The Archibald Prize is one of Australia’s biggest art prizes. The award honours not only the best in portrait painting, but the people in them as well.
Regarded as the most important portraiture prize in Australia, The Archibald Prize has been awarded every year since 1921. It is named after J. F. Archibald, former editor of The Bulletin. Archibald died in 1919 and bequest money for the award. It is administered by the trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
The first Archibald Prize was awarded in 1921 for £400. In 1956 it was $1,364. By 2011 the prize had grown to $75,000. Note: the portrait on the right is the 1924 Archibald Prize Winner.
Archibald Prize Winners >> Present to 1991 1990 to 1951 1950 to 1921 in Australia
Year | Artist | Painting Title |
1950 | William Dargie | Sir Leslie McConnan |
1949 | Arthur J Murch | Bonar Dunlop |
1948 | William Dobell | Margaret Olley |
1947 | William Dargie | Sir Marcus Clarke, Kt., K.B.E. [sic] |
1946 | William Dargie | L. C. Robson, M.C., M.A.. |
1945 | William Dargie | Lt-General The Hon Edmund Herring, KBC, DSO, MC, ED |
1944 | Joshua Smith | Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. JS Rosevear, MP |
1943 | William Dobell | Mr. Joshua Smith |
1942 | William Dargie | Corporal Jim Gordon, VC |
1941 | William Dargie | Sir James Elder, KBE |
1940 | Max Meldrum | Dr J. Forbes McKenzie |
1939 | Max Meldrum | Hon G. J. Bell, C.M.G., D.S.O., V.D., Speaker, House of Representatives) |
1938 | Nora Heysen | Mme Elink Schuurman |
1937 | Normand Henry Baker | Self Portrait |
1936 | William Beckwith McInnes | Dr Julian Smith |
1935 | John Longstaff | A. B. (‘Banjo’) Paterson |
1934 | Henry Aloysius Hanke | Self Portrait |
1933 | Charles Wheeler | Ambrose Pratt |
1932 | Ernest Buckmaster | Sir William Irvine |
1931 | John Longstaff | Sir John Sulman |
1930 | William Beckwith McInnes | Drum-Major Harry McClelland |
1929 | John Longstaff | The Hon. W. A. Holman, KC |
1928 | John Longstaff | Dr Alexander Leeper |
1927 | George Washington Lambert | Mrs Murdoch |
1926 | William Beckwith McInnes | Silk and Lace (Miss Esther Paterson) |
1925 | John Longstaff | Maurice Moscovitch |
1924 | William Beckwith McInnes | Miss Collins |
1923 | William Beckwith McInnes | Portrait of a Lady |
1922 | William Beckwith McInnes | Professor Harrison Moore |
1921 | William Beckwith McInnes | Desbrowe Annear |