Glover Prize presentation (March 7, 2008)

Looking around me tonight, I am sure that John Glover would have approved. He would be gratified that the most prestigious annual acquisitive prize for landscape painting in Australia bears his name.

After all, working in the Deddington-Evandale area towards the end of his long career, he successfully grappled with the problem of Tasmania’s light and its effects in our eucalypt forests---so very different from England. And the interpretation of Australian landscape has come a long way since then.

It is hard to believe that this prize has been going for only five years and its prestige has grown so quickly; this is partly due to the enthusiasm of sponsors, notably the Federal Hotels Group which tonight has contributed $25,000. I don’t have time to mention all the other sponsors, but I think they can be assured that being linked to the Glover prize will do them no harm at all in the community.

The forty three paintings you see here tonight have been selected from 250 entries---not bad for a prize that has only been going since 2004.

As we’re all anxious to get on with the night, I’ll introduce the judges.

They are:

Peter Timms, art critic from Hobart.

Professor Ian North, artist, writer and Adjunct Professor at the University of South Australia’s School of Art, and

Kelly Gellatly, Curator of Contempory Art at the National Gallery of Victoria.