kids encyclopedia robot

List of Archibald Prize winners facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
W B McInnes - H. Desbrowe Annear (1921)
1921 Desbrowe Annear by W B McInnes was the first Archibald Prize winner

The Archibald Prize is a famous art competition held every year in Australia. It's all about portraiture, which means painting pictures of people. Artists from all over Australia enter their best portraits, hoping to win this special award. The prize started way back in 1921. It was created by a man named J.F. Archibald, who wanted to encourage Australian artists.

The Archibald Prize is one of Australia's oldest and most important art awards. It celebrates the skill of painting people and shows us many interesting faces from Australian life.

What is the Archibald Prize?

The Archibald Prize is awarded to the best portrait painted by an artist living in Australia. The portrait must be of a person who is famous in art, literature, science, or politics. The judges are usually the trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. They pick the winner from many entries each year.

How the Winner is Chosen

Artists send in their portraits, and then the judges look at all of them. They choose a group of paintings called "finalists." These finalists are shown in an exhibition that many people visit. From these finalists, the judges pick one winner.

Other Special Awards

Besides the main Archibald Prize, there are two other special awards:

  • The Packing Room Prize: This award is chosen by the people who work in the art gallery's packing room. They are the first ones to see all the artworks when they arrive.
  • The People's Choice Award: This award is chosen by the public. Visitors to the exhibition can vote for their favourite portrait.

Famous Archibald Prize Winners

Over the years, many talented artists have won the Archibald Prize. Their paintings show us important people and different styles of art from Australian history.

Headinthesky
'Head in the Sky, feet on the Ground,' Julia Gutman's portrait of Montaigne was the winner of the 2023 Archibald Prize
McInnes Miss Collins 1924
1924 Miss Collins by W B McInnes
George Washington Lambert - Mrs Annie Murdoch
1927 Mrs Annie Murdoch by G. W. Lambert
John Longstaff Leeper1928
1928 Dr Alexander Leeper by John Longstaff
Edmund Herring by William Dargie
1945 LtGen Edmund Herring by William Dargie

Here are some of the artists and their winning portraits:

Year Artist Title Subject
1921 McInnes, W BW B McInnes Desbrowe Annear Desbrowe-Annear, HaroldHarold Desbrowe-Annear
1924 McInnes, W BW B McInnes Miss Collins Collins, Gladys NevilleGladys Neville Collins
1925 Longstaff, JohnJohn Longstaff Maurice Moscovitch Moscovitch, MauriceMaurice Moscovitch
1927 Lambert, George W.George W. Lambert Mrs Annie Murdoch Murdoch, AnnieAnnie Murdoch
1928 Longstaff, JohnJohn Longstaff Dr Alexander Leeper Leeper, AlexanderAlexander Leeper
1935 Longstaff, JohnJohn Longstaff AB (Banjo) Paterson Paterson, BanjoBanjo Paterson
1938 Heysen, NoraNora Heysen Mme Elink Schuurman Schuurman, Adine Michele ElinkAdine Michele Elink Schuurman
1943 Dobell, WilliamWilliam Dobell Mr Joshua Smith Smith , JoshuaJoshua Smith
1948 Dobell, WilliamWilliam Dobell Margaret Olley Olley, MargaretMargaret Olley
1956 Dargie, WilliamWilliam Dargie Mr Albert Namatjira Namatjira, AlbertAlbert Namatjira
1962 Kahan, LouisLouis Kahan Patrick White White, PatrickPatrick White
1972 Pugh, CliftonClifton Pugh The Hon E.G. Whitlam Whitlam, GoughGough Whitlam
1976 Whiteley, BrettBrett Whiteley Self portrait in the studio Whiteley, BrettBrett Whiteley
1987 Robinson , WilliamWilliam Robinson Equestrian Self Portrait Robinson , WilliamWilliam Robinson
1991/92 Westwood, BryanBryan Westwood The Prime Minister Keating, PaulPaul Keating
1996 Sharpe, WendyWendy Sharpe Self Portrait – as Diana of Erskineville Sharpe, WendyWendy Sharpe
2000 Cullen, AdamAdam Cullen Portrait of David Wenham Wenham, DavidDavid Wenham
2004 Ruddy, CraigCraig Ruddy David Gulpilil, two worlds Gulpilil, DavidDavid Gulpilil
2008 Barton, Del KathrynDel Kathryn Barton You are what is most beautiful about me, a self portrait with Kell and Arella Barton, Del KathrynDel Kathryn Barton
2011 Quilty, BenBen Quilty Margaret Olley Olley, MargaretMargaret Olley
2016 Hearman, LouiseLouise Hearman Barry Humphries, BarryBarry Humphries
2020 Namatjira, VincentVincent Namatjira Stand Strong for Who You Are Goodes, AdamAdam Goodes
2023 Gutman, JuliaJulia Gutman Head in the sky, feet on the ground Montaigne, Montaigne (musician)Montaigne (musician) Montaigne

