Image: Pam Tippett Together – Amanda Bell AM 2021 oil on linen on panel 70 x 70 cm
Australian Galleries are thrilled to announce the following artists have been selected for the 2021 Portia Geach Memorial Award: Catherine Abel, Michelle Hiscock, Jenny Rodgerson and Pam Tippett.
The Portia Geach Memorial Award is Australia’s most prestigious art prize for portraiture by women artists.
The works by 57 women artists from across the nation have been announced for the country’s most distinguished portrait prize for female artists, the Portia Geach Memorial Award. The $30,000 annual prize is administered by the Award Trustee Perpetual.
Established in 1961 by Florence Kate Geach, in memory of her sister, artist Portia Geach, the Portia Geach Memorial Award recognises an Australian female artist for the best portrait painted from life of a man or woman distinguished in art, letters or the sciences.
Born in 1873 in Melbourne, Portia Geach studied with John Singer Sargent and Lawrence Alma-Tadema in London and was also a lifelong activist for women’s rights. She established the Housewives Progressive Association of New South Wales, The Housewives Magazine in 1933 and the Progressive Journal two years later to promote issues such as equal pay for women and the right to hold public office.
The judging panel for the 2021 Award ward comprised Ms Anita Belgirno-Nettis, Trustee of Art Gallery of New South Wales, Ms Natalie Wilson, Curator of Australian and Pacific Art at The Art Gallery of New South Wales and Director S.H Ervin Gallery, Ms Jane Watters.
Exhibition Details:
Thursday 4 November – Sunday 19 December 2021
S.H Ervin Gallery, Sydney
Visit S.H. Ervin Gallery for more information
Jenny Rodgerson Standing in the green leather coat (self portrait) 2021 oil on linen 152 x 137 cm
Catherine Abel Painted flowers No.1 (Sarah Ivy Rose Abel) 2021 oil and copper leaf on linen 97 x 76 cm
Michelle Hiscock ‘The bass player’ portrait of Steve Hunter 2021 oil on paper 26.5 x 19.5