Portraiture is essentially the art of creating portraits. This can be executed in multiple ways ranging from photography, charcoal drawings, even sculptures. The reason behind portraits can be to display emotion, the way a person looks and personality. Portraits don’t always have to follow the human look; some artists prefer an abstract approach to portraits.
The Archibald Prize is a national portrait competition held by the Art Gallery of NSW. It began in 1919, after financial bequest by Jules Francois Archibald, a respect journalist in the 1800s. Archibald’s intentions were to support artists, foster portraiture and ensure memory of ‘Great Australians’ lived on.

Each painting must be a portrait of a known person in society and there must be physical proof that the known person has given permission to be painted. Watercolour, oil or acrylic must be used, but drawings are accepted in some rare cases.
The art is judged by the board of trustees, which includes only a few artists out of the total, seven. Each member has to agree on the art piece for it to be accepted, then for the winner, majority rules. There are issues with this, as many won’t know ‘good art’.

There has been much controversy about the winners of the Archibald. One piece specifically, made by Brett Whitley, which featured a miniature shot of his head, while the rest of the painting was filled with background. It was so controversial because his head was so miniscule to the bigger picture.

Critical Analysis
This painting features Gary McDonald holding a small talking doll, while another doll to the right of Gary is giving a look of discontent. This artwork was made on linen, painted with oil. It’s a realistic painting which focuses mainly on McDonald and the two dolls. The colour scheme is neutral, nothing stands out. I found this painting meant that emotions can be changed at the pull of a string. This is a successful piece, displaying emotion, and bringing McDonald alive with the items around him. It gives a very neutral feeling, however.

This is a head portrait of Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu. It is very isolated, and Yunupingu seems to be sad. This piece was made using oil paints on a linen canvas. The focal point for me was the eyes, giving meaning to his blindness. I imagined that was the reason the sockets were so dark. A dark scheme of colours is used, mainly browns and dark greens making them balanced. The interpretation I got from this piece was Yunupingu’s struggle with darkness. It’s a simple piece, nothing fancy and that works in its favour, the expression is what