What is Archibald Prize?
'''T'''he '''Archibald Prize''' is the most important prize for [[portrait]]s in [[Australia]]. It was first awarded in 1921. The money for the prize was left by [[J. F. Archibald|J.&nbsp;F.&nbsp;Archibald]], the editor of ''[[The Bulletin]]'' magazine who died in 1919. The prize is awarded by the Trustees of the [[Art Gallery of New South Wales]] for the best portrait of a person famous in Art, Letters, Science or Politics. [[The Artist (movie)|The artist]] must have lived in [[Australia]] or [[New Zealand]] for at least one year. The Archibald Prize is awarded every year. Since 2015 the prize has been worth [[Australian dollar|A$]]100,000. == History == [[File:McInnes Miss Collins 1924.jpg|thumb|[[William Beckwith McInnes]]'s ''Portrait of Miss Collins'' won the 1924 Archibald Prize.]] The first prize awarded in 1921 was worth [[Australian pound|£]]400. Early winners included [[William Beckwith McInnes]], [[John Longstaff]], and [[William Dargie]]. Dargie's painting which won in 1942 had been painted when he was an official [[war artist]] during [[World War II|World War 2]] in [[Syria]]. The ship carrying the painting back to Australia sank and the painting was underwater for some time. In 1946 the trustees selected works for instead of displaying all the entries. Less than a third of the entries were chosen for exhibition. Dargie also won the 1956 prize with a portrait of Australia's celebrated [[Indigenous Australian art|Aboriginal painter]] [[Albert Namatjira]]. The portrait was done while Albert Namatjira was visiting Sydney from the Central Desert. In 1964 and 1980 the prize was not awarded as there were no works that the trustees thought were good enough. There are usually about 700 entries in the Archibald Prize, but only about 40 are selected as finalists for display. Some of the winning artists have had to enter for many years before they made the final display of paintings. Portraits in 2006 included a painting of one of [[The Wiggles]] by [[Patrick Whiteley]]<ref>[http://www.thecouriermail.news