The judgement of Paris I, from the portfolio The judgement of Paris

James Gleeson was born at Hornsby, Sydney and is the most prominent Surrealist in Australian art. He studied at East Sydney Technical College 1934-36 and at Sydney Teacher's College with May Marsden 1937-38. He taught at Kogarah Girls' High School 1941-44 and Sydney Teachers' College 194-46, and was art critic for Sydney newspapers 'The Sun' 1949-72 and 'The Sun Herald' 1962-72. Gleeson has published several books on art including monographs on William Dobell in 1964 and Robert Klippel in 1983; he was visiting curator at the newly formed Australian National Gallery, Canberra 1975-78 and a member of its First Council 1976-82. He has been awarded a Member of the Order of Australia (1975) and Officer of the Order of Australia (1990).

In the 1970s Gleeson turned his attention to making works on paper - drawings and collages especially. He produced many preparatory drawings, now in the Gallery's collection, that were to emerge in 'The judgement of Paris' portfolio. It consists of six colour lithographs and one title page. The title page is inscribed with an edition of 15/20; twenty portfolios were released and twenty as individual prints.

Hendrik Kolenberg and Anne Ryan, 'Australian prints from the Gallery's collection', AGNSW, 1998