GALLERY ONE is thrilled to write that 3 of our represented artists have been selected as finalists in the 2024 Portia Geach Award. Both Kathrin Longhurst and Cynthia Breusch have been finalists previously and for Anne Smerdon this is her first time. They all continue to develop their work and standing as highly collectible female artists.
The Portia Geach is this year celebrating it’s 60th year! Held each year since 1965, the Portia Geach Memorial Award is given to a portrait of the highest artistic merit and has become synonymous with the developing profiles of Australian women artists.
Kathrin Longhurst
‘Imminent Threat’
The subject of this painting “Imminent Threat” is @midori_goto_ who personifies every woman’s experience living in a patriarchal society. The painting offers commentary on male violence and aggression towards women and how it affects our psyche. The painting shows Midori standing against a MiG-31, a powerful Russian aircraft. The plane looms close, exposing its underbelly, as a reminder of the constant threats of violence and aggression stemming from toxic masculinity and patriarchal power structures.
Additionally this work touches on the broader brutality of war that affects many parts of the world and women in particular. It is estimated that 70% of people killed in Gaza for example are women and children. But it also reflects on personal battles women fight every day, making life feel like a never-ending struggle. Midori, dressed in a pilot suit and flight goggles, is preparing herself for the approaching danger, ready for the next battle.
Cynthia Breusch
‘The Artist and Her Cat (Self-Portrait)’
This self-portrait celebrates my relationship with my studio companion Martini – Tini for short – my 5 year old Abyssinian act.
Scarily intelligent, she is an old soul, always knows what I’m thinking and feeling, and understands periods of intense studio work. ‘Tini’ is immensely creative herself and rules the household with zany splendour; she is one of a kind.
I made this self-portrait sunny and spontaneous – more like a watercolour – yet sketchy too, ‘drawing’ with the paint and leaving traces of the drawing up. The background has been left completely white to emphasise the two of us.
Anne Smerdon
‘Self portrait with Schiele and Vonnegut’
Anne’s self-portrait features her and her beloved pet parrots, Schiele and Vonnegut, in a colourful piece depicting life at home.
‘I wanted to capture what it is like living with two vivacious parrots, particularly at bath time.
‘Keeping the birds out of the bathroom while I painted this from life was challenging. There’s varied shadow directions as I painted at different times of the day to accomodate my birds’ self-imposed schedule. I also had to move the painting out of the bathroom several times a week so they could shower.’
Read here and below the history of this prestigious art award.
“The Portia Geach Memorial Award was established by the bequest of (Florence) Kate Geach to honour her sister, artist Portia Geach who died in October 1959. Born in Melbourne in 1873, Portia Geach studied design and painting at the National Gallery School, Melbourne from 1893 to 1896 winning a prize for her nude painting. In 1896 she won the first travelling scholarship awarded to an Australian to study at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, where she remained for four years. She seemed destined for a successful artistic career.
Around 1900, she returned to Melbourne and began experimenting with her art. She eventually focused on figure studies, portraits and atmospheric landscapes. The family moved to Sydney around 1904 settling in Cremorne Point. She painted murals for buildings in New York in 1917, and in 1926 was exhibiting at the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris. She continued to travel widely, visiting New Guinea, Noumea, Tahiti and New Zealand and belonged to the Women’s Club, Sydney, and the Lyceum Club, Melbourne.
Disillusioned by the lack of support from the male dominated art world Portia directed her energies fighting for the rights of women in Australia and painting a banner for the suffrage movement in 1905. She founded and was president of the New South Wales Housewives’ Association. In 1928 she reorganised the association as the Housewives’ Progressive Association. For many years she was also president of the Federated Association of Australian Housewives. In the Sydney Morning Herald and over the radio she frequently expressed her views on such subjects as buying Empire goods, the use of preservatives in foodstuffs, the date-stamping of eggs, the marking of lamb and the high price of milk and bread. Armed with a strong personality, she campaigned against the closed front that she claimed had faced her when she had tried to exhibit her paintings.
Sometimes referred to as the female Archibald Prize, the Portia Geach Memorial Memorial Award is given annually “… for the best portraits painted from life of some man or woman distinguished in Art, Letters or the Sciences by any female artist resident in Australia during the twelve months preceding the closing date for entries”. The Portia Geach Memorial Award seems an appropriate legacy and ensures that, over fifty years after her death, women artists in Australia are encouraged and supported in their endeavours.”
