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Archibald Prize

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The Archibald Prize is regarded as the most important portraiture prize, and is the most prominent of all arts prizes, in Australia. It began in 1921 after a bequest from J F Archibald, the editor of The Bulletin, and is awarded annually by the Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales for "the best portrait, preferentially of some man or woman distinguished in Art, Letters, Science or Politics, painted by an artist resident in Australasia during the 12 months preceding the date fixed by the Trustees for sending in the pictures." In 2005, the prize awarded was $35,000.

Controversy

The prize has historically attracted a good deal of controversy and several court cases; the most famous in 1943 when William Dobell's win was challenged because of claims it was a caricature rather than a painting.

Max Meldrum criticised the Archibald Prize winner in 1938, saying that women could not be expected to paint as well as men. Nora Heysen was the first woman to win the Archibald Prize, with a portrait of Madame Elink Schuurman, the wife of the Consul General for the Netherlands.

In 1952 several art students including John Olsen protested William Dargie's winning portrait, the seventh time he had been awarded the prize. One protester tied a sign around her dog which said "Winner Archibald Prize - William Doggie". Dargie went on to win the prize again in 1956.

In 1975, John Bloomfield's portrait of Tim Burstall was disqualified on the grounds that it had been painted from a blown up photograph, rather than from life. The prize was then awarded to Kevin Connor. Later, legal action was threatened by John Bloomfield in 1981, claiming that the winner that year, Eric Smith had not painted his subject from life. In 1983 John Bloomfield sued for the return of the 1975 prize which was unsuccessful. In 1995 the application form of the Archibald Prize was modified based on this to make clear that the subject must be painted from life.

In 1985, administration of the trust was transferred to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, after a court case where the Perpetual Trustee Company took the Australian Journalists Association Benevolent Fund to court.

In 1997 the painting of the Bananas in Pyjamas television characters by Evert Ploeg was deemed ineligible by the trustees because it was not a painting of a person.

Another controversy involved the 2000 Archibald winner, when artist Adam Cullen lodged a complaint with the ABC who had used his painting, Portrait of David Wenham, in a television commercial.

In 2002, head packer Steve Peters singled out a painting of himself by Dave Machin as a possible winner for the Packing Room Prize. It did not win, but it was hung outside the Archibald exhibition. Following this, portraits of the head packer were no longer allowed.

In 2004 Craig Ruddy's image of David Gulpilil, which won both the main prize and the "People's Choice" award, was challenged on the basis that it was a charcoal sketch rather than a painting.

History

The first prize awarded in 1921 was 400 pounds.

In the early years of the Archibald Prize, the winner was dominated by Victorians, such as McInnes, Longstaff, and Dargie, which was somewhat resented by the art community in Sydney.

In 1942 William Dargie won the prize with a painting which he had done as an official war artist during World War 2 in Syria. The ship carrying the painting back to Australia sank and was underwater for some time.

1946 was the first year in which the trustees selected works for entry, rather than displaying all those entered. Less than half of the entries were chosen for exhibition.

Another notable winner is the 1956 portrait of Australia's first aboriginal citizen, painter Albert Namatjira, by William Dargie. Namatjira is one of the most famous Australian Aboriginal artists and the portrait was done while he was visiting Sydney from the Central Desert. He died only a few years after the portrait was painted. In 1956 the Archibald prize money was 682 pounds 13 shillings and 8 pence.

In 1964 and 1980 the Trustees decided not to award the prize to anyone, deeming that no work was at the required standard.

Additional Categories

Since 1988 there have been two extra categories added to the Archibald prize event. Both are more likely to award a celebrity such as actor or musician, than the main prize. One of them being the Packing Room Prize in which the staff, who receive the portraits and install them in the gallery, vote for their choice of winner. Although the prize is said to be awarded by the staff, the gallery's storeman, Steve Peters, has held 51% of the vote since 1991, when the first Packing room prize was given. The other category is the Peoples Choice Award in which votes from the viewing public are collected to find a winner, this award also comes with a monetary prize of $2,500. To date, there has never been a matching Archibald Prize winner and a Packing Room Prize chosen in the same year, but there were two Peoples Choice Awards given to Archibald Prize winners in 1988 and 2004.

Twice there has been a matching Packing prize winner and Peoples choice award (neither won the main prize), to Paul Newton's portrait of Roy Slaven and HG Nelson in 2001, and to Jan Williamsons portrait of singer/songwriter Jenny Morris the following year in 2002.

Associated prizes

The Archibald is held at the same time as the Sulman prize, the Wynne prize, the recent Australian Photographic Portrait Prize and was held with the Dobell Prize before 2003. The Archibald prize is the second richest portrait prize in Australia, before the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize. However, the Archibald is the only artist's prize that receives much attention in the general press. Part of the reason is probably that many of the paintings feature prominent Australians such as actors, sportspeople, and politicians, and thus making the art more accessible than other genres. It is also longer running with a richer tradition than the newer established portrait prizes.

In 1978 Brett Whiteley won the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes all in the same year, the first and only time this has happened. It was his second win for the Archibald and the other prizes as well.

Some works which do not make the Archibald Prize finalists are shown at the Salon des Refusés exhibition, which began in 1992.

The satirical Bald Archie prize was started in 1994 as a parody of the Archibald Prize, at the Coolac Festival of Fun, and had so many visitors that it was moved to Sydney.

List of winners

Year - Artist - Title

Winners of the Packing Room Prize


Winners of the Peoples Choice Award

Notable finalists

Besides the winners, there have been many Archibald finalists of Australian celebrities, including musicians, athletes, politicians, film-makers and artists. Some selected ones: (listed Artist - Subject)

1946

1979

  • Bressow, Lance - Dame Joan Sutherland
  • Palaitis, Josonia - The Honourable John Howard, M.P.
  • Pendlebury, L Scott - Anne and Drew Pendlebury (Actress and Musician respectively) ( Drew Pendlebury band member of The Sports )


1980s

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989


1990s

1991/1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000s

2000

a focus in sport, due to the 2000 Sydney Olympics

2001

2002

2003

2004

See also complete list of Archibald prize 2004 finalists

2005

See also complete list of Archibald prize 2005 finalists

External links

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