For the first time in its 102-year history, the Archibald Prize — one of Australia's oldest, richest and most prestigious art awards — has more women finalists than men.
Of the 57 finalists in contention for the $100,000 prize this year, 30 (or roughly 53 per cent) were painted by women — including Archibald Prize 2018 winner Yvette Coppersmith, and serial finalists Natasha Bieniek, Tsering Hannaford, Kim Leutwyler and Natasha Walsh.
There are more women on the walls this year than men, too, including actors Noni Hazlehurst and Claudia Karvan, political journalist Katharine Murphy, chef Kylie Kwong, singer-songwriter Montaigne, author Drusilla Modjeska, OzHarvest founder Ronni Kahn, and senior Ngan'gikurrungurr artist Regina Pilawuk Wilson.
The announcement of the finalists, which took place at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on Thursday morning, was capped by another win for women artists, as the $3,000 Packing Room Prize, chosen by the gallery's team of art handlers, was awarded to Cairns painter Andrea Huelin for her portrait of Melbourne comedian Cal Wilson.
Curator Anne Ryan, who oversees the hang of the finalists (which are chosen by AGNSW's 11-member Board of Trustees), says this year's line-up is a "reflection of positive change that's happening not only for the Archibald Prize but for women's representation in our culture".
The finalists are chosen based on the painting alone, and the Trustees have no knowledge of who painted each work (except their presumed familiarity with serial finalists' painting styles).
"The judges are not sitting there tabulating [which gender each entrant is]," Ryan told ABC Arts.
"It's a truly democratic prize and inevitably it's going to reflect what's going on out there in the real world."
The Archibald Prize has been, arguably, slow to catch up to the real world: Despite women graduates of art schools outnumbering men (the 2019 Countess Report put the figure at 71 per cent), the Archibald only achieved gender parity for the first time in 2021 (having come close in 2016, when 49 per cent of the finalists were women).
Ryan told ABC: "The Archibald Prize is now in its second century. It took a very long time for a woman to win, and it has been pretty slow for women to reach the prominence that male artists have had. That's a reflection of history, it's a reflection of the slow evolution of our culture, and in 2023 we seem to be finally catching up with the reality on the ground."
The Packing Room Prize goes democratic
The Archibald is moving with the times in other ways, too: In a shake-up to the rules, this year's Packing Room Prize was chosen by a panel of three art handlers, representing the diversity of the packing room staff.
Previously, the deciding vote was given to the Head Packer: Steve Peters, for almost three decades after the Packing Room Prize's inception in 1991; and Brett Cuthbertson since 2018, following Peters' retirement.
Following Cuthbertson's retirement in 2022, a change to the judging process was made to make it more democratic — in line with the judging of the main prize.
This year's Packing Room Prize was chosen by Monica Rudhar, Alexis Wildman and Timothy Dale — all artists themselves, and with 19 years' combined experience working in the gallery's packing room.
Rudhar, Wildman and Dale describe the process of whittling down their choice — from a whopping 949 Archibald entries this year — as collaborative.
"Everybody [in the back of house] gets to see every single painting that comes through," Wildman explains.
Rudhar adds: "We did need to rely on everyone's eyes, because there were so many works — and so we told everyone, 'If you see something that's good, let us know.'"
"[So it was] not just the three of us — our entire team were able to come together to pick out a few finalists for us to decide upon [the winner] between us," says Wildman.
Huelin's portrait of Wilson marks a shift from previous Packing Room Prize winners, which were once described by Sydney Morning Herald art critic John McDonald as typically depicting "a good bloke or a good sort", and in recent years have included portraits of Taika Waititi, Kate Ceberano, Meyne Wyatt, David Wenham and Jimmy Barnes.
This year's winner, by comparison, feels more understated (in terms of pose, subject and tone) — with the obvious exception of its vibrant colour palette, and the junkyard maximalism of Wilson's home-made 'coronet', made from household detritus.
Huelin's portrait, titled Clown Jewels, was an early stand-out among the packing staff.
"Andrea's painting is stunning. It brings warmth to the room, it's colourful … [and] Cal is a well known Australian 'household' face," Wildman says.
Rudhar says the headdress also added an element of intrigue that piqued their interest: "There was a sense of, 'We don't know what's going on, but there must be a story behind it.'"
A portrait with a sense of humour
During Melbourne's lockdowns, Huelin followed Wilson's Instagram posts, in which she modelled various home-made headpieces.
"[Her posts] made me laugh out loud. Her poses reminded me of my sister and me making ourselves laugh by pulling funny faces in the mirror as kids and I could tell we share a similar sense of humour," Huelin said in a statement.
"I posted a congratulatory comment and Cal wrote back and admired my paintings, so I asked if she'd sit for a portrait."
Wilson turned up to her sitting with a suitcase of headpieces and outfits — and as the artist and comedian started to play with different poses, the idea for the portrait evolved.
"[Initially] I wanted to kind of mock the 19th-century-style portraits of women where they'll be kind of dressed in their fancy bonnets and that sort of thing," Huelin told ABC.
"But over the course of the sitting, especially with the outfits that Cal brought, it became clear that this was a kind of regalia that she was wearing, and it became more like a sense of a crown."
Wilson told ABC she felt like a "queen of ridiculousness", and described Huelin's painting, which captures her own homemade "artwork" made from doll's parts and Christmas baubles, as "a turducken of artwork".
"I just love the fact that so much time and talent and effort has gone into immortalising something as ridiculous as this…It's such a thrill. I have not stopped beaming ever since I got the message from Andrea."
Accepting her award on Thursday morning, Huelin said it was a "huge honour", "especially to be the first artist chosen by the new Packing Room judges":
"The Archibald was a reason for me to paint this work, but the aim became to make something that I would feel proud to show Cal, and also the team at my gallery, Michael Reid Gallery. I was beyond thrilled to be a finalist, and this is beyond amazing. It means such a lot to me as an artist from a regional centre to be included in the Archibald, because it will help me feel connected to my industry and my peers, and gives me that sense of belonging in my community of Australian painters."
Exhibitions for the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes will open on Saturday May 6 at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
