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.