Chronology of events 1900 - 2005

1900
Jules François Archibald, then editor of the Bulletin, commissioned John Longstaff to paint a portrait of the poet Henry Lawson. Apparently Archibald was so pleased with the portrait that he decided to 'write his name across Sydney' by bequeathing money to the arts. When he died in 1919 he left one tenth of his estate of £89,061 in trust for a non-acquisitive annual art prize to be awarded by the Trustees of the (then) National Art Gallery of New South Wales (now the Art Gallery of New South Wales)

1921
The first Archibald Prize of £400 was awarded to W.B. McInnes for his portrait Desbrowe Annear.

1922
Gother Mann, Director of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales, in listing the conditions of the prize stated that 'portraits should be as far as practicable painted from life and may be of any size. No direct copies from photographs will be considered eligible.'

1923
W.B McInnes' winning Portrait of a Lady was criticised as the sitter was not named and it was therefore impossible to determine if the condition of the prize, that the portrait be 'preferentially' of a man or woman 'distinguished' in' the Arts, Letters, Science or Politics', was fulfiled.

1938
Nora Heyson was the first woman to win the Archibald Prize with her portrait of Madame Elink Schuurman, the wife of the Consul General for the Netherlands. Max Meldrum made the much quoted statement, 'If I were a woman, I would certainly prefer raising a healthy family to a career in art. Women are more closely attached to the physical things of life. They are not to blame. They cannot help it, and to expect them to do some things equally as well as men is sheer lunacy.'

1942
William Dargie won the prize with his portrait Corporal Jim Gordon, VC. The work was painted when Dargie was an official war artist in Syria. The ship carrying the portrait back to Sydney sank and the painting spent some time underwater.

1943
William Dobell won the award for Joshua Smith. Raymond Lindsay, writing for The Daily Telegraph, noted 'it is daring to the point of caricature, but its intense vitality lifts it from any such moribund definition. It has all the qualities of a good painting.' When the award was announced, two other entrants Mary Edwards and Joseph Wolinski, took legal action against Dobell and the Trustees on the ground that the painting was not a portrait as defined by the Archibald Bequest. The case was heard from the 23-26 October in the Supreme Court of NSW before Justice Roper, who dismissed the suit and ordered the claimant to pay costs for Dobell and the Trustees. This was followed by an appeal and an unsuccessful demand to the Equity Court to restrain the Trustees from handing over the money.

1946
For the first time the Trustees had to insist upon a pre-selection of works. More than half of the entries were eliminated.

1948
William Dobell won both the Archibald and Wynne Prizes. His winning portrait Margaret Olley was purchased by the National Art Gallery of New South Wales.

1952
William Dargie's winning portrait Mr Essington Lewis, CH provoked an art students' demonstration. Students, including John Olsen, marched around the Gallery, gave three cheers for Picasso and left. A woman in the demonstration tied a placard around the neck of her Dachshund, which read 'Winner Archibald Prize - William Doggie.'

1953
The first show of the Archibald 'rejects' took place from 20-27 February at the Educational Galleries, Bridge Street.

1964
The Trustees decided not to award the prize on the grounds that the entries were not of a sufficient standard.

1975
John Bloomfield's portrait Tim Burstall, painted from a blown-up photograph, was disqualified on the grounds that the portrait had to be painted from life. The prize was rejudged and awarded to Kevin Connor.

1976
Brett Whiteley's Self Portrait in the Studio was a turning point, as it challenged traditional tenets of likeness and realism and stretched the definition of portraiture.

1978
Brett Whiteley won the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes becoming the first artist to win all three prizes in one year.

1980
The Trustees, for the second time, decided not to award the prize on the grounds that there was no entry worthy of the award.

1981
John Bloomfield threatened to take legal action to prevent Eric Smith being awarded the prize for Rudy Komon, as he claimed Smith had not adhered to a condition of entry, that the portrait should be painted from life.

1985
The Perpetual Trustee Company, which administered Archibald's will, took the Australian Journalists Association Benevolent Fund to court. The AJA was named as first defendant in the case because it stood to inherit the money if the Archibald Prize failed to fulfill the criteria that the prize was still a 'good charitable bequest.' Justice Powell found that the Archibald Prize did fulfill this and directed that the Perpetual Trustees Company should transfer administration of the Trust to the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

1988
The People's Choice Award was established.

1994
The entry fee for artists was increased to $25, and there were 174 fewer entries than the previous year.

1995
The Archibald Prize application form was amended to read: 'For the purpose of this prize the Trustees apply the definition of a portrait as determined in the judgment of 1983: "a picture of a person painted from life". This refers to John Bloomfield's unsuccessful attempt in 1983 to sue for the return of the 1975 Archibald Prize. (see 1975)

1996
To coincide with the 75th anniversary of the prize a mini-retrospective of selected past winners was mounted.

1997
The eligibility of a painting of 'Bananas in Pyjamas' television characters B1 and B2 was questioned by the Trustees, as it was not a portrait of a 'man or woman'. Artist Evert Ploeg pointed out that his subjects were distinguished in the arts and that the portrait was painted from life, the only difference being that the subjects were in costume. The Salon des Refuses, now an annual exhibition (held outside the Art Gallery of New South Wales), of works that were not hung in the Archibald Prize was organised to protest against the predominance of established regulars in the Archibald exhibition.

1999
Euan Macleod's winning work, Self Portrait/head like a hole, received wide spread acclaim as a strong, imaginative painting. It was described by the Daily Telegraph of 20 March 1999 as 'arguably the most abstract painting ever to win the prize'. The Trustees' announcement was greeted with raucous whooping and cheering for the first time Chairman David Gonski could recall.

2000
Rendered in Dulux house paints, because they were 'rich, inexpensive and bright', Adam Cullen's winning work Portrait of David Wenham, drew praise for the Trustees from the Sydney Morning Herald of 25 March 2000 for their imaginative choice commenting that 'the daggiest award in Australian art is beginning to look serious'.

2001
A record increase in the number of entries may have been stimulated by awards to more adventurous works during the previous two years. Public attendance at the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman exhibitions reached its highest ever daily average, at 1725 visitors per day (compared with 1388 per day in 2000).

2003
A size limitation is introduced. Entires can be no larger than 90,000 square centimetres, for example, 3 metres by 3 metres or 4.5 metres by 2 metres. This was a decision made after the 2002 exhibition, with excessively large works creating handling, judging and storing difficulties, as well as restricting the number that can fit in the exhibition. The size restriction brings the Archibald Prize into line with other major exhibitions. Another restriction introduced for the 2003 Archibald Prize is the limit of one work per artist. The inaugural Citigroup Private Bank Australian Photographic Portraiture Prize is held in conjunction with the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes. The prize's aim, to promote outstanding works of both professional and aspiring Australian photographers.