Australia’s most prestigious portrait prize also tells us a lot about the nation – so we’ve gone through more than a century of data and 6,000 finalists to get the big picture
But the most common subject of winning portraits are art world figures: other artists and art dealers, as well as self portraits.The first winning self portrait was by Henry Hanke in 1934. Unemployed, Hanke made his own oil paint, got a scrap of canvas, and painted himself because he couldn’t afford a model, ripped a frame off another work, and won.The colours used in Archibald portraits have changed significantly over time.
It wasn’t until 1966 that John Molvig’s portrait of fellow artist Charlie Blackman “suddenly introduced that pop of colour,” Wilson says. “Then we got a procession of works through the 1970s with very vivid colour that is non-naturalistic.” The actual size of the works has also changed with time. In the first decade, miniatures – under 10cm – were the flavour of the day, Wilson says.
Roughly 70% of portraits hung in the Archibald have been submitted by male artists. In the last couple of decades, the proportion of female artists has been increasing. In 2021, the Archibald hit gender parity among finalists for the first time.
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