Janet Dawson: Archibald Prize Winner
Monday, March 25, 2019 at 8:00AM 
Janet Dawson - Michael Goddy Reading - 1973 - Acrylic on Bleached Linen - 150 x 120 cm - Art Gallery NSW - Sydney, AustraliaAustralian artist Janet Dawson (born 1935) studied at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School in Melbourne from 1952 to 1956.In 1959 Janet Dawson won the lithography prize at the Slade School of Fine Arts, London University. She had enrolled there in 1956 at the age of 21 after winning the National Gallery of Victoria Traveling Scholarship. The brashness of the contemporary art scene in London was in direct contrast to Dawson's traditional art school background. Overwhelmed, she opted to learn lithography, and her love of drawing meant there was an instant empathy with this gentle graphic medium.
She traveled to Italy where she lived and worked for some months—and abstract art began to permeate her work. At the end of 1960, Dawson returned to Melbourne and established The Gallery A Print Workshop.
In 1973, Dawson won the Archibald Prize with the piece entitled Michael Goddy Reading (a portrait of her husband, the actor and playwright Michael Boddy).
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