Ben Apfelbaum

2019 ARCHIBALD, WYNNE AND SULMAN PRIZE WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Now in its 98th year the Archibald Prize has been held annually since 1921 and is worth $100,000.

The Prize was established from a bequest by Jules Francois Archibald, the founding editor of The Bulletin magazine.

According to Archibald’s will the Archibald Prize is to be awarded annually to the best portrait (preferably of some man or woman distinguished in art, letters, science or politics, painted by an artist resident in Australasia.

The $50,000 Wynne Prize is the oldest Prize pursuant to a bequest  by Richard Wynne and was first awarded in 1897, marking the official opening of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. It is awarded to the best landscape painting of Australian scenery or figurative sculpture.

Unlike the previous two prizes which are judged by the trustees of the Art Gallery the Sulman Prize is judged by a single contemporary artist who this year was Fiona Lowry. The Sulman Prize is awarded to the best genre painting, subject painting or mural project by an Australian artist and is worth $40,000.

Now in its 7th year the joyously youthful young Archie competition has accompanied the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes however the winner is only announced in August. It is open to aspiring talents between the ages of 5 and 18 to submit a portrait of someone who is special to them. This year’s entries were judged by 2016 Archibald finalist Marakit Santiago and Victoria Collings, the Gallery’s Community Engagement Manager.

20 artworks that received an honourable mention are displayed at the S.H.Irwin Gallery in the Rocks for inclusion in the Salon De Refuses.   

Because of the prestige of these awards throughout Australia there were 919 Archibald entries, 683 Wynne Prize entries and 574 Sulman Prize entries making a total of 2,176 entries. The young Archie competition received over 2100 entries.

And now for the winners of these prestigious awards which were announced by the President of the Gallery’s Board of Trustees David Gonski.

The Sulman Prize was awarded to McLean Edwards for his work, The First Girl That Knocked On His Door.

The Wynne Prize was won by Sylvia Ken  for her painting Seven Sisters. Highly Commended was Natasha Bieniek’s landscape painting Reflection.

There were a number of sub categories under the Wynne Prize umbrella. The Trustees watercolour Prize went to Robyn Sweaney for her work Perfect Uncertainty. The Roberts family Aboriginal  and Torres Strait Islander Prize went to Nongirrna Marawili  for her work Pink Lightning.

As is always the case the Archibald Prize was announced last.     

Highly Commended was Jude Rae’s work Sarah Peirse as Miss Docker in Patrick White’s play A Cheery Soul.

The $100,000 Archibald Prize winner was Sydney artist Tony Costa’s Portrait of artist Lindy Lee  whose art practice explores her Chinese ancestry through the philosophies of Taoism and Zen Buddhism.

The Trustees of the Gallery throw out a challenge to the community to come and judge for yourself. To this end, at the conclusion of the exhibition a People’s Choice winner will be announced.

The 2019 Archibald Prize runs from the 11th May until the 8th September, 2019. The Salon Des Refuges runs at the S.H.Irwin Gallery on Observatory Hill from the 11th May till 28th July, 2019.

Thereafter the works of the Archibald finalists will tour Regional New South Wales.

For further information go to www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au

Featured image Sylvia Ken, Wynne Proze winner for her painting ‘Seven Sisters’.  All pics by Ben Apfelbaum

 

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.