Finalists Announced – Doug Moran National Portrait Prize 2019

FINALISTS OF THE 2019 DOUG MORAN NATIONAL PORTRAIT PRIZE 

Portraits of Barry Otto, Bob Hawke, Matt Nable, Noah Taylor and Sigrid Thornton are amongst the finalists. 

collage of Doug Moran National Portrait Prize finalists

We are delighted to reveal the finalists of the 2019 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, Australia’s richest art prize. A portrait of former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, actors Sigrid Thornton, Noah Taylor and Matt Nable, designer Kym Ellery and legendary entertainer Barry Otto are amongst the 30 paintings in the running for the $150,000 prize. The winner will be announced on Wednesday 30th October.

Leading Australian artists such as Yvette Coppersmith, Anthony Lister, Rodney Pople and Michael Zavros are amongst the finalists alongside several emerging artists.

The judges of the 2019 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize (DMNPP) are artist and 2013 DMNPP winner Nigel Milsom, Director of the Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne, Kelly Gellatly, and Peter Moran, Managing Director of the Moran Health Care Group.  Peter’s parents Greta and Doug Moran established the Moran Arts Foundation in 1988.

Judges Kelly Gellatly and Nigel Milsom said: “It was certainly a challenge for the judges to shortlist the Doug Moran Portrait Prize down to the 30 finalists whose work comprises the 2019 exhibition, but one greatly aided by the possibility of seeing and assessing the works ‘in the flesh’. Being able to experience the ‘real thing’ rather than via reproduction, is invaluable – it’s where the magic combination of subject, composition, technique and scale either work, or don’t, and where you’re able to recognise the power a work of art can have over you in person. For the judges, each of the finalists in this year’s Prize achieves this magic in their own way; creating an active dialogue between the viewer, the subject and the work that is both rewarding and endlessly engaging. We hope audiences enjoy the exhibition as much as we did selecting it..”

Each year, the Moran Arts Foundation invites entries of original works from Australian artists, capturing Australians from all walks of life, whether a public figure or someone from their own circle of experience. Works must be painted at least partly from life with the sitter known to the artist and aware of the artist’s intention to enter the Prize.

The full list of finalists can be found below and can be viewed here.

The winner of the 2019 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize will be announced on Wednesday 30th October with finalists going on exhibition to the public from 31 October.

Doug Moran National Portrait Prize
Winner – $150,000
Finalists – $1,000

DOUG MORAN NATIONAL PORTRAIT PRIZE – 2019 FINALISTS

 Name State Artwork Title Sitter
Abdul Abdullah NSW Often I am thinking about something else (Angelica at Jasper’s studio) Angelica Mesiti
Kate Beynon VIC Hybrid self with kindred spirits Self
Barbara Bolt VIC Catherine Bell at the Jewish Museum, Berlin Catherine Bell
Sally Bourke NSW Catch Robyn Bourke
Jimmi Buscombe VIC Dandrogyny Daniel Newell
Hua Cun Chen VIC Who am I Qing Yu
Rachel Coad WA Emma Emma Booth
Yvette Coppersmith VIC Self-portrait with gladioli Self
Dagmar Cyrulla VIC Kym Kym Ellery
David Darcy NSW Fran Fran Wachtel
Tara Gibbs NSW Phoebe Phoebe
Ben Howe VIC Matilda Matilda
Richard Lewer VIC As a bald man, I miss going to the Barber Self
Anthony Lister NSW Barry Otto Barry Otto
Robert Malherbe NSW Tiatia Angela Tiatia
Scott Marsh NSW Captains knock Bob Hawke
Joshua McPherson NSW Afterward (Portrait of Matt Nable) Matt Nable
John Morris NSW Rose with phone Rose Gomez Morris
Ellie Noir SA Our Solitary Burdens/As The Tides Rise Self
Adam Norton NSW Blak Douglas Warp Drive Blak Douglas (Adam Hill)
Rodney Pople NSW Ken and Anya 2 Ken Unsworth
Paul Ryan NSW Colonial boy, Noah Taylor Noah Taylor
Randall Sinnamon NSW Uncle Laddie Timbery Laddie Timbery
Wendy Spindler VIC Bravura Sigrid Thornton
Vanessa Stockard NSW Self Portrait Self
Alex Thorby NSW Artist Dick Watkins Dick Watkins
Natasha Walsh NSW The eternal metamorphoses Self
Oliver Watts NSW Steering for dream (Ben Storrier) Ben Storrier
Michael Zavros QLD White crash Leo Zavros
what NSW Robert Forster Robert Forster

Click here to view a gallery of 2019 finalists’ artworks