Darling Portrait Prize 2024

Medium / category: Painting

Requirements: The work must be a painting, completed on or after 31 January 2022, depicting a person or persons having a strong association with Australia or who has made a significant contribution to Australian life, and is based on a live sitting or a study from life (including online sittings).

Eligibility: The artist, at the time the online entry is submitted, must be an Australian citizen or resident of Australia, and 18 years or over.

Associated institutions: National Portrait Gallery, Canberra

Exhibition dates:  From 22 June to 13 October 2024 at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra

The Darling Portrait Prize is a biennial prize for Australian portrait painting which honours the legacy of L Gordon Darling AC CMG (1921-2015), founding patron of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia.

The Prize seeks the most compelling recent Australian portrait painting. Judges will be looking for works of art that honour and/or push the genre, that offer unexpected insight into well-known people or that acknowledge our shared humanity through works that centre everyday people.

Awards

In 2024, the winner will receive a prize of $75,000.

The Gallery is committed to supporting artists involved in the Prize. Each selected finalist will receive an artist fee of $1,200, a copyright and image licensing fee of $1,000, domestic artwork freight allowance to and from the Gallery, and domestic travel allowance and accommodation in Canberra for the exhibition launch.

Previous Judges

2022:

  • Karen Quinlan AM: Director (former) of the National Portrait Gallery
  • Dr Nicholas Cullinan: Director of the National Portrait Gallery, London
  • Clothilde Bullen: Head of Indigenous Programs at the Art Gallery of Western Australia and Chair of the National Association for the Visual Arts
Previous Winners and Finalists

2022:

  • Jaq Grantford, 2020

Winner: Darling Portrait Prize

  • Hong Fu, Alex Miller, Novelist

Winner: High Commendation

  • Nicholas Hopwood, Shadow Crown

Winner: High Commendation

  • Jane Allen, Weight of the Mind’s Periapt

Winner: Art Handlers’ Award

  • Tony Sowersby, Sabine Desrondaux – Woman of Letters

Winner: People’s Choice Award

2020:

  • Anthea da Silva, Elizabeth

Winner: Darling Portrait Prize

  • Sibone Heary, The In Between

Winner: High Commendation

  • David Darcy, Wendy Bowman

Winner: High Commendation

  • Sean Hutton, Tamara Dean

Winner: High Commendation

  • David Darcy, Wendy Bowman

Winner: People’s Choice Award

For Artists

What you need to know

Submissions must be a painting, completed on or after 31 January 2022, depicting a person or persons having a strong association with Australia or who has made a significant contribution to Australian life, and is based on a live sitting or a study from life (including online sittings). The artist, at the time the online entry is submitted, must be an Australian citizen or resident of Australia, and 18 years or over.

Dates for your diary

Open for Entries: Entries close 31 January 2024

To enter, visit the prize’s website here.

For more information, check out their socials on Facebook or Instagram.

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