The Archibald Prize is one of Australia’s most highly coveted artistic honours, awarded yearly to “the best portrait, preferentially of some man or woman distinguished in Art, Letters, Science or Politics” by the Art Gallery of NSW.
As Fairfax reports, this year’s nominees have been unveiled and among the spectacular raft of portraits in contention for the top prize are four portraits of prominent Aussie musicians, including Daniel Johns, Paul Kelly, Abbe May, and Noah Taylor.
Musicians have been commonly featured throughout the prestigious competition’s 94-year history. In 2011, a portrait of The Drones frontman Gareth Liddiard was favoured to win the comp’s highest honour, but lost out to Ben Quilty’s sombre painting of legendary artist Margaret Olley.
Readers can check out all four muso portraits from this year’s competition below. The winner of the $100,000 Archibald Prize, as well as the winners of the Sulman and Wynne Prizes, will be announced on 17th July.
Daniel Johns by Julian Meagher
Paul Kelly by Jason Benjamin
Abbe May by Angus McDonald
Noah Taylor by Paul Ryan
