The Archibald Prize was the first major prize for portraiture in Australian art. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, the editor of The Bulletin who died in 1919. It is now administered by the trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales and awarded for "the best portrait, preferentially of some man or woman distinguished in Art, Letters, Science or Politics, painted by an artist resident in Australia during the twelve months preceding the date fixed by the trustees for sending in the pictures." The Archibald Prize has been awarded annually since 1921 and since July 2015 the prize has been AU$100,000. In 2020 the competition has been delayed due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Australian art is any art made in or about Australia, or by Australians overseas, from prehistoric times to the present. This includes Aboriginal, Colonial, Landscape, Atelier, early-twentieth-century painters, print makers, photographers, and sculptors influenced by European modernism, Contemporary art. The visual arts have a long history in Australia, with evidence of Aboriginal art dating back at least 30,000 years. Australia has produced many notable artists of both Western and Indigenous Australian schools, including the late-19th-century Heidelberg School plein air painters, the Antipodeans, the Central Australian Hermannsburg School watercolourists, the Western Desert Art Movement and coeval examples of well-known High modernism and Postmodern art.
Sir William (Bill) Dobell was a renowned Australian portrait and landscape artist of the 20th century. Dobell won the Archibald Prize, Australia's premier award for portrait artists on three occasions. The Dobell Prize is named in his honour.
The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), located in The Domain in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, is the most important public gallery in Sydney and one of the largest in Australia. The Gallery's first public exhibition opened in 1874. Admission is free to the general exhibition space, which displays Australian art, European and Asian art. A dedicated Asian Gallery was opened in 2003.
Sali Herman was a Swiss-born Australian artist, one of Australia's Official War Artists for the Second World War.
George Washington Thomas Lambert was an Australian artist, known principally for portrait painting and as a war artist during the First World War.
Lloyd Frederic Rees AC CMG was an Australian landscape painter who twice won the Wynne Prize for his landscape paintings.
Elioth Lauritz Leganyer Gruner was an Australian artist.
John Beard is a Welsh artist and painter born in Aberdare, Wales, he is now based in Sydney, Lisbon and London.
Adrian Feint was an Australian artist. He worked in various media, but is noted for his bookplate designs.
Alethea Mary Proctor was an Australian painter, print maker, designer and teacher who upheld the ideas of 'taste' and 'style'.
Tim Storrier AM is an Australian artist who won the 2017 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize with The Lunar Savant, a portrait of fellow artist, McLean Edwards.
Spring Frost is a 1919 painting by the Australian artist Elioth Gruner. The painting depicts a small herd of dairy cows in the early morning. Gruner's most well-known painting, Spring Frost was awarded the Wynne Prize in 1919.
Across the black soil plans is a 1899 painting by Australian artist George Washington Lambert. The landscape depicts a team of draft horses pulling a wagon heavily laden with wool bales. Lambert's "best known bush image", Across the black soil plains was awarded the Wynne Prize in 1899.
Sofala is a 1947 painting by Australian artist Russell Drysdale. The painting depicts the main street of the New South Wales town of Sofala. The painting won the Wynne Prize for 1947. The Art Gallery of New South Wales describe the work as "one of [his] finest paintings, representing the artist at the height of his powers." and that "the painting transcends literal description of a particular place to become an expression of the quintessential qualities of an inland Australian country town".
Aida Tomescu is an Australian contemporary artist, who is known for her abstract paintings, drawings and prints. Tomescu is the winner of Dobell Prize for Drawing, the Wynne Prize for Landscape and the Sir John Sulman Prize by the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Kudditji Kngwarreye was an Australian Aboriginal artist from the Utopia community in the Northern Territory. He was the brother of the late Emily Kame Kngwarreye and like his skin sister Emily, was one of the most prominent and successful artists in the history of contemporary indigenous Australian art.
The Julian Ashton Art School was established by Julian Ashton in 1890 as the "Academy Julian", has been an influential art school in Australia. For a long time it was known as the Sydney Art School.
Rosemary Wynnis Madigan was an Australian sculptor, stonecarver and woodcarver who focused on the human figure. Born in Glenelg to the geologist Cecil Madigan, she decided on a career as a sculptor at the age of 12 and studied in schools in Adelaide and Sydney. Madigan won a three-year scholarship to study abroad from 1950 to 1953. She began teaching pottery, painting and sculpture at various schools between the 1950s and the 1960s. Madigan was in a working partnership with the constructivist sculptor Robert Klippel until the latter's death in 2001 and won the Wynne Prize for a carved sandstone torso in 1986.
Barbara Mbitjana Moore is an Anmatyerre woman who grew up in Ti-Tree in the Northern Territory, until she moved to Amata in South Australia's Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands to live with her husband. Whilst living in Amata Moore began painting at Tjala Arts in April 2003 and, since then, has received widespread recognition and being listed at a winner at the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award's in 2012 and a finalist many more times. Moore has also been a finalist for the Wynne Prize.
