably during his English stay, Baldessin discovered many artists that would profoundly influence his later production, including Francis Bacon, David Hockney, Peter Blake, Ingmar Bergman, and Luis Buñuel. retained as part of Rialto Towers. Baldessin returned to Australia on 8 July 1963, moreover, he took part in the exhibition 'Australian Prints Today' at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. over the next few years, the place evolved into a vibrant atelier and meeting place for young artists and students. The Australian National University named one of its campus structures (the Baldessin Precinct Building) after the artist. In 2018 the National Gallery of Victoria showcased the work of George Baldessin and Brett Whiteley in an exhibition titled Parallel Visions, “featuring some of their most iconic works.”

Work

Baldessin considered printmaking and sculpture two complementary arts.