White Spider Grevillea on Blue Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - White Spider Grevillea on Blue
White Spider Grevillea on Blue 2023
White Spider Grevillea on BlueJane GuthlebenWhite Spider Grevillea on Blue
White Spider Grevillea on Blue2023
oil on panel
20 x 20 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Midday at the Hanging Swamp with a Heron Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Midday at the Hanging Swamp with a Heron
Midday at the Hanging Swamp with a Heron 2023
Midday at the Hanging Swamp with a HeronJane GuthlebenMidday at the Hanging Swamp with a Heron
Midday at the Hanging Swamp with a Heron2023
oil on linen
102 x 204 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Gum on Burnt Orange Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Gum on Burnt Orange
Gum on Burnt Orange 2023
Gum on Burnt OrangeJane GuthlebenGum on Burnt Orange
Gum on Burnt Orange2023
oil on marine ply
40 x 19.5 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Little Red Spider Flower Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Little Red Spider Flower
Little Red Spider Flower 2023
Little Red Spider FlowerJane GuthlebenLittle Red Spider Flower
Little Red Spider Flower2023
oil on panel
20 x 20 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Tea Tree in Mum's Vase Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Tea Tree in Mum's Vase
Tea Tree in Mum's Vase 2023
Tea Tree in Mum's VaseJane GuthlebenTea Tree in Mum's Vase
Tea Tree in Mum's Vase2023
oil on marine ply
40 x 19.5 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Little Red Grevillea in a Crystal Vase Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Little Red Grevillea in a Crystal Vase
Little Red Grevillea in a Crystal Vase 2023
Little Red Grevillea in a Crystal VaseJane GuthlebenLittle Red Grevillea in a Crystal Vase
Little Red Grevillea in a Crystal Vase2023
oil on panel
20 x 20 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Looks like Twisties Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Looks like Twisties
Looks like Twisties 2023
Looks like TwistiesJane GuthlebenLooks like Twisties
Looks like Twisties2023
oil on marine ply
40.9 x 20 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Wattle on a Green Cloth Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Wattle on a Green Cloth
Wattle on a Green Cloth 2023
Wattle on a Green ClothJane GuthlebenWattle on a Green Cloth
Wattle on a Green Cloth2023
oil on marine ply
40 x 20 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Evening at North Head Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Evening at North Head
Evening at North Head 2023
Evening at North HeadJane GuthlebenEvening at North Head
Evening at North Head2023
oil on linen
122 x 152 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Scrub Arrangement with Xanthorrhoea Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Scrub Arrangement with Xanthorrhoea
Scrub Arrangement with Xanthorrhoea 2023
Scrub Arrangement with XanthorrhoeaJane GuthlebenScrub Arrangement with Xanthorrhoea
Scrub Arrangement with Xanthorrhoea2023
oil on linen
102 x 102 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
The Heron at Hanging Swamp Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - The Heron at Hanging Swamp
The Heron at Hanging Swamp 2023
The Heron at Hanging SwampJane GuthlebenThe Heron at Hanging Swamp
The Heron at Hanging Swamp2023
oil on linen
122 x 152 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Midnight Blue Still Life with Wooden Table Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Midnight Blue Still Life with Wooden Table
Midnight Blue Still Life with Wooden Table 2023
Midnight Blue Still Life with Wooden TableJane GuthlebenMidnight Blue Still Life with Wooden Table
Midnight Blue Still Life with Wooden Table2023
oil on linen
122 x 122 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Dutch Still Life with Flying Duck Orchid and Swamp Flora Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Dutch Still Life with Flying Duck Orchid and Swamp Flora
Dutch Still Life with Flying Duck Orchid and Swamp Flora 2023
Dutch Still Life with Flying Duck Orchid and Swamp FloraJane GuthlebenDutch Still Life with Flying Duck Orchid and Swamp Flora
Dutch Still Life with Flying Duck Orchid and Swamp Flora2023
oil on linen
122 x 122 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Dutch Still Life with Janes Vase and Flying Duck Orchid Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Dutch Still Life with Janes Vase and Flying Duck Orchid
Dutch Still Life with Janes Vase and Flying Duck Orchid 2023
Dutch Still Life with Janes Vase and Flying Duck OrchidJane GuthlebenDutch Still Life with Janes Vase and Flying Duck Orchid
Dutch Still Life with Janes Vase and Flying Duck Orchid2023
oil on linen
152 x 122 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Geranium and the Bottlebrush Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Geranium and the Bottlebrush
Geranium and the Bottlebrush 2023
Geranium and the BottlebrushJane GuthlebenGeranium and the Bottlebrush
Geranium and the Bottlebrush2023
oil on birch panel
90 x 60 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Exuberant Arrangement with Striped Cloth Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Exuberant Arrangement with Striped Cloth
Exuberant Arrangement with Striped Cloth 2023
Exuberant Arrangement with Striped ClothJane GuthlebenExuberant Arrangement with Striped Cloth
Exuberant Arrangement with Striped Cloth2023
oil on linen
122 x 122 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
North Head Scrub with Pacific Duck and Blue Banded Bee Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - North Head Scrub with Pacific Duck and Blue Banded Bee
North Head Scrub with Pacific Duck and Blue Banded Bee 2023
North Head Scrub with Pacific Duck and Blue Banded BeeJane GuthlebenNorth Head Scrub with Pacific Duck and Blue Banded Bee
North Head Scrub with Pacific Duck and Blue Banded Bee2023
oil on linen
