Entries arrive

Entries for all prizes are received at the Art Gallery of NSW from Monday 5 March until Friday 9 March 2012 from 8am to 4pm.

Announcement of finalists for all prizes + winner of the Packing Room Prize

Thursday 15 March at 11am (media only)

The names of artists selected for the Archibald, Wynne & Sulman Prizes will be announced on Thursday 15 March at 11am. At the same time the Packing Room Prize will be announced. In its 21st year, this highly coveted prize of $1,000 cash and a $500 ANZ Visa debit card is awarded by the burly blokes behind the scenes, who receive, unpack and hang all the entries. First awarded in 1991, the Packing Room Prize is adjudicated by the Gallery’s storeman, Steve Peters, who continues to claim his right to 51% of the votes. The 2011 Packing Room Prize was won by Vincent Fantauzzo for his portrait of Matt Moran.

Announcement of winners

Friday 30 March at 12 noon (media only)

Australia’s most extraordinary art event, the Archibald Prize, first awarded in 1921, is one of this country’s oldest and most prestigious art awards. Combined with the Wynne & Sulman Prizes, lively debate and controversy is assured.

With the financial support of the ANZ, the winner of the Archibald Prize receives $75,000, the Wynne Prize for landscape painting or figure sculpture $35,000, and the Sulman Prize for subject/genre painting and/or mural work $30,000.

The People’s Choice

Thursday 17 May at 11am

Since 1988 the public has had the opportunity to vote for their favourite portrait in the Archibald exhibition.

The artist receives $2500 and a $1000 ANZ Visa Debit Card for winning the People’s Choice. Each year a voter for the Archibald painting that receives the most votes is selected to win a prize – this year, $2500 and a $1000 ANZ Visa Debit Card and one nights accommodation at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth. The 2011 People’s Choice was won by Adam Chang for his portrait of JM Coetzee.

 

The Archibald, Wynne & Sulman Prizes principal sponsor is ANZ

“We are very pleased to be sponsoring Australia’s most popular portraiture prize for a third year,” said ANZ Chairman John Morschel. “At ANZ, we say that we live in your world and our support for the Archibald is part of our commitment to the Sydney community, its thriving arts sector and our customers.”

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Notes to Editor

The Archibald Prize – $75,000

Jules François Archibald’s primary aim, through his bequest of 1919, was to foster portraiture, as well as support artists, and perpetuate the memory of great Australians. Amongst many controversies, these original aims have certainly been fulfilled, and indeed many believe the Archibald Prize has done more than any other single event to stimulate and sustain public interest in the art of portrait painting in Australia.

The Archibald Prize was first awarded in 1921 and over the years some of Australia’s most prominent artists have won, including George Lambert (1927), William Dobell (1943, ’48 and ’59) Brett Whiteley (1976 and ’78) and William Robinson (1987, ’95). The subjects of Archibald winners have been equally celebrated in their fields and include ‘Banjo’ Patterson, Margaret Olley, Patrick White, Paul Keating, John Bell and David Wenham. The 2011 Archibald Prize was won by Ben Quilty for his portrait of Margaret Olley

The Archibald Prize is judged by the Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

The Wynne Prize – $35,000

In the terms of the bequest of the late Richard Wynne of Mount Wilson, who died in 1895, the Wynne Prize is awarded to what the judges consider to be the best landscape painting of Australian scenery in oils or watercolours, or for the best example of figure sculpture by an Australian artist.

It was first awarded in 1897, in honour of the official opening of the Art Gallery of New South Wales at its present site. Many winning paintings have become icons in Australian landscape painting, entering the collections of public art museums: Hans Heysen’s watercolour Summer, a consummate masterpiece of 1909, and Russell Drysdale’s classic Sofala of 1947 were both purchased for the collection of the Art Gallery of NSW. No less than eight Wynne Prize winning entries have been purchased by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The winner of the 2011 Wynne Prize was Richard Goodwin for his sculpture Co-isolated slave.

The Wynne Prize is judged by the Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Entries in the Wynne Prize are also considered by the judges for The Trustees’ Watercolour Prize ($2,000) and for the John & Elizabeth Newham Pring Memorial Prize ($250).

The Sulman Prize – $30,000

The Sulman Prize is awarded for the best subject painting, genre painting or mural project by an Australian artist. Established within the terms of the late Sir John Sulman’s bequest, it was first awarded in 1936. The winner of the 2011 Sulman Prize was Peter Smeeth for his painting, The artist’s fate.

Susan Norrie is the judge for the 2012 Sulman Prize.