Wynne Prize

The Storm by Walter Withers, winner of the first Wynne Prize in 1897.

The Wynne Prize is an Australian landscape painting or figure sculpture art prize. As one of Australia's longest-running art prizes, it was established in 1897 from the bequest of Richard Wynne. Now held concurrently with the Sir John Sulman Prize and the Archibald Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney.

It is awarded annually for "the best landscape painting of Australian scenery in oils or watercolours or for the best example of figure sculpture by Australian artists completed during the 12 months preceding the [closing] date".

Many of Australia's most famous artists have won the prize, including William Dobell, Hans Heysen, Lloyd Rees, Fred Williams, William Robinson, Eric Smith and Sali Herman.

In 2010, the prize awarded was A$25,000, but the painting by Sam Leach which was awarded the prize, was later revealed to be a close copy of the 17th-century painting Boatmen Moored on the Shore of an Italian Lake by Adam Pijnacker. Concern was expressed that the prize had been awarded to a painting which did not fulfil the prize's criteria.^[1] Nevertheless, the trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales decided that the award would stand.^[2]

List of winners^[3]

• 1897 – Walter Withers – The Storm
• 1898 – W. Lister Lister – The Last Gleam
• 1899 – G. W. Lambert – Across the Blacksoil Plains
• 1900 – Walter Withers – Still Autumn
• 1901 – W. C. Piguenit – Thunderstorm on the Darling
• 1902 – James S. White – In Defence of the Flat (bronze group)
• 1903 – Edward Officer – Glenora
• 1904 – Hans Heysen – Mystic Morn
• 1905 – Albert J. Hanson – The Blue Noon (watercolour)
• 1906 – W. Lister Lister – The Golden Splendour of the Bush
• 1907 – G. W. L. Hirst – Study of a Head (plaster)
• 1908 – Will Ashton – Noon, Burnside, S.A.
• 1909 – Hans Heysen – Summer (watercolour)
• 1910 – W. Lister Lister – Mid Song of Birds and Insects Murmuring
• 1911 – Hans Heysen – Hauling Timber
• 1912 – W. Lister Lister – Sydney Harbour
• 1913 – W. Lister Lister – Federal Capital Site
• 1914 – Penleigh Boyd – Landscape
• 1915 – John Christie Wright – Knowledge, Fine Art and Commerce (bronze group)
• 1916 – Elioth Gruner – Morning Light
• 1917 – W. Lister Lister – Windswept Marshes
• 1918 – W. B. McInnes – The Grey Road
• 1919 – Elioth Gruner – Spring Frost
• 1920 – Hans Heysen – Toilers (watercolour)
• 1921 – Elioth Gruner – Valley of the Tweed
• 1922 – Hans Heysen – The Quarry (watercolour)
• 1923 – G. W. L. Hirst – Study of a Head (sculpture)
• 1924 – Hans Heysen – Afternoon in Autumn (watercolour)
• 1925 – W. Lister Lister – Track through the Bush
• 1926 – Hans Heysen – Farmyard, Frosty Morning
• 1927 – Rayner Hoff – Head (plaster)
• 1928 – Arthur Streeton – Afternoon Light, Goulburn Valley
• 1929 – Elioth Gruner – On the Murrumbidgee
• 1930 – Will Ashton – Kosciusko
• 1931 – Hans Heysen – Red Gums of the Far North (watercolour)
• 1932 – Hans Heysen – Brachina Gorge
• 1933 – Lyndon Dadswell – Youth (bronze)
• 1934 – Elioth Gruner – Murrumbidgee Ranges, Canberra
• 1935 – J. Muir Auld – Winter Morning
• 1936 – Elioth Gruner – An Australian Landscape
• 1937 – Elioth Gruner – Weetangera, Canberra
• 1938 – Sydney Long – The Approaching Storm
• 1939 – Will Ashton – Morning Light, Middle Harbour
• 1940 – Sydney Long – The Lake, Narrabeen
• 1941 – Lorna Nimmo – Valley Farms
• 1942 – Douglas Watson – Backyards
• 1943 – Douglas Dundas – The Hilltop
• 1944 – Sali Herman – McElhone Stairs (Steps)
• 1945 – Douglas Watson – Old Grain Stores, Greenough, W.A.
• 1946 – Lance Solomon – January Weather
• 1947 – Russell Drysdale – Sofala