102 x 102 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Coastal Arrangement with Crystal Vase and a Distant Fire Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Coastal Arrangement with Crystal Vase and a Distant Fire
Coastal Arrangement with Crystal Vase and a Distant Fire 2023
Coastal Arrangement with Crystal Vase and a Distant FireJane GuthlebenCoastal Arrangement with Crystal Vase and a Distant Fire
Coastal Arrangement with Crystal Vase and a Distant Fire2023
oil on linen
122 x 122 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Dutch Still Life with Geebung and Epacris Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Dutch Still Life with Geebung and Epacris
Dutch Still Life with Geebung and Epacris 2023
Dutch Still Life with Geebung and EpacrisJane GuthlebenDutch Still Life with Geebung and Epacris
Dutch Still Life with Geebung and Epacris2023
oil on linen
122 x 122 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Little Pink Grevillea Collage Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Little Pink Grevillea Collage
Little Pink Grevillea Collage 2023
Little Pink Grevillea CollageJane GuthlebenLittle Pink Grevillea Collage
Little Pink Grevillea Collage2023
oil and collage on marine ply
40 x 20 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Red Grevillea in Cardinal Wolsey Vase Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Red Grevillea in Cardinal Wolsey Vase
Red Grevillea in Cardinal Wolsey Vase 2023
Red Grevillea in Cardinal Wolsey VaseJane GuthlebenRed Grevillea in Cardinal Wolsey Vase
Red Grevillea in Cardinal Wolsey Vase2023
oil on panel
20 x 20 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
The Wattlebird Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - The Wattlebird
The Wattlebird 2023
The WattlebirdJane GuthlebenThe Wattlebird
The Wattlebird2023
oil on marine ply
40 x 20 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Pink Spider Flower in Egg Cup Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Pink Spider Flower in Egg Cup
Pink Spider Flower in Egg Cup 2023
Pink Spider Flower in Egg CupJane GuthlebenPink Spider Flower in Egg Cup
Pink Spider Flower in Egg Cup2023
oil on panel
20 x 20 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
White Brush in an Elegant Vase Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - White Brush in an Elegant Vase
White Brush in an Elegant Vase 2023
White Brush in an Elegant VaseJane GuthlebenWhite Brush in an Elegant Vase
White Brush in an Elegant Vase2023
oil on marine ply
40 x 20 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Native Daisy in a Pot Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Native Daisy in a Pot
Native Daisy in a Pot 2023
Native Daisy in a PotJane GuthlebenNative Daisy in a Pot
Native Daisy in a Pot2023
oil on marine ply
40.8 x 42 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Acacia on Blue Cloth, a Collage Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Acacia on Blue Cloth, a Collage
Acacia on Blue Cloth, a Collage 2023
Acacia on Blue Cloth, a CollageJane GuthlebenAcacia on Blue Cloth, a Collage
Acacia on Blue Cloth, a Collage2023
oil and collage on marine ply
40.2 x 20 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Rose at Mum's in a Crystal Vase Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Rose at Mum's in a Crystal Vase
Rose at Mum's in a Crystal Vase 2023
Rose at Mum's in a Crystal VaseJane GuthlebenRose at Mum's in a Crystal Vase
Rose at Mum's in a Crystal Vase2023
oil on marine ply
40 x 20 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Little Blossom and Little Buds Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Little Blossom and Little Buds
Little Blossom and Little Buds 2023
Little Blossom and Little BudsJane GuthlebenLittle Blossom and Little Buds
Little Blossom and Little Buds2023
oil on panel
20 x 20 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
Flannel Flowers on Pink Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - Flannel Flowers on Pink
Flannel Flowers on Pink 2023
Flannel Flowers on PinkJane GuthlebenFlannel Flowers on Pink
Flannel Flowers on Pink2023
oil on linen
28.5 x 19.5 cm
SOLD  ENQUIRE
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen' Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen' 2023
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'Jane GuthlebenINSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'2023
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen' Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen' 2023
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'Jane GuthlebenINSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'2023
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen' Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen' 2023
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'Jane GuthlebenINSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'2023
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen' Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen' 2023
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'Jane GuthlebenINSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'2023
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen' Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen' 2023
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'Jane GuthlebenINSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'2023
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen' Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen' 2023
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'Jane GuthlebenINSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'2023
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen' Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen' 2023
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'Jane GuthlebenINSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'2023
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen' Jane Guthleben Jane Guthleben - INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen' 2023
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'Jane GuthlebenINSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Evergreen'2023

