Sydney-based artist Steve Lopes has won the ‘2018 Gallipoli Art Prize’, a competition held in Australia and Turkey to commemorate the legacy of those who fought on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915.
Lopes’ winning painting, Exposed Wood, Mont St Quentin (2018), depicts the now overgrown WWI battlefield of Mont St Quentin on the Western Front in France where Australian forces had been deployed. Chairperson of the Gallipoli Art Prize and one of this year’s judges, John Robertson, observes that Lopes’ choice to depict a peaceful scene is timely as ‘2018 marks the centenary of the official end of hostilities in the First World War.’
Steve Lopes, Exposed Wood, Mont St Quentin, oil on canvas, 140 x 160cm
In 2017, Lopes travelled to the former battlefields of the Western Front in France and Belgium with 10 other well-known Australian artists including three previous winners of the Gallipoli Art Prize Amanda Penrose Hart (2017), Idris Murphy (2014) and Euan Macleod (2009). One hundred years on, the significance of the landscape encouraged the artist to reflect on the Gallipoli Art Prize’s key themes of loyalty, respect, love of country, courage, and comradeship. ‘I was particularly moved by the area of St Quentin where the Australian forces fought,’ says the artist. This is evident in Exposed Wood, Mont St Quentin and its delicate depiction of the French landscape and Lopes’ use of subtle hues.
‘On visiting I found some old trench areas and abandoned parts of the battlefield,’ continues Lopes. ‘At the end of 1918 Mont St Quentin was the German army’s last stronghold – overlooking the Somme River and the town of Peronne. Mont St Quentin stood out in the surrounding country, making it a perfect observation point and a vital strategic area to control. A key to the German defence of the Somme line, Lieutenant General Sir John Monash was keen to capture it and possess a valuable position.’
‘It was captured by an Australian operation and is sometimes regarded as the finest achievement of the AIF. The fight included battalions from every Australian state. British Commander General Lord Rawlinson remarked that this feat by the Australian troops under Monash’s command was the greatest of the war.’
Steve Lopes. Photograph: Michael Hagedorn
Craig Hadley and Rodney Pople’s entries were also highly commended by the Gallipoli Art Prize judges. Hadley’s The Fox and the Night Cannon Men depicts the Goulburn War Memorial and night artillery practice at North Head, and Pople’s Goulburn War Memorial at 3am is a dark but moving representation of the famous Goulburn landmark.
‘The Gallipoli Art Prize continues to attract the support of the visual arts community who have once again responded with innovative works that preserve the best of the ANZAC spirit,’ said judge Jane Watters; ‘The broad range of imagery represented in the Prize demonstrates the level of inquiry by the artists into the stories and people from not just the Gallipoli campaign but from other conflicts and also from daily life experiences.’
Lopes’ winning painting and the thirty-two 2018 finalists’ works will be on display at Club Bondi Junction RSL in Sydney from 19 to 27 April 2018.