• 1948 – William Dobell – Storm Approaching, Wangi
• 1949 – George Lawrence – Two Rivers
• 1950 – Lloyd Rees – The Harbour from McMahons Point
• 1951 – Charles Meere – Never Never Creek, Gleniffer
• 1952 – Charles Bush – Summer at Kanmantoo
• 1953 – Lance Solomon – The River Bend
• 1954 – Arthur Even Read – Cooktown
• 1955 – Charles Bush – Townsville Waterfront
• 1956 – L. Scott Pendlebury – The Chicory Kiln, Phillip Island
• 1957 – L. Scott Pendlebury – Constitution Dock, Hobart
• 1958 – Ronald Steuart – The Cliff
• 1959 – Reinis Zusters – Harbour Cruise
• 1960 – John Perceval – Dairy Farm, Victoria, L. Scott Pendlebury – Old Farmhouse
• 1961 – David Strachan – Landscape, Hill End
• 1962 – Sali Herman – The Devil's Bridge, Rottnest
• 1963 – Sam Fullbrook – Sandhills on the Darling
• 1964 – David Strachan – Landscape, Hill End, Sam Fullbrook – Trees in a Landscape
• 1965 – Sali Herman – The Red House
• 1966 – Fred Williams – Upwey Landscape
• 1967 – Sali Herman – Ravenswood I
• 1968 – L. Scott Pendlebury – Road to Whistlewood
• 1969 – John Olsen – The Chasing Bird Landscape
• 1970 – Frederick Bates – Redfern – Southern Portal
• 1971 – Margaret Woodward – Karri Country
• 1972 – Eric Smith – Falling Bark
• 1973 – Clem Millwood – Dry Landscape
• 1974 – Eric Smith – Redfern Landscape
• 1975 – Robert Juniper – Murchison Sand Plain
• 1976 – Fred Williams – Mt. Kosciusko (Also won Trustees' Watercolour Prize)
• 1977 – Brett Whiteley – The Jacaranda Tree (On Sydney Harbour)
• 1978 – Brett Whiteley – Summer at Carcoar
• 1979 – Robert Juniper – Flood Creek
• 1980 – William Delafield Cook – A Waterfall (Strath Creek)
• 1981 – David Voigt – Hills of Ravensdale
• 1982 – Lloyd Rees – Morning on the Derwent
• 1983 – David Rankin – Life Along the Coast
• 1984 – Brett Whiteley – The South Coast After Rain
• 1985 – John Olsen – A Road to Clarendon, Autumn
• 1986 – Rosemary Madigan – Torso (sculpture)
• 1987 – Ian Bettinson – Landscape Painting II
• 1988 – Elwyn Lynn – Fire and Drought near Old Junee
• 1989 – Ian Bettinson – Landscape Painting IV
• 1990 – William Robinson – The Rainforest
• 1991/92 – Peter Schipperheyn – Maschera Maschio & Maschera Femina (sculptures)
• 1992/93 – George Gittoes – Open Cut
• 1993/94 – Suzanne Archer – Waratahs Wedderburn Series
• 1995 – David Aspden – Seasons of Drought
• 1996 – William Robinson – Creation Landscape Earth and Sea
• 1997 – John Peart – Nandi Moon
• 1998 – Ann Thomson – Yellow Sound
• 1999 – Gloria Petyarre – Leaves, Highly Commended: Jenny Sages – The Leichhardt
• 2000 – John Dahlsen – Thong Totems
• 2001 – Aida Tomescu – Platra, Highly Commended: Salvatore Zofrea – Spring Morning on the Hawkesbury
• 2002 – Angus Nivision – Remembering Rain, Highly Commended: Tim Kyle – A Small Crowd
• 2003 – Tim Kyle – Seated Figure
• 2004 – George Tjungurrayi – Untitled
• 2005 – Jenny Sages – The Road to Utopia
• 2006 – John Beard – The Gap Image
• 2007 – Philip Wolfhagen – Winter Nocturne IV
• 2008 – Joanne Currie Nalingu – The River Is Calm
• 2009 – Lionel Bawden – The Amorphous Ones (The Vast Colony of Our Being)"
• 2010 – Sam Leach – Proposal for Landscape Cosmos Image
• 2011 - Richard Goodwin - Co-isolated slave
• 2012 - Imants Tillers - Waterfall (after Williams)
• 2013 - Imants Tillers - Namatjira
• 2014 - Michael Johnson - Oceania high low

References

1. "Double dutch: scandal rocks Wynne painting prize" by Michaela Boland, The Australian (14 April 2010)
2. "Sam Leach to keep $25,000 Wynne prize despite resemblance to Dutch landscape" by Michaela Boland, The Australian (27 April 2010) (compares both paintings)
3. "Wynne Prize winners (1897 - )". Art Gallery of New South Wales. Retrieved 26 March 2010.