EVERGREEN, 2023

Evergreen continues Jane Guthleben’s research into the remnant scrub along the east cost of New South Wales and how to reimagine it through Dutch Still Life painting. Guthleben has long been fascinated with early European encounters of Australian flora, and their interpretation by explorers and botanists such as Joseph Banks and Sydney Parkinson. Her exhibition of 29 oil paintings at Edwina Corlette straddles the logic of close botanical observation and the expressive possibilities of oil paint.

Evergreen focuses on 67 species of flora in the coastal scrub that once proliferated on the shores up and down the coast of New South Wales. Alarmingly there is just 1 percent of the original (Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub) scrubland intact. Guthleben highlights individual flora in studies and includes as many as possible in elaborate flowerpieces styled in a European manner. Tapping into vanitas symbolism in Dutch Golden Age painting, Guthleben’s showy arrangements of endangered species act as morality tales, as signals for the transience of life and to give a voice to these disappearing environments. Conversely, they demonstrate the conspicuous consumption required for such flower picking (she does not pick from these landscapes).

Guthleben also creates what she terms as floralscapes, composing the area’s species, into idealised landscapes. The use of a pastel palette lends an innocence to these dreamlike scenes that sit between what she observes in the bush, an idealised past or a hopeful future. Collage elements cut from vintage books on Australian “wildflowers” are included in several works.

Guthleben has been selected for numerous art prizes including the Archibald Prize (2020), Salon des Refuses (2019, 2021, 2023) Portia Geach Memorial Prize (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021), Mosman Art Prize (2012, 2019) and Ravenswood Prize. It is her fifth solo exhibition with the Gallery.

Jane Guthleben 'Evergreen'

Through still life paintings of indigenous flowers, birds, and insects, Guthleben uses the traditions of vanitas and its messages of the transience of life to present a painted vernacular that spans humour, kitsch, and historical and environmental themes.

She reinterprets the delicate floral masterpieces of Dutch Golden Age painting by amping up the colour and light in response to the Australian environment and emphasising the texture and diversity of indigenous flora in brushy impasto.

Jane Guthleben studied a Bachelor or Fine Arts with honours at the University of New South Wales in 2015. Guthleben has been a finalist in the Archibald Prize (2020), Mosman Art Prize (2019, 2012), the Portia Geach Memorial Portrait Prize (2023, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018), Eutick Memorial Still Life Award (2018), Ravenswood Women's Art Prize (2019, 2017) and the Fisher's Ghost Art Prize (2015) among others.

