Gil Jamieson - Career

Career

Jamieson liked to be thought of as a Romantic. He objected to the labels of art commentators. He painted figurative art works, landscape art works, and portraits striking for their passionate intensity of both subject and colour. He wrestled with the tough reality of survival in the bush and lived the landscape that he painted.

He lived and worked on the land with his family raising cattle on a bush block near Monto. He embarked on extensive expeditions throughout Australia capturing the subtle beauty and magnificence of the country in gouaches he called his 'sonnets'. His 72 foot 360 degree mural 'Jay Creek', an oil on canvas, painted on location in Central Australia, his largest and a most engrossing work was painted in four days in searing heat.

Jamieson regarded himself as a self taught artist, however he attended Brisbane Central Technical College (with Melville Haysom), 1956–57. While in Brisbane he aspired to political cartooning, worked as a quick sketch artist outside a nightclub and held his first exhibition at a Brisbane pub

Jamieson and his wife Maureen moved from Monto to Melbourne and his career flourished. His work was taken up by John Reed of Heide Museum of Modern Art where he exhibited. He developed strong friendships with fellow artists: George Johnson, Fred Williams, John Perceval, Edwin Tanner to name a few. These friendships sustained and affirmed his contribution to Australian art as later in his career, fellow artists such as Cliff Pugh and Arthur Boyd supported his work. He chose to return to the bush and relative obscurity returning regularly to exhibit in Melbourne.

Throughout his career Jamieson had many supporters of his work including Kym Bonython and Rudy Komon. He had a long association with Rockhampton exhibiting there and in Brisbane regularly throughout his career. Rockhampton Art Gallery toured a retrospective for two years throughout regional Australia and overseas 1997-9.