A list of 61 works by 59 artists has been announced today for the country’s most distinguished portrait prize for female artists, the Portia Geach Memorial Award. The $30,000 annual prize is administered by the Award Trustee Perpetual.
Established in 1961 by Florence Kate Geach, in memory of her sister, artist Portia Geach, the Portia Geach Memorial Award recognises an Australian female artist for the best portrait painted from life of a man or woman distinguished in art, letters or the sciences.
Born in 1873 in Melbourne, Portia Geach studied with John Singer Sargent and Lawrence Alma- Tadema in London and was also a lifelong activist for women’s rights. She established the Housewives Progressive Association of New South Wales, The Housewives Magazine in 1933 and the Progressive Journal two years later to promote issues such as equal pay for women and the right to hold public office.
The judging panel for this year’s award comprised Ms Anita Belgiorno-Nettis, Trustee of Art Gallery of New South Wales, Ms Natalie Wilson, Curator of Australian and Pacific Art at The Art Gallery of New South Wales and Ms Jane Watters, Director S.H Ervin Gallery.
Some of the well-known sitters for this year’s award include radio presenter Phillip Adams; actor Claudia Karvan ; author and playwright Louis Nowra; indigenous dancers Ella Havelka and Tayvonne Cora; TV presenter Richard Morecroft; dancer Anthea Pilko; the late Jack Mundey; businessman Luca Belgiorno-Nettis; Francophile Professor Ross Steele AM and concert pianist Simon Tedeschi.
FINALISTS JANE ALIENDI Self Portrait – The Instagramer after The Sock Knitter
SALLY ANDERSON Claude Swimming (Claudia Karvan, actress, producer and writer)
ANN ARORA The Mirror (self/daughter,artist/student)
MICHELLE BELGIORNO A Contemplative Moment (Guido Belgiorno-Nettis, businessman and arts philanthropist (currently Chair of the ACO and ex Trustee of AGNSW)
KATE BEYNON The Robe Kate Beynon (self portrait)
RENEE BRODERS A place to call my own (Thelma Plum, Australian musician)
FILIPPA BUTTITTA Radiotherapy during Covid-19 (self portrait)
ANN CAPE Sophie and Scout (Sophie Cape, artist)
YVETTE COPPERSMITH June 2020, Chanel Earrings(self portrait)
ANTHEA da SILVA Veronica (Veronica Collins, artist)
JANINE DELLO Too Much I (self portrait)
JANINE DELLO Too Much II (self portrait)
KATHERINE EDNEY Gary Grealy in Black & White (Gary Grealy, photographer)
NICOLETTE EISDELL Juliet at Home (Juliet Holmes à Court, artist)
MARINA FINLAY Professor Ross Steele AM (Professor of French language and culture)
LORNA GREAR Lockdown in the bath (self portrait)
JANE GUTHLEBEN (Misha, the pole dancer Michelle Cawthorn, artist)
HANNAH HALL Lotus Lady (self portrait )
ILDIKO HAMMOND Self-Portrait IV – The Recluse
JACQUELINE HENNESSY The Offering (self portrait)
SOPHIA HEWSON Untitled (self portrait)
MICHELLE HISCOCK The Flâneur (Louis Nowra, author)
JANNE KEARNEY Power flower (Tegan Kearney, manager with Country Fire Authority Victoria)
NICOLE KELLY Night studio (self portrait)
KIM LEUTWYLER Dee with pink, green and blue (Dee Smart, artist and actor)
KATHRIN LONGHURST Muddy Waters (Maia Longhurst, student)
ALISON MACKAY The Beloved (Richard Morecroft, TV Presenter and arts interviewer)
MARIE MANSFIELD Waiting (Ashlee Bucholtz, artist and art educator)
MARIE MANSFIELD Charlie and Kate (Kate Smith, art collector / artist patron)
KAITA MASON Julia’s Studio (Julia Flanagan, artist)
ANNE McCAUGHEYJudy in Lockdown Land (Judy Hendricksen, dancer/ asssociate school Principal)
KERRY McINNIS Iso Yoga selfie (self portrait)
MATILDA MICHELL Self in an empty room (self portrait)
HEATHER MILLER Two Thirds (self portrait)
GRANKIE MORGAN Julia in Desire(Julia Wilson, comedian)
JUSTINE MULLER Jack Mundey (environmentalist and activist)
FIONA O’BYRNE Eleven Years (Remy Frazzetto, Year 6 Student)
SUSAN O’DOHERTY Myfanwy Gullifer in olive green coat (Myfanwy Gullifer, artist)
RENATA PARI-LEWIS Phillip (Phillip Adams, radio presenter, entrepreneur, art collector)
JOSEPHINE PEREIRA Self portrait
SHARON PINCUS JACOBSON Tony Taussig, Architect
VICTORIA REICHELT Interior (artists children )
JENNY RODGERSON Solitary Figure (self portrait)
JENNIFER ROSNELLl Nurse Jacqui (Jacqui Blundell, emergency nurse – COVID trained)
SALLY RYAN Alone Xeni Kusumitra, artist
LYNN SAVERY In your dreams (self portrait)
KIRTHANA SELVARAJ The green suit, a self portrait
THERESE SHANLEY In the jumper (self portrait)
WENDY SHARPE Self portrait – Walking home (self portrait)
LORIBELLE SPIROVSKI The Reader (Simon Tedeschi, concert pianist)
DEE SMART Leap of Faith (Ella Havelka, ballet dancer)
LIZ STUTE Untying the laces -Self Portrait
TRISH TAIT The Conversation (Hugh Tait, pharmacist and musician)
JILL TALBOT The Keeper (Kirli Saunders, author and poet)
JESKA VALK Ghearra (Tayvonne Cora, dancer)
DEBORAH WALKER Georgia (as Agatha Christie in Blue Mountains, NSW, 1922)(Georgia Gibbs, writer)
NATASHA WALSH Doppelgänger (self portrait)
VICKI WHITE Zooming Jill (Jill Dunkerton, artist)
ZOE YOUNG The Scarf Knitter (Margaret Young, artists mother)
CAROLINE ZILINSKY Anthea may or may not (Anthea Pilko, contemporary dancer)
MICHELLE ZUCCOLO Becky, Fire Crew (Rebbecca Jonkers, crew member, Forest Fire Management,and tertiary student)
The winner of the 2020 Portia Geach Memorial Award will be revealed on Thursday 13 August with an exhibition of all finalists open for viewing by the public from 14 August – 20 September at the S.H. Ervin Gallery, The Rocks.
The Portia Geach Memorial Award was established by Florence Kate Geach in memory of her sister, artist Portia Geach, who spent much of her life campaigning for the rights of women in Australia and was determined to make a living from painting. Geach was widely acclaimed as a leading artist in her time.
For more information on the award, visit www.shervingallery.com.au