Jane Guthleben

EDUCATION

2015

  • Bachelor of Fine Art (Hons), University of New South Wales
  • Short courses at National Art School, Willoughby Workshop Art Centre

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024

  • 'Sea Flower', EDWINA CORLETTE, Brisbane
  • 'All My Flowers', M. Contemporary, Sydney

2023

  • 'Evergreen', EDWINA CORLETTE, Brisbane
  • 'SCRUB', M. Contemporary, Sydney

2022

  • 'Wollemi To Wilpena', EDWINA CORLETTE, Brisbane
  • 'BIRD IN HAND', M. Contemporary, Sydney

2021

  • 'Florilegium', EDWINA CORLETTE, Brisbane
  • 'An Evening at Mt Wilson' M. Contemporary, Sydney

2020

  • 'Bush Chorus', M. Contemporary, Sydney
  • 'Grandiflora', EDWINA CORLETTE, Brisbane

2019

  • 'Ornament', M. Contemporary, Sydney
  • 'Posy', EDWINA CORLETTE, Brisbane

2018

  • 'Floralia', M. Contemporary, Sydney

2017

  • 'Flora Domestica', M. Contemporary, Sydney
  • 'Remote', Incinerator Art Space, Sydney, (with Peta Dzubiel)

2016

  • 'Object & Image', Incinerator Art Space, Sydney (with Peter Finlay)

2011

  • 'Home', Charles Hewitt Gallery Sydney

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023

  • Sydney Contemporary, M. Contemporary, Carriageworks
  • On the Edge: Species at Risk, Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney
  • XV, Gallery Smith, Melbourne

2022

  • Sydney Contemporary, M. Contemporary, Carriageworks

2021

  • Sydney Contemporary, M. Contemporary, online

2020

  • Retracing, Art Space on the Concourse, Sydney
  • Frontlines: Takayana to Adani, Hobart

2019

  • Sydney Contemporary, M. Contemporary, Carriageworks
  • 'Heroine', M. Contemporary, Sydney
  • 'The New Gallery Show', EDWINA CORLETTE, Brisbane

2018

  • Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, M. Contemporary, Sydney
  • 'The Platform 10', EDWINA CORLETTE, Brisbane
  • St Kevin's Art Show, Melbourne
  • 'At the End of the World', M. Contemporary, Sydney

2017

  • 'Multitasking', 107 Projects, Redfern, Sydney
  • 'Three Painters Sharing a Studio', Ewart Gallery, Sydney

2016

  • Ravenswood Art Show, Sydney
  • Balmain Art Show, Sydney
  • 'Object & Image', Incinerator Art Space, Sydney
  • 'Interior Motives', 107 Projects, Sydney
  • 'Young Artists Initiative', M. Contemporary, Sydney
  • 'Internal Affairs', Art Month, Janet Clayton Gallery, Sydney

2015

  • 'Holiday', 107 Projects, Sydney
  • UNSW Honours Annual, UNSW Galleries, Sydney

2014

  • UNSW Graduate Exhibition, UNSW, Sydney
  • 'Expanded Painting', Kudos Gallery, Sydney

2013

  • 2nd Year Painting, Kudos Gallery, Sydney
  • '1200KWest', COFAspace, Sydney
  • 'Small is Beautiful', Charles Hewitt Sydney
  • Lindfield Art Show, Sydney

2012

  • Victor Harbour Art Show, Victor Harbour, South Australia
  • 'Views and Visions', Charles Hewitt Gallery, Sydney

2011

  • Balmain Art Show, Sydney
  • 'Think Big', Charles Hewitt Gallery, Sydney

2010

  • 'About Flowers', Charles Hewitt Gallery, Sydney
  • 'Something Personal 2', Charles Hewitt Gallery, Sydney

AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES

2024

  • Finalist, Portia Geach Memorial Award, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
  • Tanks Residency, Cairns

2023

  • Finalist, Archibald Prize Salon des Refuses, Sydney
  • Finalist, Portia Geach Memorial Award, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
  • Squatters Residency, Portland, New South Wales

