Paul Newton Portrait of Maggie Tabberer

Having painted Kate Fischer for the 1997 Archibald Prize, Paul Newton felt he would like to paint a more senior woman, but someone equally glamorous and sophisticated. Maggie Tabberer was someone that he grew up knowing as a fashion icon.

‘When I was painting her, I was struck by the fact that after years as a model, posing for the camera, she was very aware of how she appears and was able to adopt poses that weren’t imposed by me’, says Newton. ‘We spent the first day trying all kinds of different poses and forms of composition. There was even a dog in there at one point. But in the end it was the simple, elegant pose that worked best.

‘I wanted to demonstrate that she stands alone in a number of ways. She is confident and strong but there is also a fragility about her. There’s a sadness in her eyes which came through without me intending it. There is also a sensuality about the bare feet with a hint of nail polish which contrasts with the strength in the arms and hands.’

Newton abandoned one canvas. ‘Two days after working on the second I stood back and thought, “what a load of rubbish”, so I took it outside and in a fit of anger and despair hosed it full-bore, and the funny thing was the tortured looking texture left behind was really nice, so basically what you see of the background is pretty much the effect of a hose and scrubbing brush!’

‘The trickiest, most difficult confrontation with portraiture is showing a subject the painting’, says Newton. ‘It’s the moment of truth. Maggie was a bit teary and said it was a very emotional experience – as an artist you can’t ask for a better reaction than that.’

A well-known portrait artist, Newton had a portrait of John Laws in the 1996 Archibald Prize which was awarded the Packing Room Prize.