In 1953 Charles and Barbara Blackman visited Whistlewood (home of Everywhen Art) and the McCulloch family for the first time. It was the start of a friendship and ongoing correspondence between Barbara and Charles Blackman and Alan and Ellen McCulloch that lasted for many decades as their professional lives similarly interwove. We are delighted to welcome back the Blackmans presence at Whistlewood this December with an exhibition that celebrates Christabel Blackman's (Charles and Barbara's daughter) recent book, Charles and Barbara Blackman: a decade of art and love.

The exhibition, curated by Christabel Blackman, covers Blackman's entire exhibiting career from 1951 to 2018 and, as with her insightful book relates a personal and moving story.

Here, direct from the Blackman Family Collections, are intimate works of love, longing, humour, contemplation and perception over 6 decades of her father's prolific and important career.

Highlights include:

• Rare drawings from the early 50s

• a delightful pencil on paper drawing Schoolgirl and Cat- one of Blackman's most well known subject.

• Jardin des Plantes - a line work which captures both the abundance and detail of one Blackman's favourite Parisian gardens

• The sea and Charles' love of swimming also features in several works, such as the 2012 ink and watercolour Mermaid and Cat and La Mere. The early 1950s The Diver sketched while visiting St Kilda Baths is one of a series that first brought Charles' work to wider attention- not least because of the controversy that erupted after Melbourne Herald art critic Alan McCulloch favourably reviewed Blackman's work- noting that his drawings showed 'power and artistry.'

•A selection of artists' proofs from the Masterwork Series of prints, produced to celebrate Charles's 90th birthday in 2018 taken from some of his most famous paintings of the 1950s and 60s.

• Two delightfully quirky and equally poignant works (being some of the last works made by Blackman just before he died in 2018) Mort and Catasauqua. These artists proofs were originally made as illustrations of the first (1987) Australian publication of Mark Twain's book A Cat-Tale. Blackman's cats pay tribute to both poet T.S Eliot's 1930s Old Possums Book of Practical Cats and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats based on Eliot's poems.

• a group of delightful vibrantly coloured small sculptures recognises Blackman's long history with three dimensional form

Follow the 'More information' link for further details.