2022

  • Semi-Finalist, Moran Portrait Prize, New South Wales
  • BigCi Residency, Bilpin, New South Wales

2021

  • Finalist, Archibald Prize Salon des Refuses, Sydney
  • Finalist, Portia Geach Memorial Portrait Prize, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney

2020

  • Finalist, Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
  • Finalist, Portia Geach Memorial Portrait Prize, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
  • Finalist, Waverley Art Prize, Sydney
  • Finalist, 2020 Chateau d’Orquevaux Residency Prize, France
  • The Old School Residency, Mt Wilson

2019

  • Highly Commended, NG Art Creative Residency Art Prize, France
  • Finalist, Archibald Prize Salon des Refuses, Sydney
  • Finalist, Portia Geach Memorial Portrait Prize, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
  • Finalist, Mosman Art Prize, Mosman Art Gallery, New South Wales
  • Finalist, Ravenswood Australian Women's Art Prize, Sydney
  • Finalist, Korea-Australia Arts Foundation Art Prize, Sydney
  • Semi-Finalist, Doug Moran Portrait Prize, Sydney

2018

  • Finalist, Portia Geach Memorial Portrait Prize, S.H. Ervin Gallery, New South Wales
  • Finalist, Eutick Memorial Still Life Award, Project Contemporary Art Space, New South Wales
  • Finalist, Little Things Art Prize, Saint Cloche Gallery, Sydney
  • Residency, UNSW Greenhouse Residency, Flowers Gap, New South Wales

2017

  • Finalist, Ravenswood Australian Women's Art Prize, Sydney

2016

  • Finalist, Young Artist Initiative Contemporary Art Award, M. Contemporary, Sydney

2015

  • Recipient, UNSW Greenhouse Residency
  • Recipient, UNSW Academic Award
  • Winner, UNSW Painting Prize, Artscene Derivan Award
  • Finalist, Fishers Ghost Art Prize
  • Finalist, UNSW Jenny Birt Award

2014

  • Highly Commended, UNSW Jenny Birt Award, New South Wales

2013

  • Recipient, UNSW Fowlers Gap Scholarship, New South Wales

2012

  • Finalist, Mosman Art Prize, Mosman Art Gallery, New South Wales

2011

  • Finalist, National Trust NSW Harper's Mansion Art Prize, New South Wales

2010

  • Finalist, ABC 702 Art Prize

October 15, 2024

JANE GUTHLEBEN IS A FINALIST IN THE 2024 PORTIA GEACH MEMORIAL AWARD

Congratulations to Jane Guthleben who is a finalists in the 2024 Portia Geach Memorial Award with her self portrait 'The Female Artist'.

This painting is part of an ongoing series of portraits of women that I call ornament-portraits; small in size and designed to be the opposite of monuments, which have historically been mostly of men. I stand the subject on a little plinth so that she appears rather like an ornament on a shelf. I usually choose women I admire in the Arts, Politics or the Media. This series is not to diminish the achievements of these women, but rather to draw attention to the fact that women’s appearance continues to be a subject of discussion – that women continue to be “ornamental” - despite their work and stature.

Inspired by Wendy Sharpe’s Self Portrait as Circus Banner 2019, I decided to paint a self-portrait. In her portrait, Wendy pointed to the continuing pitfalls of being a female artist, including being known as a “woman artist” rather than just an artist, having no visible means of support, and wearing a cloak of invisibility.

Female Artist is a nod to this and is painted in the style of a still life, which is often seen as female subject matter. I have imagined myself as a porcelain ornament, standing in front of an easel with a flower painting. The apron and the pastel colours add to the domesticity of the subject matter.

Jane Guthleben, 2024

Finalists exhibition will be held at the S.H Ervin Gallery, 25 October – 15 December 2024, Sydney

IMAGE:

JANE GUTHLEBEN
‘The Female Artist (self-portrait)’ 2024
oil on marine ply
40 x 20cm

READ MORE HERE

October 20, 2023

JANE GUTHLEBEN IS A FINALIST IN THE 2023 PORTIA GEACH MEMORIAL AWARD

Jane Guthleben has been selected for the Portia Geach Memorial Award, for her painting of the bird photographer, Leila Jeffreys.

