Past Winners

ABOUT THE ARTWORK:

Gordon Shepherdson (1934–2019, Brisbane) was a highly respected painter known for his poetic and emotive depictions of figures, animals, and seascapes. Working primarily in oil and pigment on paper, Shepherdson developed a distinctive visual language marked by raw, gestural brushwork and a rich, earthy palette. His subjects emerged from memory and experience, reflecting his enduring connection to the natural world and the human condition.

A reclusive and thoughtful artist, Shepherdson painted privately for decades before gaining wide recognition in the 1980s. His work is represented in major state and national collections, including the National Gallery of Australia and Queensland Art Gallery.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK:

Kenneth Jack (1924–2006, Melbourne) was a prolific painter and printmaker celebrated for his evocative landscapes of Australia’s outback, towns, and industrial sites. After serving in the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II, he returned home to teach and travel widely, documenting the country’s changing environments. His finely detailed works capture both the beauty and endurance of the Australian landscape.

Jack was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1982 for his services to art, and his work is held in many major Australian state and national collections, including the National Gallery of Australia, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Royal Collection at Windsor

ABOUT THE ARTWORK:

Andrew Sibley (1933–2015, Brisbane) was a prominent Australian painter celebrated for his intense, expressive figurative and landscape works. After studying at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, he spent time in Europe, where he was influenced by the post-war avant-garde and the expressive possibilities of colour and form. His bold, gestural paintings often explore human vulnerability, psychological tension, and the dramatic energy of the natural world.

Sibley exhibited widely across Australia and internationally, with works held in major national collections including the National Gallery of Australia and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK:

John Caldwell (b. 1942, Sydney) is one of Australia’s pre‑eminent landscape artists, celebrated for his richly textured mixed‑media and water‑based works depicting rugged, untouched terrain. Caldwell’s practice is characterised by field‑sketching and immersive travel, before returning to the studio to produce large‑scale compositions that emphasise texture, tone and the spirit of place.

His work is held in major public collections including the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the National Gallery of Australia, and he has received significant awards including the Tattersall’s Landscape Art Award twice (1997, 1999).

ABOUT THE ARTWORK:

John Caldwell (b. 1942, Sydney) is one of Australia’s pre‑eminent landscape artists, celebrated for his richly textured mixed‑media and water‑based works depicting rugged, untouched terrain. Caldwell’s practice is characterised by field‑sketching and immersive travel, before returning to the studio to produce large‑scale compositions that emphasise texture, tone and the spirit of place.

His work is held in major public collections including the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the National Gallery of Australia, and he has received significant awards including the Tattersall’s Landscape Art Award twice (1997, 1999).

ABOUT THE ARTWORK:

Sybil Curtis (b. 1943, Queensland) is known for her compelling depictions of industrial, mining and agricultural landscapes. After studying science at the University of Queensland and working in entomology and environmental-roles, she turned fully to art, attending night-classes and becoming part of the Brisbane art scene in the 1970s.

Her paintings focus on the geometric structures of industrial sites and the fading memory of these transformations. She remarks that “almost every site she has painted no longer exists”.

She has won the Tattersall’s Landscape Art Prize twice (2001 and 2003) and her works are held in state collections including the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK:

Craig Waddell (b. 1973, Sydney) is a contemporary artist known for his expressive, textured paintings that explore themes of nature, identity, and the human experience.

Waddell's work has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Mosman (2010), the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize (2005), and the Tattersall’s Landscape Art Prize (2005). He has also been a finalist in prestigious competitions such as the Archibald Prize (2006, 2012), the Sulman Prize (2010), and the Dobell Drawing Prize (2004, 2007).

His paintings are held in several public and private collections, including Artbank, the Macquarie Group Collection, and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK:

Maureen Hansen (b. 1969, Queensland) is an Australian painter celebrated for her vibrant, observational landscapes and still-lifes. After graduating from Queensland University of Technology in 1988, she studied under the influential colourist William Robinson, whose dictum “if you paint your life you will never go wrong” has guided her practice since.

Hansen paints directly from life, often working en plein air from her urban surroundings in Brisbane and beyond, seeking to capture fleeting light and the everyday moment.

Her work is held in significant public collections, including the Parliament House Art Collection (Canberra) and the Museum of Brisbane.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK:

Euan Macleod (b. 1956, New Zealand) moved to Australia in 1981 and now lives and works in Sydney. Known for his expressive, psychologically charged landscapes, Macleod often places solitary figures within vast environments, exploring themes of identity, memory, and the human condition. His gestural brushwork and earthy palette evoke mood and movement.

He has won numerous major awards, including the Archibald (1999), Sulman (2001), Blake (2006), Gallipoli (2009) and Dobell (2021) Prizes. His work is held in public and private collections worldwide, including the National Gallery of Australia and the Met, New York.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK:

Joe Furlonger (b. 1952, Cairns) is regarded as one of Australia’s most respected landscape painters. He is a nine time finalist in the Archibald Prize, winner of the Moet & Chandon Fellowship and the Fleurieu Art Prize for Landscape.

Furlonger’s work oscillates between figuration and abstraction. His paintings often depict the expansive, semi-arid regions of the Australian landscape and the harbours of Southern Queensland and Northern New South Wales.

His work is held in many major national collections, including the National Gallery of Australia and the Art Gallery of NSW. A major survey exhibition of his work was held at QAGOMA in 2022.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK:

Jun Chen (b. 1960, Guangzhou, China) emigrated to Australia in 1990 and now lives and works in Brisbane. Renowned for his impasto technique, Chen creates vibrant landscapes, portraits, nudes and still lifes using thick oil applied with a palette knife. His richly textured surfaces and strong use of colour evoke depth, emotion, and immediacy. Chen describes his approach as painting "wet to wet," aiming to imbue freshness with feeling.

A regular finalist in the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes, he was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery in 2018 to paint Li Cunxin. His work is held in major collections across Australia, China, and Sweden, including the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK:

Noel McKenna (b. 1956, Queensland) is a distinguished painter celebrated for his subtly ironic depictions of everyday life, including landscapes, objects, animals, and maps. His practice spans painting, printmaking, watercolour, ceramics, and metal, marked by precision, humour, and an acute observation of the mundane.

He has won the Sulman Prize (1994), the Darling Portrait Prize (2024), and the Trustees Watercolour Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales five times, and has been a finalist in the Wynne, Sulman, and Dobell Drawing Prizes multiple times.

His work is held in all major Australian state galleries and significant collections internationally. McKenna lives and works in Sydney.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK:

Margaret Loy Pula (b. 1956, Northern Territory) is a distinguished Indigenous Australian painter of the Anmatyerre people from the Utopia region, Central Australia. She hails from a notable artistic family: her mother was Kathleen Petyarre, and her aunts include the renowned Petyarre sisters.

Her work focuses on Dreaming stories, most notably the “Anatye” or Bush Potato Dreaming- a vital bush food and cultural motif for her people. Her paintings often present an aerial-view perspective of country, executed with fine, precise dot work and a subtle, reduced palette.

Her artwork is held in major Australian state and national collections and continues to be exhibited internationally