Getting hung at the Archibald, a prestigious Australian Art Portrait Prize, has always been tricky. There is now a website called, ‘What makes an Archibald Winner?’ by Tim Leslie, development by Simon Elvery and design by Ben Spragggon. If you are interested in finding out more about the Archibald, this site covers such things as: colour palette of previous winners, style, medium, subject’s occupation, subject gender, artist gender (81male/ 9 female), ethnicity, artist age, artist location, canvas size, aspect ratio. Here are two examples:
ARTIST AGE The golden decade for winning the Archibald seems to be between 35 and 44; 40 per cent of winners fall within this demographic, and the most common winner is aged 35.
This year’s finalists line up fairly closely with the winners, with a third in the ideal range.
The honour of being the oldest Archibald winner goes to John Olson, who was 77 when he won with a self portrait in 2005.
SUBJECT GENDER: While a painting featuring a woman won the Archibald just two years after its inception, only 13 winners in the past 93 years have been of women, and of those four were in the first decade.
These comparisons are very interesting. It shows Chris, my husband, is up against the trend with his age being against him. I do believe his choice of subject, Rosie Batty, is in his favour, and will hopefully help him to have his painting hung. Tension reigns in this house as the painting is in its final stages. Photographing, framing and organising transport are the easy bits. The entry forms are available from today, so there will be at least a thousand artists suffering the same dilemma. I shall not post a photo of the painting until we know if the painting gets chosen to be hung, or not. Rosie is delighted with it, as are we!
To try to answer the question set by WP for the prompt: Though I haven’t changed my view, I believe age should be an advantage to a painter, having practised for longer and gained maturity and experience. Having looked at the statistics of Archibald Prize winner’s chosen subjects to be 77 male to 13 female, it is time again for another woman to be held in high regard and given encouragement and applause; for her dedication to improve the lot of those who have been abused.
Flip Flop, by Michelle W.
Think of a topic or issue which you’ve switched your opinion. Why the change?
Barbara Pyett 
What a very interesting post this was for me. I learned about the prestigious portrait prize, the competition, your husband’s level of skill, and you and your support for him at the same time you take a stand for women. Good reading, thank you, and good luck to Chris.
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Thanks Janet, I shall post about this at a later date, especially when the exhibition is brought to our region later on.
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None of these factors should influence who wins the prize and judging should be blind (no names or ages given for the entries). Anything else is not a true competition. Still, I hope Chris gets lucky with Rosie Batty.
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We shall be thrilled if he gets hung! 🙂
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All the best to Chris, and to you as well.
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Thanks Christine, shall keep you posted!
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I work in the design field and I often have to make a bid. Gender and age is mostly withheld, only the “product” counts and I think that’s how it should be. Who cares that I am female working in a man’s field, that shouldn’t matter …and surprisingly for many it really doesn’t.
I wish your husband good luck and I hope he enjoys the journey 🙂
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Bridget, you are right, the work should speak for itself! I was interested to hear that you work in the design field too. It has been wonderful watching Chris’s work come into being. 🙂
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I bring furniture back to live, or drag them into the 21st Century :-).
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What a great and exciting profession you have Bridget. Do you ever post about this?
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Good luck to Chris!
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Thanks Cynthia! 🙂
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Interesting. I’d have assumed as Gerard said, that names and sexes are withheld, and the statistics are more likely to reflect the statistics of those who enter to begin with.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed for Chris!
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Yes, I suppose the majority are perhaps younger. Those that have tried year after year, and perhaps not succesfully enough (as was my case) give up entering paintings in competitions.
By the way, John Olsen as a young man taught me art together with Colin Lanceley from NZ. They both were already then getting a name for themselves. The art school was ‘Mary white school of Art’.
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We were interested to hear that John Olsen and Colin Lanceley were two of your teachers. I hope you are still finding time to paint!
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As this is the first time Chris has entered this prize, we don’t hold out much hope. The important thing is he’ll keep entering!! You are probably right that there are more young people entering. Thanks for your support Helen!! 🙂
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I am not sure but having been successful in a painting accepted in the Wynne at the NSW gallery I am sure the judging is done with names and sexes withheld at the judging. Of course, signatures on a painting might well show up when the judges are going through them.
It is the same with literature prices. Names and sex are witheld and only announced after the winners are made public. I know this by reading the application forms.
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Congratulations Gerard for being accepted into the Wynne Prize, that is terrific! You are probably right about names and details not shown at judging, but most people become known for their style etc. and therefore the work would be recognised. It just seems to be a younger person’s ‘game’. Maybe I’m becoming old a cynical. I hope to be proved wrong about that!
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informative and beautiful colour
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Thank you! ❤
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