Winners of the Packing Room Prize

Further information: Packing Room Prize

The Packing Room Prize is a fun award given by the art handlers. These are the people who carefully unpack and hang all the paintings. They get to see every artwork first!

Year Artist Title Subject
1994 Robertson, PeterPeter Robertson Kate Ceberano Ceberano, KateKate Ceberano
1997 Leak, BillBill Leak Tex (Perkins) Perkins, TexTex Perkins
2000 Leak, BillBill Leak 'Are you with me': portrait of Sir Les Patterson Patterson, Sir LesSir Les Patterson
2008 Ball, MartinMartin Ball Neil Finn Finn, NeilNeil Finn
2011 Fantauzzo, VincentVincent Fantauzzo Matt Moran Moran, MattMatt Moran
2019 MacKay, TessaTessa MacKay Through the looking glass Wenham, DavidDavid Wenham
2023 Huelin, AndreaAndrea Huelin Clown jewels Wilson, CalCal Wilson

Winners of the People's Choice Award

Further information: People's Choice Award

The People's Choice Award is special because it's chosen by the public. Everyone who visits the Archibald Prize exhibition can vote for their favourite portrait. This award shows which painting connects most with the people.

Year Artist Title Subject
1994 Leak, BillBill Leak Malcolm Turnbull Turnbull, MalcolmMalcolm Turnbull
1999 Ploeg, EvertEvert Ploeg Deborah Mailman Mailman, DeborahDeborah Mailman
2004 Ruddy, CraigCraig Ruddy David Gulpilil, two worlds Gulpilil, DavidDavid Gulpilil
2008 Fantauzzo, VincentVincent Fantauzzo Heath Ledger, HeathHeath Ledger
2013 Fantauzzo, VincentVincent Fantauzzo Love face Keddie, AsherAsher Keddie
2016 Stathopoulos, NickNick Stathopoulos Deng Adut, DengDeng Adut
2017 Do, AnhAnh Do JC Charles, JackJack Charles
2022 Eden, JeremyJeremy Eden Samuel Johnson OAM Johnson, SamuelSamuel Johnson

Images for kids

  • 1922 Archibald McInnes Moore

    1922 (McInnes)

  • 1923 Archibald McInnes Lady

    1923 (McInnes)

  • 1925 Archibald Longstaff Moscovitch

    1925 (Longstaff)

  • 1926 Archibald McInnes Paterson

    1926 (McInnes)

  • 1929 Archibald Longstaff Holman

    1929 (Longstaff)

  • 1930 Archibald McInnes McClelland

    1930 (McInnes)

  • 1931 Archibald Longstaff Sulman

    1931 (Longstaff)

  • John Longstaff - Banjo Paterson, 1935

    1935 (Longstaff)

  • 1936 Archibald McInnes Smith

    1936 (McInnes)

  • 1937 Archibald Baker

    1937 (Baker)

  • SLNSW 24327 Portrait submitted for Archibald Prize-crop

    1938 (Heysen)

See also

  • Lists of Archibald Prize finalists
kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
List of Archibald Prize winners Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.