Lewis Miller Tom Lowenstein

Tom Lowenstein is an accountant who looks after many artists in Australia.

‘I usually paint my friends, so I thought it was time I did a picture of Tom,’ says Miller, who has been an Archibald finalist 15 times now. ‘He has a nice face and I like him a lot.’
The portrait was painted from life in Miller’s studio over the course of eight sittings. ‘It was quite difficult,’ says Miller. ‘I struggled for the first few sessions. There was too much natural light flooding in onto his face so I had to reposition him in the studio. Also, because I hadn’t done any drawings of him before, it took time to get to know his face. Eventually a likeness emerged but it wasn’t easy.’

As the portrait progressed, Miller would check it by looking at it in a mirror. ‘It’s a very useful tool because I don’t use photographs and it helps me to see the mistakes and inadequacies,’ he says.

Born in Melbourne in 1959, Miller studied at the Victorian College of the Arts. He has been hung in 12 previous Archibalds, winning in 1998 with a portrait of artist Allan Mitelman. He also won the Art Gallery of NSW’s Sporting Portrait Prize, held in conjunction with the 2000 Archibald, for a portrait of Australian rules football player and coach Ron Barassi.

Miller’s portrait of Lowenstein is now in the collection of the HOTA Gallery, Home Of The Arts Gallery in the Gold Coast, Queensland.