The Darling Portrait Prize is a biennial national prize for Australian portrait painting, offering a platform for artists to explore the evolving notion of Australian identity while celebrating emerging and established portrait painters.
Noel McKenna has won this year’s Darling Portrait Prize for his portrait William Nuttal with horses in the field, 2023.
Noel McKenna, William Nuttall with horses in field, 2023. © the artist
“This is an energetic and unexpected portrait,” said the 2024 judging panel – Bree Pickering, Director of the National Portrait Gallery; Tara Heffernan, art critic and historian; and Erin Vink, Curator, First Nations art (local and global) at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
“The subject shares the work with animals and the landscape. It is joyous in its execution and demonstrates the skill of an established Australian artist whose practice is assured in every way.”
In 2024, twenty-four finalists were selected for the Darling Portrait Prize, with the winner receiving a cash prize of $75,000. The artist who receives the most votes in the People’s Choice Award will be awarded $10,000 courtesy of the Liangis Family Foundation. This year, Nena Salobir’s Self portrait on washcloth, 2024, has been selected for the Art Handlers’ award, receiving $2,000 cash from exhibition partner IAS Fine Art Logistics.
The Darling Portrait Prize 2024 finalist exhibition is currently on view at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, until 13 October 2024.
