The Archibald Prize is turning a corner. Just not yet

There is no bigger annual arts event in Sydney than the Art Gallery of NSW’s now 104-year-old Archibald Prize for portraiture.

It is AGNSW’s most profitable and most popular show and the only annual art exhibition with name recognition among mainstream Australians. Plus, everyone has an opinion about the winning picture.

Archibald Prize 2025 finalist Whitney Duan’s portrait entitled Banquet (Rainbow Chan), oil, sand and gold leaf on canvas, 119.6 x 180cm. Sitter: Chun Yin Rainbow Chan 陳雋然Credit: Art Gallery of New South Wales / Jenni Carter

The exhibition, depicting “Australians distinguished in art, letters, science or politics”, is inevitably viewed as a snapshot of the best contemporary Australian art – except it’s not.

Works are submitted via an open call-out; hundreds of our best artists are neither portraitists nor choose to enter. Then there’s the matter of the judges’ expertise: only two of the 11 are practising artists.

Archibald Prize 2025 finalist Jaq Grantford’s Sisters, oil on canvas, 167.5 x 167.5cm. Sitters: Antonia Kidman and Nicole Kidman.Credit: Art Gallery of New South Wales / Jenni Carter

So, what to make of this year’s exhibition?

Thankfully, the era of massive heads has passed. The swing towards tiny portraits is also losing steam, with only a few included this year. Twelve of the 57 finalists are self-portraits – a downward trend.

As an artist, it can be tricky to identify a distinguished Australian to paint, and even harder to contact them and ask them to sit, but it’s part of the gig, and artists who rise to the challenge tend to be rewarded.

The last three winning portraits depicted writer Tim Winton (2024), singer Montaigne (2023), and artist Karla Dickens (2022).

Archibald Prize 2025 finalist Kelly Maree’s Jackie O, synthetic polymer paint on linen, 205.2 x 144.9cm. Sitter: Jackie O.Credit: Art Gallery of New South Wales / Jenni Carter

The most obvious trend this year is the swing towards subjects being portrayed in their natural environments or surrounded by personal motifs – note Whitney Duan’s portrait Rainbow Chan, of Chun Yin Rainbow Chan, who is perched before a lazy Susan, and Billy Bain’s outback portrait of Rona Panangka Rubuntja ringed with ceramic icons.

Multiculturalism has also arrived at AGNSW en masse. The companion children’s competition, the Young Archie, has been flush with diverse faces for many years, while the Archibald remained stiffly Caucasian, with occasional exceptions.

This year’s hang finally resembles modern Australia: just over half the sitters are white, there are slightly more women than men, and more female artists than males. Sadly, there are no scientists or politicians — although, in the current climate, it’s hard to imagine anyone regrets the absence of politicians.

The upshot of an exhibition in flux is a wildly uneven show. There’s an abundance of naïve works; too many figures appear crudely cut-and-pasted onto the background. And there’s a conga line of lifeless celebrity pictures, the kind that usually appeals to the gallery’s packers.
Consider Jaq Grantford’s double portrait of Nicole and Antonia Kidman, Col Mac’s Miranda Otto, Kelly Maree’s Jackie O, Jeremy Eden’s elaborate portrait of Boy Swallows Universe teen star Felix Cameron, or Sally Ryan’s Kathy Lette. Evan Shipard’s floral oil-on-linen of Gardening Australia host Costa Georgiadis has popular appeal too.

Archibald Prize 2025 finalist Adrian Jangala Robertson’s portriat Warwick Thornton, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 61.1 x 61.7cm. Sitter: Warwick Thornton.Credit: Art Gallery of New South Wales / Jenni Carter

Among the more extraordinary portraits is Natasha Bieniek’s modest oil on wood of Cressida Campbell, which captures the introverted artist with a surgeon’s precision and an opera singer’s heart.

Callum Worsfold’s tiny self-portrait is sunk into an overbearing black frame that makes the viewer feel as though they’re peering into his studio through a slit in a door.

Vipoo Srivilasa’s self-portrait with cats is a joyous assembly of sketches on a yellow ceramic tile — an antidote to Chris O’Doherty (aka Reg Mombassa)’s haunting, raw self-portrait in hospital, capturing the 73-year-old artist in a moment of fragile health.

Clara Adolphs’ portrait of Aboriginal artist Adrian Jangala Robertson might win over the judges, and Natasha Walsh has captured a simmering energy in Melbourne’s South Sudanese artist and writer Atong Atem.

It’s difficult to pick the winner from this exhibition in flux – which is also partly the product of immense change at AGNSW. Maud Page recently took over as director of an institution that has had just two leaders for the better part of 50 years: Michael Brand and Edmund Capon.

The Archibald has a new curator responsible for the hang: Beatrice Gralton. The Archibald finalists and winner, along with those for the companion Wynne landscape and sculpture prize, are selected by the AGNSW Trust, now led by lawyer Michael Rose, who took over from businessman David Gonski, president for 19 of the last 37 years.

Oscar-winning film producer Emile Sherman and former Liberal opposition leader and arts minister Peter Collins are also new additions to the trust.

Sydney’s favourite portraiture prize is heading in a thrilling new direction – but it’s not there yet.