We acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of the Country on which the Art Gallery of NSW stands.

Winner: Archibald Prize 1952

William Dargie Mr Essington Lewis, CH

oil on canvas

102 x 76 cm

Essington Lewis (1881-1961) was Australia’s wartime director of munitions and had various roles at BHP, including as its chair from 1950 to 1952. The company’s directors commissioned this portrait of Lewis by William Dargie. The work – Dargie’s seventh Archibald Prize winner – is now in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra. A related study is in the collection of the University of Melbourne.