Hunt for missing Archibald Prize entries uncovers a winning painting that has not been seen for decades - ABC News

Paul Trahair was born a few decades too late to meet the subject of the 1933 prizewinning Archibald portrait, Ambrose Pratt.

Key points:

• The Art Gallery of NSW is documenting entries from the Archibald Prize's 100-year history
• There are more than 6,000 entries in the database
• The 1933 winning portrait of Ambrose Pratt has been discovered in a house in Geelong

But growing up with Pratt's portrait hanging in pride of place on his grandfather Sir Irving Benson's wall has made the author a constant presence in his life.

"I remember it from when I was eight or nine, something like that," he told The Drum.

"He's in a nicely cut suit and he's got this cigarette elegantly perched in one hand.

"We'd have family gatherings, and I'd just sit there and take it in."

The portrait of artist Ambrose Pratt (L) and its owner, Geelong resident Paul Trahair (R)(Supplied)

These days the portrait by artist Charles Wheeler hangs in Mr Trahair's Geelong home.

"It doesn't sit easily with the visual art I have in my house, but I'm pleased to have it because it's a nostalgia thing for me," he said.

Treasure hunt underway

For Art Gallery of New South Wales curator Natalie Wilson, the Trahair family heirloom carries a different significance.

It is an important piece of a puzzle she has been attempting to solve for 18 months.

Art Gallery of NSW curator Natalie Wilson has spent a year and a half searching for Archibald portraits.

As part of preparations for the gallery's "Archie 100" exhibition next year, which will celebrate 100 years of the prize, Ms Wilson is attempting to locate and photograph all the works that have been displayed in the competition's history, for an online database.

Prior to 1946, every entry was given space on the gallery wall, but the competition's growth in popularity means nowadays thousands of entries are whittled down to a few dozen finalists.

All up, more than 6,000 entries make up the database. Some 1,500 are yet to be matched with an image.

"We've been on a very intense search … we're looking for every single one of them," Ms Wilson says.

"Of course, we realise that over the past 100 years artists may have destroyed works, or they've disappeared, but we're hoping to find at least an image if we can, and [find out] where they're currently located."

Recently the public was asked to join in the search, which is how news got back to Paul.

"Both my daughter and my sister sent me emails saying, 'have you seen the Archie 100 is on?'" he said.

"I popped off an email and Natalie said she was terribly thrilled, then I got quite excited because Natalie and her crew were so excited."

This image of the 1933 Archibald winner was the only image in the NSW Art Gallery's possession.(Supplied)

Up until now, the only image the gallery had of the 1933 winner was a grainy black-and-white photograph from a newspaper clipping.

Ms Wilson says the Gallery is making good progress, but coronavirus has made the hunt more difficult.

"We've not been able to visit collections, we've not been able to visit private collectors, so we're thrilled that people have been so forthcoming in going out into their sheds, taking photographs for us, digging into their family archive and doing that work on our behalf."

Pratt was a "colourful, bohemian" Melbourne personality

Sir Irving Benson, Ambrose Pratt and Charles Wheeler were all members of Melbourne's exclusive Savage Club, Australia's oldest gentlemen's club with a strong bohemian influence and a focus on the arts.

"I think they were great friends," Mr Trahair says.

"Ambrose was often described as one of Melbourne's more colourful personalities … he was well-travelled, he was a mining envoy to Malaysia and Thailand, he wrote 30 novels and 20-plus non-fiction books.

"He's a really multifaceted kind of character."

Ambrose Pratt as a young man (L) and in the 1930s at the time his portrait was painted by Charles Wheeler (R)(Supplied)

As for the painting, Mr Trahair says he has read some lukewarm reviews.

"One review said the 1932 picture, the previous year, had been a ground-breaking, modern piece, whereas 1933 was a very weak year, none of them were up to much and the Ambrose portrait was basically the best of a bad bunch.

"I don't know. I like it."

He says he'd be delighted if the painting was chosen to be featured in the 2021 Archie 100 exhibition, which will spend two years touring around Australia.

"An awful lot of people would see it and I think that would be lovely."

If you think you can help out in the hunt for the missing Archibald artworks, visit the Art Gallery of New South Wales website for more information.

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2020-06-01 22:08:10Z
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