Kings Cross Artist Tony Johansen's court action challenging the declared winner of the Archibald Prize has been cleared by the Attorney General to proceed. The first court action will happen tomorrow, Thursday.
At stake is the eligibility of Craig Ruddy's portrait of Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil to have been accepted in the $35,000 competition. The prize, according to the bequest of John Feltham Archibald, or as he was later known, Jules Francois Archibald, was to be awarded to a painting done from life.
Rules stipulated that 'the painting must be painted during the twelve months, preceding the date fixed by the Trustees, who may then exhibit the winning picture in the Gallery for two months after the award and who do not have to award the prize if "no competing picture shall in the opinion of the Trustees be painted worthy of being awarded a prize". - Note, no Prize was awarded for 1964.
The Johansen challenge notes that the blurb next to the painting at the NSW Art Gallery lists the medium as 'charcoal'.
It will be interesting to see how the trustees now defend this as a painting. Click the headline to link to the challengers' weblog and a further world of Archibald links.
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