Lismore-born artist Margaret Olley will make one last visit to the Tweed River Art Gallery, but sadly not in person this time.
Ms Olley, who died earlier this week, was the subject of the 2011 Archibald Prize-winning painting by Ben Quilty and was a guest at the Tweed Gallery in 2006.
The painting will go on display at the Gallery as part of the Archibald Prize 2011: NSW Regional Tour from Friday, August 5 to Sunday, September 11, 2011.
Tweed River Art Gallery is the first venue on the Archibald’s tour throughout NSW.
“The last time we had the Archibald Prize on display in 2006, visitors came from far and wide to view this fabulous exhibition,” Gallery Director, Susi Muddiman said.
“Given the popularity of the Prize, every regional gallery in NSW is keen to host the show. Galleries are actually on a strict schedule and are only able to host the exhibition once every five years. So, needless to say, we have been looking forward to this event for a long time.”
Ironically, Ms Olley was the special guest of the Tweed River Art Gallery in 2006, when she officially opened Stage 2 of the Gallery’s building – which coincided with the opening of the 2006 Archibald Prize at the Gallery.
“Like Quilty, I sincerely respect both the work and life of Margaret Olley,” Susi said.
Ms Olley was the only person to twice be the subject of an Archibald Prize winner. William Dobell’s wonderful portrait of her was the winning work in 1948. 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.
The origins of the Archibald Prize date back to 1900 when Jules Francois Archibald, then editor of the Bulletin magazine and a lover of the arts, commissioned artist John Longstaff to paint a portrait of the poet Henry Lawson. Archibald was apparently so impressed and won over by the work that he bequeathed money in his will to the Trustees of the Art Gallery New South Wales to establish an annual portrait art prize. Since the inception of the Archibald Prize in 1921, the exhibition has continued to foster the art of portraiture and chronicle the faces of the nation. In 2011, the 90th anniversary of the Prize, the Archibald is still regarded as one of Australia’s most coveted and prestigious art awards.
“The primary focus of the Tweed River Art Gallery’s collection is portraiture, and we hold many works by Archibald winners and finalists in our permanent collection. The Archibald is a wonderful addition to our program, as it complements and informs works from our collection currently on display in an exhibition titled The Australian Character,” she said.
“The Gallery will display the work of 40 Archibald finalists from 2011, with only one work from the exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales deemed to be too fragile to travel.”
The Archibald Prize winner, who receives $50,000, is judged by the Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The Prize has been awarded to some of Australia’s most important artists, including Nora Heyson (the first woman to win the Prize in 1928), Brett Whiteley (1976), John Olsen (2005) and Del Kathryn Barton (2008).”
The winner of the Archibald Prize 2011 is Ben Quilty, for his charismatic portrait of artist Margaret Olley. Quilty met Olley when she was a guest judge for the 2002 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, which he won. Quilty says, “She’s been a friend and great supporter of my work ever since. She is such an inspiration – she is 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.”
