Blake Prize

Blake Prize for Religious Art
Awarded for	Engages contemporary artists, both nationally and internationally, in conversations concerning faith, spirituality, religion, hope, humanity, social justice, belief and non–belief. The Blake Prize presents an aesthetic means of exploring the wider experience of spirituality and all this may entail through the visionary imagining of contemporary artists.
Date	1951
Country	Australia
Hosted by	The Blake Society (1951-2016); Casula Powerhouse (since 2016);
Reward(s)	A$35,000
Highlights
Most awards	Eric Smith (six times)
Inaugural winner	Justin O'Brien (1951)

The Blake Prize is an Australian art prize awarded for religious art; in existence since 1951. The Prize was awarded annually from 1951 to 2015, and from 2016 has been awarded biennially.[1][2]

The prize was established in Sydney in 1949 as an incentive to raise the standard of religious art. It was founded by R. Morley, the Reverend Michael Scott SJ, a Headmaster of Campion Hall, Point Piper, and subsequently Rector of Aquinas College, University of Adelaide, and lawyer M. Tenison. The Blake Prize is named after the artist and poet, William Blake. The inaugural Blake Prize was awarded in 1951 to Justin O'Brien.[3]

The Blake Exhibitions have been a regular travelling exhibition around Australia, visiting various major cities and provincial galleries.

The award of the Blake Prize to Charles Bannon in 1954 for his Judas Iscariot was one of the most controversial in its history; this opened controversy over what constituted religious art and over "abstract expressionism" which threatened to overwhelm the exhibition.

In 2008 the Blake Society established the Blake Poetry Prize to link art and literature and to give Australian poets new possibilities to explore the nature of spirituality in the 21st century. The Blake Poetry Prize is presented in association with Writing NSW.

The prize was administered by the Blake Society, in 2016 the Casula Powerhouse arts centre took over the prize now focuses on the broader spiritual arts rather than religious art.[4] Casula Powerhouse also administer the Blake Poetry Prize.

List of winners

Ordinal	Year	Winner(s)	Name of work(s)	Notes
1	1951	Justin O'Brien	The Virgin Enthroned	[3]
2	1952	Frank Hinder	Flight into Egypt
3	1953	Michael Kmit	The Evangelist John Mark
4	1954	Charles Bannon	Judas Iscariot
5	1955	Donald Friend	St John and Scenes from the Apocalypse
6	1956	Eric Smith	The Scourged Christ
7	1957	Elwyn Lynn	Betrayal
8	1958	Eric Smith	The Moment Christ Died
9	1959	Eric Smith	Christ is Risen
10	1960	John Coburn	Triptych of the Passion
11	1961	Stanislaus Rapotec	Meditating on Good Friday	[3]
12	1962	Eric Smith	Eucharistic Landscape
13	1963	Leonard French	Ancient Fragments
14	1964	Michael Kitching	Last Supper-Premonition	[5]
15	1965	Asher Bilu	I Form Light and Create Darkness-Isaiah 45:7
16	1966	Rodney Milgate	Ascension
17	1967	Desiderius Orban	Hosanna
18	1968	Roger Kemp	The Cross
19	1969	Eric Smith	The Assassin's Creed
20	1970	Roger Kemp	Denial
20	1970	Eric Smith	Christ's Flesh: Living, Suffering and Resurrected
21	1971	Desiderius Orban	Transition to Christianity
22	1972	Joseph Szabo	Black Friday
23	1973	Keith Looby	Your Motel Calvary Still Life Flowers
24	1974	Stuart Maxwell	Christ at Emmaus
24	1974	Ken Whisson	Tobias and the Angel
25	1975	Rodney Milgate	Thoughts on Holy Thursday
26	1976	David Voigt	Blue Requiem
27	1977	John Coburn	Hozanna
27	1977	Rodney Milgate	Tree
28	1978	Noel Tunks	The First Friday Retreat
29	1979	Ian Gentle and Alex Trompf	Roadside Altar Piece Comas
30	1980	Leonard French	Instruments for a Drama Meditation
31	1981	David Voigt	Meditation
32	1982	Mary Anne Coutts	In Mockery of Christ
32	1982	Suzie Marston	Sunday School Work Books
33	1983	Geoffrey Harvey and Ann Taylor	The Offering
34	1984	Mary Hall	The Spirit of God hovered brooding over the face of the waters
35	1985	John Gould	Votives to Passion
36	1986	Roger Akinin	The Day of Atonement, Scapegoat and Apostate
37	1987	Ian Grant	The Monks Cloak
37	1987	Alan Oldfield	A High and perpetual shewing of Christ's mother according to Julian of Norwich
38	1988	Lise Floistad	This sign is a hidden treasure which desires to be known
39	1989	Warren Breninger	Hail Mary
40	1990	Gillian Mann	The Chest
41	1991	Alan Oldfield	Raft III
41	1991	Rosemary Valadon	Before the Fall
42	1992	George Gittoes	Ancient Prayer
43	1993	John Davis	Some Thoughts on a Miracle
44	1994	Hilarie Mais	Veiling Silence
45	1995	George Gittoes	The Preacher – Kibeho Massacre Series, Rwanda
46	1996	Rachel Ellis	Woman at Jesus' feet
47	1997	Thomas Spence	Christmas Day 1914 (God's Truce)
48	1998	John Adair	One Dark Night (from St John of the Cross Poem Dark Night of the Soul)
−	1999	not awarded
49	2000	Frances Belle Parker	The Journey
50	2001	Lachlan Warner	Vitrine of lightweight (Sunyata), disposable (annica) Buddhas, in a range of festive colours, postures and mudras
51	2002	Hilton McCormick	The Harvest
52	2003	Shoufay Derz	Linking Back (Part 1)
53	2004	AñA Wojak	Pieta (Dafur)
54	2005	James Powditch	God is in the Details (Intelligent Design)
54	2005	Louise Rippert	Dance
55	2006	Euan Macleod	Untitled Landscape with Figure
56	2007	Shirley Purdie	Stations of the Cross
57	2008	David Tucker	A Local Girl Comes Home
58	2009	Angelica Mesiti	Rapture (silent anthem)	[6]
59	2010	Leonard Brown	If you put your ear close, you’ll hear it breathing	[7]
60	2011	Khaled Sabsabi	Naqshbandi Greenacre Engagement	[3] (3 channel video)
61	2012	Fabian Astore	The Threshold	[8]
61	2012	Eveline Kotai	Writing on air	[8]
62	2013	Trevor Nickolls	Metamorphosis	[9]
63	2014	Richard Lewer	Worse Luck I'm Still Here	[10]
Changed to biennial award[1]
64	2016	Yardena Kurulkar	Kenosis 2015	[11]
65	2018	Tina Havelock Stevens	Giant Rock	[12]
66	2020