Renowned photographic artist Leila Jeffreys is internationally recognised for her bird portraiture, video installations, books, films and her contribution to bird conservation. Recently she undertook an assignment in sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island, where she observed penguin populations. She sent me pictures from the trip of penguin parents doting on their fluffy brown babies. With recent news that shrinking ice has had a devastating impact on penguin populations in Antarctica this year, her trip and research couldn’t have been timelier.

For our Portia Geach sitting we went to Sydney Aquarium where we spent a few hours looking at penguins. Leila is a bird whisperer, and the penguins there climbed all over her and were fascinated by her camera equipment. It seemed right that a portrait of Leila would include a bird.

This painting is part of an ongoing series of portraits of women I admire that I call ornament-portraits; small in size and designed to be the opposite of monuments (which have historically been mostly of men). The subject stands on a little plinth, rather like an ornament on a shelf. In this case the plinth can also be read as a shrinking iceberg floating in Antarctic waters.

Image:

'Leila and the Baby King' 2023
oil on marine ply
40.2cm x 22.6cm

READ MORE HERE

May 6, 2023

JANE GUTHLEBEN FEATURED IN SYDNEY MORNING HERALD ARTICLE

Jane Guthelben was featured in the Sydney Morning Herald article 'How does it feel to be painted for the Archibald Prize? Terrifying' by Helen Pitt.

You can read the article here.

July 28, 2021

JANE GUTHLEBEN: FINALIST IN THE SALON DES REFUSES 2021

The alternative Archibald and Wynne Prize selection

5th June – 26 September 2021

The Salon des Refusés was initiated by the S.H. Ervin Gallery in 1992 in response to the large number of works entered into the Archibald Prize which were not selected for display in the official exhibition. The Archibald Prize is one of Australia’s most high profile and respected awards which attracts hundreds of entries each year and the S.H. Ervin Gallery’s ‘alternative’ selection has become a much anticipated feature of the Sydney scene.

Each year our panel is invited to go behind the scenes of the judging process for the annual Archibald Prize for portraiture and Wynne Prize for landscape painting and figure sculpture at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, to select an exhibition from the many hundreds of works entered in both prizes but not chosen for the official award exhibition.

The Salon des Refusés exhibition at the S.H. Ervin Gallery has established an excellent reputation that rivals the selections in the ‘official’ exhibition, with works selected for quality, diversity, humour and experimentation, and which examine contemporary art practices, different approaches to portraiture and responses to the landscape.

JANE GUTHLEBEN Greetings from Bibbenluke (Lucy Culliton, artist)

July 1, 2020

JANE GUTHLEBEN: FINALIST IN THE ARCHIBALD PRIZE 2020

ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Jane Guthleben’s subject is author and journalist Annabel Crabb, who is also known for her cookbooks and TV shows about cooking, Australian politics and history. The pair met some years ago when Annabel bought one of Guthleben’s paintings.

‘I admire Annabel because she energetically juggles full-time work and excellent cooking and has written about the pressures of modern domesticity in The wife drought,’ says Guthleben. ‘The painting aims to portray the public persona of Annabel as a baker, while celebrating the domesticity she writes and podcasts about.

‘I’ve painted her as an ornament on a small pedestal, wearing an apron and holding a wooden spoon – part of a series of ornament-portraits where the subject is transformed into a shelf ornament in a mundane pose. The work is deliberately small in scale to be the opposite of monumental, and pastel colours play upon the stereotype of woman as homemaker, which Annabel somehow manages to transcend.’

A former journalist herself, Guthleben was born in 1966 in Bairnsdale, Victoria. This is her first time in the Archibald Prize.

November 30, 2019

JANE GUTHLEBEN RESIDENCY IN FRANCE

Jane Guthleben was the recipient of the international NG Art Creative Residency which is a two week placement at the 15th century Provincial homestead in Eygalières, Provence, Southern France in November 2019.

Directed and founded by Nicky Ginsberg, the NG Art Creative Residency is a prize that aims to provide creatives an opportunity to embark on imaginative endeavours and immerse themselves in an environment of reflection and creative freedom in the studio and en plein air.

