The ‘Moran Portrait Prize’, established by the Moran Arts Foundation in 1988, is an annual exhibition that aims to foster the skills of portraiture. More recently, the foundation expanded the prize and exhibition to include contemporary photography by establishing a dedicated ‘Photographic Prize’. Encouraging both excellence and creativity in contemporary Australian portraiture, the prizes – the richest in the country – are acquisitive with the winning works joining the Moran Arts Foundation Collection for permanent exhibition.
Sydney artist Nigel Milsom is the 2013 Doug Moran National Portrait recipient, receiving the honor and $150,000 in prize money for his painting Uncle Paddy. Milsom’s haunting portrait depicts a friend of his late grandfather who was one of the only non-family members to attend his grandfather’s funeral.
“I was struck by the regularity of funerals that Paddy attends and how people in their 80’s are forced to farewell their friends and family members more frequently,” said Milsom in his artist’s statement.
“When I painted his portrait, I got a sense that he has learnt to sit with this feeling of sadness which has given him a greater strength and wisdom. He is prepared to face death.”
While the decision to award the prize to Milsom has been viewed as somewhat controversial – given the artist is currently serving a six-year sentence in prison – this fact does not distract from the high quality of the finalist exhibition. Selected from a field of over 900 portrait entries, the exhibition presents the work of 30 artists from across Australia in Paddington’s historic Juniper Hall.
As opposed to other national portrait awards, the focus in the Moran prize is clearly on the everyday individual, while there are a number of celebrities the quality of the works here have a subtle sense of personality and human pathos- something that is often lost in other art competitions. The works hang quietly within the colonial architecture, not cramped or overhung allowing the viewer to respond individually to each artist’s interpretation of their sitter. The building, built by convict Robert Cooper, was acquired by the Moran family last year to house the foundation’s collection permanently on the newly restored ground floor. “It’s a funny circumstance,” Moran said of the winner’s absence. “We’re holding the exhibition today in Juniper Hall which was the home of a convict who came to Australia after misdemeanors in England and the winner is also currently what I’d term a convict.”
The $50,000 ‘Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize’ was awarded to Sydney-based photographer and film director John Janson-Moore for his work Nyrripi Girl With Finger.
2013 Doug Moran National Portrait Prizes
Juniper Hall, Paddington
Sydney
Nigel Milsom, Uncle Paddy, 2013, oil on canvas, 100 x 75cm
Mitch Cairns, Agatha Gothe-Snape, 2013, oil on linen, 60 x 60cm
