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Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson don’t have anything on the real Barry Humphries as Louise Hearman’s portrait of the iconic Australian wins this year’s Archibald Prize.
A first-time finalist in the Archibald Prize, Melbourne artist Louise Hearman hits a home run winning the 2016 Archibald Prize with her hyper-real portrait of iconic Australian Barry Humphries – entertainer, satirist, artist and Dadaist – affectionately titled Barry.
Best known for his alter-ego Dame Edna Everage, among other comic characters including Sir Les Patterson and Sandy Stone, Barry Humphries is a perennial favourite sitter for the Archibald Prize, this being his sixth time. His first appearance in the Archibald Prize was in 1969 as Dame Edna Everage.
“I’m the happiest girl in the world right now!” Hearman said as she received the call this morning from Art Gallery of New South Wales director Michael Brand.
“I have admired Barry Humphries since I was a young girl, and I’m thrilled for him too,” Hearman said.
“Winning the Archibald is an extraordinary, extraordinary thing for an artist, but the best thing about the Archibald Prize really, is that it gets all artists in the public eye. Today is the one day each year artists eclipse sportsmen in the news!”
Hearman’s oil on Masonite portrait represents the artist’s enduring admiration of Humphries.
“That genius is now an international superstar. For years I had hoped that one day this frighteningly brilliant individual, who also paints, would see a show of mine when he was in Melbourne and like my work.
“As it happened we became friends through mutual acquaintances and, much to my delight, Barry agreed to sit for a portrait. I tried many ideas, but as it progressed, the painting itself showed me the way,” Hearman said.
The Archibald Prize winner is decided by the Gallery’s board of trustees. The trust’s vice president, Mark Nelson, said the judging had taken a considerable amount of time.
“There was much deliberation and many worthwhile Archibald contenders, but Louise Hearman’s portrait took centre-stage in the end. It stood out as a portrait that truly captured the spirit of the sitter – she has caught Barry’s sardonic smile brilliantly,” commented Nelson.
Wynne Prize
Five sisters from the Ken family – Tjungkara Ken, Yaritji Young, Freda Brady, Maringka Tunkin and Sandra Ken – who live in the remote Aboriginal community of Amata in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands, have won the 2016 Wynne Prize. Their collaborative canvas is a ‘seven sisters’ story about family protecting and teaching each other.
Sulman Prize
Esther Stewart is the winner of the 2016 Sulman Prize for her painting Flatland Dreaming. Taking its title from an Edwin Abbott’s 19th-century novel that drew comparison between dimensional geometry and Victorian social mores, the painting considers domestic spaces through the dimensions of abstraction and minimalism.
Read more…. ‘2016 Packing Room Prize Winner Announced’
Of the 51 finalists in this year’s Archibald Prize 25 were women artists. One artist, Lucy Culliton, has taken out the finalist-trifecta with works in each of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes.
Art Gallery of New South Wales director Michael Brand said this is the first time that all three prizes have been won by women artists only.
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Until 9 October, 2016
Sydney
Archibald 2016 Prize winner: Louise Hearman, Barry, oil on masonite, 69.5 x 100cm
© the artist
