Lot 17

Shapiro Auctioneers, Sydney, 19 November 2008, lot 43
Private collection, Adelaide

Archibald Prize 1996, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 9 March - 28 April 1996
On loan for the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize Competition, 20 September - 9 October 1996, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (labels verso)

Grishin, S., Garry Shead and The Erotic Muse, Craftsman House, Sydney, 2001, pp. 158 (illus.)

The work is accompanied by hand signed copy of this publication.

In 1996 Garry Shead's portrait of actress Jacqui McKenzie was short listed for the Archibald prize marking a high point in Shead's career. The work was unusual within Shead's practice. He typically portrayed friends he had known for many years, often literary figures with whom he shared close intellectual and creative ties. McKenzie, by contrast, entered his orbit through performance. Shead had seen her on stage as Ophelia and later as Saint Joan, and was struck by her emotional intensity and expressive range. That theatrical power animates the portrait, underscoring his responsiveness to her presence as a performer rather than as a long-standing personal associate.

© Garry Shead/Copyright Agency, 2026