Jane's new body of work from Eygalières will be exhibited in her upcoming show, Grandiflora at Edwina Corlette Gallery 17 March - 9 April 2020.

READ MORE HERE

August 30, 2019

JANE GUTHLEBEN: FINALIST IN THE MOSMAN ART PRIZE

As an acquisitive art award for painting, the winning artworks in the Mosman Art prize form a splendid collection of modern and contemporary Australian art, reflecting all the developments in Australian art practice since 1947. Artists who have won the Mosman Art Prize include Margaret Olley, Guy Warren, Grace Cossington Smith, Weaver Hawkins, Nancy Borlase, Lloyd Rees, Elisabeth Cummings, Adam Cullen, Michael Zavros and Natasha Walsh.

In 2019 Jane Guthleben is a finalist with her work 'North Shore arrangement with superb fruit doves'. She says of the painting:

This work is based on the 17 century Dutch still life floral works by Rachel Ruysch, which have inspired my large floral compositions. For this work I have researched indigenous flora and birds from the Mosman Municipal area that are under pressure from urban encroachment and weeds.

READ MORE HERE

July 11, 2019

JANE GUTHLEBEN FINALIST IN THE PORTIA GEACH PRIZE

Jane Guthleben is a finalist in 2019 with her work The scratching post (self, artist).

The Award was established by the will of the late Florence Kate Geach in memory of her sister, Portia Geach. The non-acquisitive prize is awarded by the Trustee for the entry which is of the highest artistic merit, ‘…for the best portrait painted from life of some man or woman distinguished in Art, Letters, or the Sciences by any female artist resident in Australia during the twelve months preceding the close date for entries.’

The 2019 exhibition will run from August 2 to September 15, 2019 at Sydney's S.H. Ervin Gallery.

READ MORE HERE

May 22, 2019

JANE GUTHLEBEN: SALON DES REFUSES 2019

The alternative Archibald and Wynne Prize selection

11 May – 28 July 2019

The Salon des Refusés was initiated by the S.H. Ervin Gallery in 1992 in response to the large number of works entered into the Archibald Prize which were not selected for display in the official exhibition. The Archibald Prize is one of Australia’s most high profile and respected awards which attracts hundreds of entries each year and the S.H. Ervin Gallery’s ‘alternative’ selection has become a much anticipated feature of the Sydney scene.

Each year our panel is invited to go behind the scenes of the judging process for the annual Archibald Prize for portraiture and Wynne Prize for landscape painting and figure sculpture at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, to select an exhibition from the many hundreds of works entered in both prizes but not chosen for the official award exhibition. Of the 978 entries to the Archibald Prize the AGNSW Trustees selected 52 works, and from 734 entries to the Wynne Prize the Trustees selected 29 works.

From the remaining submission our selectors have chosen 30 works from the Archibald Prize entries and 23 works from the Wynne Prize entries for this alternative exhibition. The 2019 selectors were Brian Langer, director, Cowra Regional Art Gallery and Jane Watters, director, S.H. Ervin Gallery

The Salon des Refusés exhibition at the S.H. Ervin Gallery has established an excellent reputation that rivals the selections in the ‘official’ exhibition, with works selected for quality, diversity, humour and experimentation, and which examine contemporary art practices, different approaches to portraiture and responses to the landscape.

19 November 2025 – 9 December 2025
Jane Guthleben

15 – 31 August 2024
Jane Guthleben ‘Sea Flower’

7 – 21 December 2023
SMALL WORKS - Click and Collection

17 August 2023 – 5 September 2023
Jane Guthleben ‘Evergreen’

19 July 2022 – 6 August 2022
Jane Guthleben ‘Wollemi to Wilpena’

3 – 21 August 2021
Jane Guthleben ‘Florilegium’

17 March 2020 – 15 April 2020
Jane Guthleben ‘Grandiflora’

26 June 2019 – 17 July 2019
THE NEW GALLERY SHOW — A Group Exhibition

30 January 2019 – 16 February 2019
JANE GUTHLEBEN 'Posy'