Nicholas Harding Obituary

Nicholas Harding, a British-born Autsralian artist who won the Archibald Prize in 2001 with a portrait of John Bell as King Lear has died. Harding was born in 1956 and died from cancer on 2 Nov. 2022 at age 66.

Harding, who was based in Sydney at the time he died won the Archibald in 2001 with a portrait of actor John Bell as King Lear, and was named as a finalist in the prize an astonishing 19 times.

• He was a finalist in the Archibald Prize for thirteen years in a row from 1994 to 2006, and also in 2009, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2020.

He also won the People’s Choice Award at the 2005 Archibald, with Bob’s Daily Swim.

Harding was exhibited in the finalists for the Sulman Prize in 1981, 2003, 2006 and the Wynne Prize in 1994, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2016, and 2017, winning in 2022 with Eora.

He also won the Dobell Prize in 2001 with Eddy Avenue.

He was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2001.

Harding’s work has been the subject of more than 40 solo exhibitions since 1992 and has been included in over 100 group exhibitions since 1982.

This year, he won the Wynne Prize with a lush landscape entitled Eora.