Archie 100 & Robert Wilson: Moving Portraits

Tickets are untimed and undated. The exhibitions can be experienced on separate days if desired.

Tickets can also be purchased in person at the Gallery.

One Ticket, Two Exhibitions
Buy an exhibition ticket and gain access to both Archie 100: A Century of the Archibald Prize and Robert Wilson: Moving portraits.

Archie 100: A Century of the Archibald Prize
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Archibald Prize, Archie 100 explores the history of Australia’s most prestigious portrait award. 

Developed by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the exhibition presents a diverse selection of approximately 100 Archibald portraits from the last century—the triumphant and the thwarted—and honours the artists who have made the prize the most sought-after accolade in Australian art today. 

The exhibition includes the work of Australia’s most famous and infamous artists including William Dobell, Wendy Sharpe, Ben Quilty and Vincent Namatjira – the first Indigenous artist to win the Prize in its 99 year history and the winner of AGSA’s Ramsay Art Prize in 2019. 

Arranged thematically, the centenary exhibition will include works from the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ own collection as well as from collections of the National Portrait Gallery, the National Library of Australia, the State Library of New South Wales, the National Gallery of Victoria and of course, the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Robert Wilson: Moving portraits
Robert Wilson: Moving portraits presents a series of remarkable video portraits of international celebrities, athletes, artists, ordinary people and animals, created by the New York artist, designer and director.

Acclaimed internationally for his prodigious and highly inventive theatre and opera direction, Wilson has incorporated a multitude of creative elements into his video portraits. Lighting, costume,
make-up, choreography, scenography and sound are ingeniously crafted into imperceptibly slow-moving tableaux, which urge audiences to reconsider the nature of portraiture. His mesmerising
works, displayed to human scale, will stand in conversation with highlights from AGSA’s portrait collection, while also complementing the array of portraits on display in the co-ticketed exhibition
Archie 100.

Many of the video portraits refer to pivotal moments in art history and have been created through collaborations with renowned contemporary performers and artists such as Lady Gaga, Isabella Rossellini, Brad Pitt, Zhang Huan, Robert Downey Jr and Salma Hayek. Each work is captured in high-definition video and displayed on large monitors to create an arresting ensemble of characters and moods.

Robert Wilson: Moving portraits is an Australian exclusive for AGSA.

image details: Robert Wilson, born 1941, Lady Gaga: Mademoiselle Caroline Riviere, 2013, HD Video; music by Michael Galasso, Courtesy RW Work Ltd
Tempe Manning, born Bowral, New South Wales 1896, died Bowral, New South Wales 1960, Self-portrait, 1939, oil on canvas, 76.0 x 60.5 cm; acquired with the support of the Art Gallery Society of NSW 2021 through the Dagmar Halas Bequest, Art Gallery of New South Wales, © Estate of Tempe Manning