Ben Apfelbaum

SOME STUNNING PORTRAITS FROM ARCHIE 100 : A CENTURY OF THE ARCHIBALD PRIZE

Barry Humphries in the character of Mrs Everage
Captain S after Afghanistan by Ben Quilty
Del Kathryn Barton by her portrait, Mother (a portrait of Cate Blanchett and her three children)
Equestrian Self Portrait by William Robinson, 1987 Archibald Winner
Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrun by Wes Walters
Paul Newton with his portrait of Roy & H.G. (John Doyle & Greig Pickhaver}
Rudy Komon by Eric Smith, 1981 Archibald Winner
The Hon Edward Gough Whitlam AC QC by Clifton Pugh, 1972 Archibald Winner
Wendy Whiteley by Natasha Bieniek,

The Archie 100 : A Century Of The Archibald Prize is on view at the Art Gallery Of New South Wales until 28 September 2021. The exhibition is running in tandem with the main exhibition featuring this year’s Archibald Prize finalists. Your ticket to the main exhibition will cover entry into the Archie 100 exhibition.

Featured image : Natalie Wilsom (Archie100 Curator) (l) & Wendy Sharpe (r) with her Self Portrait as Diana of Erskenville, 1996 Archibald Winner. All pics of the portraits taken by Ben Apfelbaum

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.