This will celebrate and showcase the best original portrait artwork in South Africa. Artists from all walks of life, 21 years and older, are challenged to enter works which exemplify their ability in the medium of their choice (excluding lens-based artwork, i.e. video, film, photography). All works were judged anonymously as artists were requested not to sign their work.
KwaZulu-Natal artist Heather Gourlay-Conyngham has won the first ever Sanlam Private Investments (SPI) National Portrait Award for her nude male portrait entitled “A Young Man” (177 x 80cm, oil on canvas). The award was announced at a ceremony at the Rust-en-Vrede Art Gallery in Durbanville in August 2013.
Gourlay-Conyngham’s winning portrait beat a staggering 1 783 adjudicated entries to the top prize of R100 000. It has joined 39 other selected entries in an exhibition at Rust-en-Vrede Gallery, whereafter the 40 works toured South Africa in an exhibition presented in collaboration with the Sanlam Art Collection.
Stefan Hundt, head of SPI’s art advisory service, commended the judges for their “exceptional dedication in making a very difficult decision, given the large number of entries received”. The independent panel consisted of Hayden Proud, curator for Historical Painting and Sculptures at the Iziko SA National Gallery in Cape Town, Vulindlela Nyoni, a lecturer in printmaking at the University of Stellenbosch, and artist and art teacher Susanne du Toit. Du Toit recently scooped the prestigious 2013 BP Portrait Award in the United Kingdom.
