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 1944

Joshua Smith Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon JS Rosevear, MP

oil on canvas

99 x 80 cm

This Archibald Prize-winning portrait by Joshua Smith of politician John Solomon (Sol) Rosevear (1892-1953) is now in the collection of Parliament House, Canberra.

Smith’s win was seen by many as a consolation prize following the controversy of the 1943 Archibald Prize, which was awarded to William Dobell for a portrait of Smith and lead to a sensational legal case in which two other artists took Dobell and the Gallery trustees to court. By the time of the 1944 Archibald, Dobell was himself a trustee and Archibald judge.