Wes(ley) Walters (1928-2014) was an Australian artist and winner of the

Archibald Prize The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, J. F. Archib ...

. Walters was born in

Mildura Mildura is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 in 2021. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point and Merbein are included, the area had ...

, Victoria, in 1928. He was a realist portrait painter and abstract artist who painted nearly 200 portraits of leading Australians, especially academics, businessmen, artists, and musicians. He was awarded the Minnie Crouch Prize in 1953 and 1956. He won the 1979 Archibald prize in 1980 with a portrait of

Phillip Adams Phillip Adams, Philip Adams, or Phil Adams may refer to: Sports * Phillip Adams (American football) (1988–2021), American football cornerback * Phillip Adams (sport shooter) (born 1945), Australian pistol shooter * Phil Adams (cricketer) (born 1 ...

. He was a finalist in the

Doug Moran National Portrait Prize The Doug Moran National Portrait Prize is an annual Australian portrait prize founded by Doug Moran in 1988, the year of Australia's Bicentenary. It is the richest portrait prize in the world with A$150,000 awarded to the winner. The prize is ...

in 1988 and 1990. He painted a 1.3 metre high, 1 metre wide portrait of the Central Queensland University's Chancellor, Justice Stan Jones. In 1998 he painted Donald Bradman. Walters died on 19 August 2014. Although Walters had been painting in a non-figurative style since the early 1960s, he did not hold his first exhibition of abstract works until 2001. He was elected to the Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1993. In 2009 the book 'Walters: art of realism & abstraction' by David Thomas was published.

References

1928 births 2014 deaths Archibald Prize winners Australian painters People educated at Ballarat High School {{Australia-painter-stub