Add Category
Updated
Yvette Coppersmith was rebuffed when she asked to paint New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern's portrait, so she settled on a self-portrait instead. It has won this year's Archibald Prize.
Her work — Self-portrait, after George Lambert — is the fifth painting Coppersmith has had in the nation's most prestigious portraiture prize.
Lambert was a winner of the Archibald Prize himself in 1927.
Shortly after winning the $100,000 prize, Coppersmith took a call from Ms Ardern while being interviewed on Sky News Australia.
"I just wanted to call you and congratulate you," Ms Arden said. "What an incredible piece. Your work is absolutely phenomenal."
An "overwhelmed" Coppersmith told her: "You were the initial inspiration and when you were unavailable I thought I'll do one as you."
The Archibald Prize is the Art Gallery of NSW's most popular annual exhibition. It was established almost 100 years ago by Bulletin magazine founding editor JF Archibald.
The winner and finalists are chosen by the gallery's trustees, of which David Gonski in chairman, and including artists Ben Quilty and Khadim Ali.
Among the more notable Archibald Prize winners through history are John Brack's Dame Edna Everage, Margaret Olley by Ben Quilty and an earlier portrait of Olley by William Dobell.
Brett Whiteley won twice with self-portraits as his career was rocketing in the 1970s.
Coppersmith is only the tenth female artist to win the Archibald Prize.
Art Gallery of NSW director Michael Brand said while there were almost double the number of self-portraits in the prize this year compared to recent years, winning self-portraits were a rare choice.
"Yvette is a highly talented young artist who brings a deep and historical understanding of the tradition of contemporary art practice," he said.
"Her previous paintings as a finalist have been diverse and shown her talent as an artist."
The Archibald Prize is exhibited alongside the Wynne Prize for a landscape or sculpture and the Sulman Prize, both of which were won by Indigenous artists this year.
Kaylene Whiskey was awarded the Sulman Prize for her work Kaylene TV, while Yukultji Napangati was named the Wynne Prize winner.
The combined exhibition opens on Saturday at the Art Gallery of NSW and will close in September before a tour to regional NSW and Geelong in Victoria.
Topics: arts-and-entertainment, visual-art, art-history, sydney-2000, nsw, australia
First posted