Archibald Prize 2000
Entries: over 500 (29 selected) + 144 for Sporting Portrait Prize (19 selected)
Sponsor: Colonial (+ Daily Telegraph for Sporting Portrait Prize)
Exhibition dates: 18 March to 7 May 2000
Only selected works were exhibited; each artist could submit up to two works
With Adam Cullen winning the Archibald Prize for his portrait of actor David Wenham, The Sydney Morning Herald declared ‘the daggiest award in Australian art is beginning to look serious’.
The People’s Choice was awarded to Esther Erlich’s portrait of Bill Leak, while Leak himself won the Packing Room Prize for his portrait of Barry Humphries as Les Patterson.
To celebrate Sydney hosting the Olympic Games, the Gallery held a special one-off Sporting Portrait Prize, judged by sporting commentators Roy Slaven and HG Nelson (the comedic alter-egos of John Doyle and Greig Pickhaver) with Gallery director Edmund Capon. The $20,000 prize was awarded to Lewis Miller for his portrait of Australian rules football great Ron Barassi.
