Archibald Prize: What were the judges thinking?

Archibald Prize winner Yvette Coppersmith with her self portrait at the Art Gallery of NSW today. Picture: Tim Hunter.

The Art Gallery of NSW Trustees’ award for this year’s Archibald Prize reminds me of the old saying that it is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak up and remove all doubt.

The decision is almost embarrassing in its ineptitude: can a group of people who think that Yvette Coppersmith’s painting is the best in this exhibition really be responsible for a state gallery?

Coppersmith’s oeuvre is mediocre at best and most noteworthy for the number of self-portraits that she has produced, gratuitously disparate in style and yet uniform in their superficiality.

This time she has had the idea of painting herself in the manner of George Lambert, which has unfortunately only made painfully clear the chasm that separates her from Lambert’s extraordinary flair and virtuosity.

Her paint handling is clumsy, the colours are lurid, and the anatomy of the figure is inaccurate.

It is almost incredible to think that any judge could even consider this a plausible candidate for the prize, especially when the finalists included works of powerful authenticity such as Nicholas Harding’s self-portrait, or of depth and mastery like Robert Hannaford’s image of himself in the studio, contemplating his own finished work.

Archibald 2018 finalist Nicholas Harding’s 'Treatment, day 49 (sorbolene soak)' oil on linen. Photo: AGNSW, Mim Stirling

Archibald finalist Robert Hannaford’s 'Robert Hannaford self-portrait' oil on canvas Photo: AGNSW, Jenni Carter

Christopher Allen is The Australian’s national art critic.