Portrait painting competition for the Archibald Prize

The Archibald Portrait Competition is one of the oldest and most prestigious annual fine art competitions in Australia. In 1900, Jules Francis Archibald, editor and owner of the famous Sydney magazine The Bulletin, asked the artist John Longstaff to paint a portrait of the famous Australian poet Henry Lawson. Jules Archibald liked the portrait so much that he decided to bequeath part of his fortune to the development of the arts. The main ideas of the annual competition for which Archibald left money were the promotion of portrait painting, the support of artists and the perpetuation of the memory of famous Australians. Since its inception in 1921, the Archibald Prize has been awarded to Australia’s most important artists, such as George Lambert, William Dobell, and Brett Whiteley. But sometimes portraits submitted to the competition cause heated discussions. Disputes over the appendix of the word "portrait" to some exhibits even ended in court. Conditions for participants have changed over the years. So, for example, it was decided that the artist must be familiar with nature, and accordingly, the portrait must be written necessarily from a living nature, and not from a photograph! The competition is a chronology of changes in Australian society. In 2003, it reached the peak of popularity – the exhibition of works was visited by an average of 2000 people daily! An exhibition of works submitted for this competition is currently held in Sydney, at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and is open until May 30, 2010. Author: Yulia Konovalova Author's personal page: http://www.personalguide.ru/guides outside/2/77/