References

"Blake Prize". Casula Powerhouse. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
Rebecca Somerville (November 2005). "Feature: Blake Prize". Contemporary. Australian Art Review. Archived from the original on 30 August 2007. Retrieved 2 August 2007.
McDonald, John (1 October 2011). "The 60th Blake Prize Exhibition". John McDonald. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
Centre, Casula Powerhouse Arts (1 January 2003). "The 64th Blake Prize". casulapowerhouse.com. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
"Blake Prize Winner – £500 Prize To Teacher". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2 October 1964. p. 4. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
"2009 Judges Comments – Blake Prize". Archived from the original on 8 September 2009.
McDonald, John (20 September 2010). "The Blake Prize". John McDonald. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
"2012 Blake Prize Winners Announced". Art Almanac. 8 November 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
"2013 Blake Prize Winners". Art Almanac. 21 October 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
Collins, Antoinette (14 December 2014). "Artist Richard Lewer wins $25,000 Blake Prize for religious art as future of award in doubt". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
Pitt, Helen (12 February 2016). "Artist Yardena Kurulkar named Blake Prize 2016 winner". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
McDonald, John (1 June 2018). "The Blake Prize 2018: Missing the mysterium tremendum". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 October 2019.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[cph-1] "Blake Prize". Casula Powerhouse. Retrieved 6 October 2019.

[AAR-2] Rebecca Somerville (November 2005). "Feature: Blake Prize". Contemporary. Australian Art Review. Archived from the original on 30 August 2007. Retrieved 2 August 2007.

[blake1-3] McDonald, John (1 October 2011). "The 60th Blake Prize Exhibition". John McDonald. Retrieved 5 October 2019.

[4] Centre, Casula Powerhouse Arts (1 January 2003). "The 64th Blake Prize". casulapowerhouse.com. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.

[5] "Blake Prize Winner – £500 Prize To Teacher". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2 October 1964. p. 4. Retrieved 16 April 2011.

[6] "2009 Judges Comments – Blake Prize". Archived from the original on 8 September 2009.

[7] McDonald, John (20 September 2010). "The Blake Prize". John McDonald. Retrieved 5 October 2019.

[prize61-8] "2012 Blake Prize Winners Announced". Art Almanac. 8 November 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2019.

[9] "2013 Blake Prize Winners". Art Almanac. 21 October 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2019.

[10] Collins, Antoinette (14 December 2014). "Artist Richard Lewer wins $25,000 Blake Prize for religious art as future of award in doubt". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 5 October 2019.

[11] Pitt, Helen (12 February 2016). "Artist Yardena Kurulkar named Blake Prize 2016 winner". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 October 2019.

[12] McDonald, John (1 June 2018). "The Blake Prize 2018: Missing the mysterium tremendum". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 October 2019.

Blake Prize

List of winners

See also

References