NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting PrizeACQUISITIVE PRIZE $20,000
At the Parliament of New South Wales May 2010CALL FOR ENTRIES
NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize is getting ready for 2010 entries! Artists are invited to submit up to two paintings made ‘en plein air’ of a New South Wales subject, painted at any time, for consideration for the Prize.
Entries 14-16 April 2010. Click here for more information!2009 Winner
Rodney Pople
St Mary's Cathedral at 4am
oil on wooden board 113 x 89.5 cm2009 Selected Works
Download Selected Works Catalogue 3mb PDF, Photographer: Neil Duncan2009 Judge
Edmund Capon AM, OBE, Director, Art Gallery of New South Wales2009 Selected Works:
83 Andrew Hagar, Elizabeth Bay From My Rooftop
35 Amanda Penrose Hart, From The Shed
87 Joseph Bezzina, MOON, EARTH AND ALL THAT'S BETWEEN (LAKE MUNGO)
44 Jeanette Prout, Lake Glenbawn
40 Catherine Cassidy, Road to Hill End I & II
42 Frances Ifould, Going, Going, Gone artists book
58 Brigiat Maltese, Four Views
88 Rodney Pople, St Marys Cathedral at 4am
49 Tim Hutchinson, Casuarinas
96 Carlos Barrios, Jamberoo Mountain
63 Steven Harvey, Valley of Shadow Mutawinji Desert NSW
10 Kerrie Lester, Eyeing Lion Island
17 Michael Muir, From Curl Curl
38 Carole Corrie, Landscape Windows
33 Joanna Logue, Coogee
15 Minette Hoad, Rumsay Lane - Balmain
37 Tom Carment, Lake View - Centennial Park
21 Craig Waddell, Bathurst Autumn
26 Pam Doherty, The Shed
55 Robert Malherbe, Landscape II
75 Suzanne Alexander, Long Arm of the Sea - Sydney Harbour
8 Josephine Josephsen, Shed Wall Hill End
112 Julie McConaghy, NSW Water Moods
11 Nora Hosking, Tugs & Tanker - Sydney Harbour
104 Kate Dorrough, At Bundanon
77 Tony Costa, Goulburn River National Park
113 Vicki Parish, Snake Country
4 Neil Evans, At the back of 'The Little Res', behind Brooklyn
115 Juliana O'Dean, Towards tbe Barrier Range
97 Michael Biddulph, VIEW EAST FROM MINNAMURRA LANE, JAMBEROOWinner announced 6pm Tuesday 5th May at NSW Parliament House
2008 Winner Euan Macleod
"I must confess that in judging this prize I was torn between the winning work and a couple of other more delicate pieces. However at the end of the day, the winner for me touched the spirit of Constable, who was so important to the evolution of pleinair and impressionist painting in the 19th century. You can almost feel the weather in this ensemble through its sense of direct engagement with nature. And to cap it off, there is a muscularity of effect in the overall composition which I feel would make it a fine acquisition for the Parliament House collection. The standard and the sincerity of the entries in general was high, making it a tough call."
Barry Pearce Head Curator Australian Art AGNSW and judge of the inaugural NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize on the winning painting by Euan Macleod "Murwillumbah X 5".'en Plein Air'
The term ‘en plein air’ refers to the practice of painting out of doors, in direct engagement with nature, where the transitory effects of light can be observed and recorded.
It has a history in Europe of several hundred years, the most famous exponents including Salvator Rosa and Claude Lorraine in the 17th c. and Corot and the Barbizon school painters in the 19th. In an Australian context, the Impressionists of the late 19th century, including Arthur Streeton and Tom Roberts were devoted to painting out of doors, and thus brought a new understanding of Australian light and landscape to the public, through their work. Fred Williams, Australia’s great master of landscape painting in the twentieth century, used studies painted out of doors as the foundation of his work. These artists and others established a strong tradition of painting ‘en plein air’ in Australia that continues to this day.
Contemporary Australian Painting
Australia’s climate and landscape has long proven conducive to working out of doors. Contemporary Australian artists paint en plein air both in the bush and the city. For many it is a private aspect of their work, rarely exhibited, which provides a complement to their studio work. For others it is their principal method of working.
The Parliament Plein Air Prize
In establishing the plein air painting competition, The Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize Committee recognises this great and often overlooked aspect of Australian painting, with an acquisitive prize aimed at developing a collection of plein air paintings of NSW subjects, in perpetuity for the people of the New South Wales.
The exhibition will be held annually in the New South Wales Parliament building throughout the month of May, with the winning painting forming part of an ever growing and significant permanent collection within Parliament. The award will be announced at an event held in The Strangers Dining Room with invitations extended to all Members of Parliament including The Premier and Ministers.
