Established in 1947, the Mosman Art Prize is Australia's oldest and most prestigious local government art award. It was founded by the artist, architect and arts advocate, Alderman Allan Gamble, at a time when only a small handful of art prizes were in existence in Australia and the community had very little support and few opportunities to exhibit their work.
Over the past 72 years the Mosman Art Prize has developed in stature to become Australia’s most prestigious municipally funded art prize with a national profile. As an acquisitive art award for painting, the winning artworks collected since 1947 form a splendid collection of modern and contemporary Australian art, reflecting all the developments in Australian art practice since 1947.
The inaugural winner in 1947 was a young Margaret Olley. Since the prize has been won by scores of artists including Guy Warren, Grace Cossington Smith, Weaver Hawkins, Nancy Borlase, Lloyd Rees, Anthony Galbraith, Elisabeth Cummings, Tim Johnson, Guan Wei and Michael Zavros among many others. Past adjudicators also include notable Australian art figures such as Margaret Preston, John Olsen, Tim Storrier, Jenny Sages and Edmund Capon.
Prizes:
- Mosman Art Prize (major acquisitive prize) - $50,000
- Margaret Olley Commendation Award supported by Gillian and the late Brian Jones - $6,000
- Allan Gamble Award supported by Christine and the late Hugh Fraser - $3,000
- Guy Warren Emerging Artists’ Award (under 35) supported by Fourth Village Providore - $2,000
- Viewers’ Choice Award supported by Mosman Art Society - $1,000
The 2019 Mosman Art Prize was judged by artist and former Mosman Art Prize winner Guan Wei.
Guan Wei was born 1957, Beijing, China. After graduating from the Department of Fine Arts at Beijing Capital University in 1986, he came to Australia to take up a number of residencies including at the Tasmanian School of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art and the Canberra School of Art. Since then he has received many grants, including Australia Council’s New York studio residency (2003), Cite International des Arts Paris residency (2007) and a Fellowship in 2008-2009. In 2008, Wei set up a studio in Beijing, and now lives between Sydney and Beijing.
Wei’s solo exhibitions include: Chilvary, ARC ONE Gallery, 2018; Cosmotheoria, White Box Art Centre, Beijing, 2017; Salvation, ARC ONE Gallery, 2014; Spellbound, He Xiang Ning Art Museum, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shenzhen, China, 2011; and Other histories: Guan Wei’s fable for a contemporary world, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, 2006–07. He has been included in major group exhibitions such as Infinite Conversations: Asian-Australian artistic exchange, National Gallery of Australia, 2018; Illuminating Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary Video Art, Yuiyang Beijing Art Center, Guizhou, China, 2017 and the 2017 Wynne Prize, as well as the Shanghai Biennial (2010), Havana Biennial (2009) and the Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art (2008). His work is included key collections such as Art Gallery of New South Wales; Contemporary Art and Culture Centre, Osaka; National Gallery of Victoria and Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China.
Guan Wei.
Congratulations to the winners of the 2019 Mosman Art Prize
WINNER, 2019 MOSMAN ART PRIZE
Paul Kelleher, The party is over, 2019, mixed media on canvas, 102 x 152.5 cm
WINNER, MARGARET OLLEY COMMENDATION AWARD
Karlee Rawkins, Tiger tribe, 2019, acrylic and charcoal on cotton, 121 x 137 cm
WINNER, ALLAN GAMBLE AWARD
Zengping Lai, Backyards, 2019, oil on canvas, 143 cm x 55 cm
WINNER, GUY WARREN EMERGING ARTISTS' AWARD
Lachlan Gromek, Ian Connor’s revenge, 2019, oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm
WINNER, VIEWERS' CHOICE AWARD AWARD
James McGrath, Flora Cloud #1, 2019, oil on canvas on board, 121 x 111 cm
2019 Mosman Art Prize Finalists
Congratulations to the finalists for the 2019 Mosman Art Prize. With over 670 entries received this year, the judge Guan Wei had the very difficult task of selecting 88 artworks as finalists for the exhibition.
Below is the list of 2019 Mosman Art Prize Finalists.
To find out more about the history of Mosman Art Prize, click here.
Banner image: Paul Kelleher, The party is over, 2019, mixed media on canvas, 102 x 152.5 cm, Winner, 2019 Mosman Art Prize
When
Wednesday 11 September - Sunday 27 October
Wednesday 11 September - Sunday 27 October
Where
Mosman Art Gallery
