The award honors the legacy of Emanuel Phillips Fox (1865–1915), a trailblazing Australian artist, and celebrates his enduring influence through the work of today’s most exciting talents.
This biennial prize, one of the most coveted in the country, comes with a generous $50,000 acquisitive cash prize, made possible by a bequest from Mona Fox.
To celebrate the final weeks of the Len Fox Painting Award, Castlemaine Art Museum is hosting two themed drawing sessions using prompts from the interests of E.P Fox to inspire new ways of approaching drawing.
Castlemaine Art Museum drawing sessions:
- Session 1: Sat 22 Feb – Light
- Session 2: Sat 1 Mar – Colour and community
- Time: 2pm – 4pm
- All ages welcome
- Cost: Free
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around the region here.
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Established to recognise and promote contemporary Australian artists, the Len Fox Painting Award encourages an exploration of the artistic interests and qualities associated with E. P. Fox. These include a distinctive engagement with colour and light, a keen connection with international art developments, and an interest in travel and cultural exchange. This year’s award continues to reflect these ideals, honouring Coulthard’s unique contribution to the visual arts.
Judge Emma Busowsky comments:
Nellie Ngampa Coulthard’s Tjuntala Ngurangka – Country with Wattle (Acacia Murrayana) is a celebration of the beauty of nature and the artist’s abiding connection to her ancestral lands. It is an exuberant, joyful evocation of Yankunytjatjara Country, especially the brilliant yellow blossoms of the acacia wattle tree that abound there.
Coulthard’s distinctive palette, command of her chosen medium of synthetic polymer paint, and unique vision have come together in a painting of dazzling beauty and intensity that captures the shimmering light, colour, atmosphere and abundance of the landscape. It is these qualities that link the work to the legacy of Emanuel Phillips Fox, though Coulthard’s cultural and artistic lineage is of course much older.
Coulthard is a respected elder from the artistically vibrant APY Lands in South Australia, and a practicing artist for over three decades.
Tjuntala Ngurangka – Country with Wattle is both a worthy winner of the award and addition to a public collection, particularly one with strong holdings of colonial and 19th century Australian painting.
Vote for your favourite artwork in the people’s choice award, the winner will receive a cash prize of $500, announced at the closing of the exhibition.
