Artist of the day: Artist of the day, February 5: Sir William Dargie, Australian painter

Monday, February 5, 2018

Artist of the day, February 5: Sir William Dargie, Australian painter

Sir William Alexander Dargie (1912 – 2003) was an Australian painter, known especially for his portrait paintings. He holds the record for the most Archibald Prize wins; eight. He was an official Australian War Artist during World War II.

During World War II he served with the Australian Army in the Middle East, New Guinea, India and Burma rising to the rank of Captain. He was digging a trench in Tobruk, Libya, when he was informed that he had won the Archibald Prize in 1942. More than 500 of his paintings, drawings and sketches are in the collection of the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.

In December 1954 he was commissioned by Melbourne industrialist James P. Beveridge to paint Australia's official portrait of Queen Elizabeth, who posed for him at Buckingham Palace. This was the first of two portraits he created. The second, a replica of the first, was painted as 'insurance' in case the first was lost in transit to Australia. The original hangs in Australia's Parliament House, while the replica is displayed in the National Museum of Australia. The 'wattle painting', as it became known, was well received by the Australian public and became one of the most recognisable and treasured examples of 20th-century Australian portraiture.

For many postwar immigrants this portrait was their first encounter with an artwork by an Australian artist as it was reproduced on Australian naturalisation papers from the mid-1950s. Under the terms of the 1954 Australian Citizenship Convention, a print of the work was generally present in local town halls where many naturalisation ceremonies took place.

Dargie painted the Duke of Edinburgh in 1956, as well as official portraits of two Australian Prime Ministers. Other famous Australians who sat for him included such names as Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Margaret Court. Other commissions included General John Baker, Chief of the Australian Defence Force.

He held positions on several gallery boards, serving on the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board for twenty years. Between 1946 and 1953 he was head of the Victorian Art School at the National Gallery of Victoria. While he is best known for his portraits, he also painted other works, such as smaller interior views, landscapes and still lifes.