Description

Extended Data

DAAO URL

https://www.daao.org.au/bio/george-joseph-victor-baldessin

Birth Place

San Biagio di Callalta, Italy

Biography

printmaker, sculptor and teacher, was born in San Biagio di Callalta, Italy. He migrated with his father in 1949 to join his mother in Carlton, Melbourne. After studying at Royal Melbourne Institure of Technology [RMIT] (Fine Art Diploma 1961) he went to London and began studying printmaking at the Chelsea School of Art in 1962. Later that year he moved to Milan and spent a year with Marino Marini at the Brera Academy. He returned to Australia in 1963 and became part-time instructor in the Printmaking Dept of RMIT, full-time in 1968-74. He held his first solo exhibition, featuring sculpture, drawings and prints, in 1964. Visited Japan in 1967. Set up a studio in Paris in 1975, the year he was represented in the Bienal de Sao Paulo. In 1976, with Imants Tillers (b.1950), he did a series of etching/aquatints, According to Des Esseintes (ill. MacIntyre, in Art Gallery of New South Wales collection). Albury Regional Art Centre owns his Personage and Entrances 1974, etching, 2 sheets (ill. Hanson, cat. 210) and Head 1965 is at Museum of Modern Art at Heide (ill. Hanson, cat.209). Baldessin died in a car accident aged 39. Several memorial exhibitions were held, most notably one at the National Gallery of Victoria. This entry is a stub. You can help the DAAO by submitting a biography. Writers: Staff Writer Date written: 1996 Last updated: 2007

Born

b. 1939

Summary

Widely travelled, Baldessin honed his art through formal training and collaborative projects. He was a highly respected printmaker who studied at the Chelsea School of Art in London before teaching in the printmaking department at RMIT in Melbourne. In 1975 he was represented in the Bienal de Sao Paulo in Brazil and despite his premature death in a car accident at the age of 39, he is well represe

Gender

Male

Died

1978

Age at death

39