Archibald Prize 2017
Entries: 822 (43 selected)
Presenting partner: ANZ
Exhibition dates: 29 July to 22 October 2017
Only selected finalists were exhibited; each artist could submit only one work
Retiring head packer Steve Peters judged his 26th and final Packing Room Prize, having held 51% of the vote among the Gallery staff who receive, unpack and hang the entries. He gives the award to Peter Smeeth’s portrait of journalist Lisa Wilkinson.
A collaborative portrait by students from Sydney Grammar Edgecliff Preparatory School is selected as a finalist work, making the 301 boys, aged five to 12, the youngest-ever exhibitors and the largest group to exhibit.
This year featured possibly the oldest sitter in the prize’s history: 102-year-old Eileen Kramer was the subject of Andrew Lloyd Greensmith’s portrait.
