Renaissance of drawing & painting in australian art
Two Worlds
Craig Ruddy’s powerful 2004 Archibald Prize winning portrait of actor David Gulpilil, with its intense, furrowed brow and piercing black eyes sparked a legal fight on the definition of the word ‘painting’.
Tony Johansen, a Sydney artist and regular Archibald entrant, argued the Art Gallery of New South Wales Trust should not have awarded the prize to Ruddy because his work was "not a painting but a drawing".
Johansen argued that because Ruddy predominantly used charcoal in his work, it was a drawing, not a painting, and therefore ineligible for the prize.
Ultimately, Justice John Hamilton of the NSW Supreme Court disagreed, dismissing Johansen's claim.
"I find it impossible on any objective basis to exclude the portrait from the category of a work which has been 'painted'," Justice Hamilton said.
('Art case thrown out', The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 June 2006)