POSTED: 16 APRIL 2011

A genuine Australian treasure wins Ben Quilty the Archibald portaiture prize

John Rozentals attends the annual prize-fest at the Art Gallery of NSW

The applause was prolonged, enthusiastic and genuinely warm. Ben Quilty is a popular artist widely recognized as one of the country’s brightest talents, and winning the Archibald at his seventh attempt seen as a timely and just reward.

His subject, 87-year-old Australian artist Margaret Olley, is, of course, a living national treasure — and now the only person to be the subject of two Archibald-winning portraits, the first having been by the late great William Dobell in 1948.

Frail, tiny and accepting the offer of a wheelchair, but totally alert, bright and brimming with humour, Olley took the media scrum in her stride, spending a good hour confined to the corner where Quilty’s painting had been hung, answering questions and constantly being filmed and snapped as lights, cameras and microphones towered triffid-like over her.

Quilty’s delight and excitement were obvious but he kept them well in check as he spoke fondly of the strong relationship he had developed with Olley since meeting her just under a decade ago ... and her extremely candid assessments. On one visit to his studio, Olley had inquired about a series of paintings lined against a wall. “They’re experiments,” Quilty had responded. “Well, stop experimenting!” suggested Olley.

Look, an art critic or expert is one of the last things I’d pretend to be, and I’m certainly not going to proffer “but I know what I like” as a line. Let’s just say I’m an interested observer who’s being attending Archibald exhibitions — though this was my first opportunity to be there for the announcement — for the past 10 years or so, and for what it’s worth I regarded this as the strongest line-up I’d seen in that time.

For the record, my vote in the People’s Choice went to Nicholas Harding’s Hugo at Home 2011 (of actor Hugo Weaving) while our photographer Sandra Burn White opted for Adam Chang’s portrait of academic and author John Coetzee.

And also for the record, Olley declined Quilty's offer to paint her in the nude.

The following material comes from the Art Gallery of NSW's website:

When Ben Quilty first asked legendary painter Margaret Olley to sit for him she said no. “Her lack of ego is so appealing,” says Quilty. “Margaret didn’t understand why anyone would want to see a portrait of her.”

Quilty met Olley when she was a guest judge for the 2002 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, which he won. “She’s been a friend and great supporter of my work ever since,” he says.

Born in Lismore in 1923, Olley was awarded the Order of Australia in 1991 for service as an artist and to the promotion of art. In 1996, she was awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia.

“She’s such an inspiration,” says Quilty. “She was a feminist ahead of her time. She’s vigorously passionate about social and political issues, as well as art, and is enormously compassionate. Margaret has such an infectious attitude to both life and death. Recently, I was amazed at how many new works she had on the go. She said to me, ‘I’m like an old tree dying and setting forth flowers as fast as it can, while it still can.’ I thought that was such a powerful metaphor.”

As for the bright palette: “You just need to walk into her home, which is also her studio, to see that you couldn’t use anything but striking colour. It’s full of translucent works-in-progress, beautiful drawings, sculptures and flowers, so I wanted the portrait to reflect that.”

Most of Quilty’s work to date has been about masculinity but he says, “Margaret has had such a powerful bearing on my career. She has asked me constantly for years to stop painting ugly skulls and paint something beautiful.”

Quilty has just finished a series of paintings of his wife.

The Art Gallery of New South Wales. Image: © Sandra Burn White 2011.

ABOUT THE PRIZES

This year, the 90th year of Archibald, there were 798 entries for Archibald, 810 for the Wynne and 633 entries for the Sulman. The Archibald and Wynne prizes are judged by the Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The judge for the Sulman Prize was Richard Bell.

The Archibald winner receives $50,000, the Wynne Prize winner receives $25,000 for landscape painting or figure sculpture, the Sulman Prize winner receives $20,000 for subject/genre painting and/or mural work and the Watercolour Prize (part of the Wynne Prize) winner receives $2000.

The finalists for all three prizes are on exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW until 26 June. The subsequent Archibald regional tour will take in the Yarra Valley, Tweed Heads, Moree, Lake Macquarie, Casula. Orange and Taree. For full details, visit www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au