Judy Cassab Miss Elizabeth Skillen, MBE

This portrait of educator Elizabeth Skillen (1879–1970) is now in the University Art Collection in the Chau Chak Wing Museum at The University of Sydney. Skillen was one of the founding staff members of Sydney Teachers College, where she lectured in English. She was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) in 1958.

The painting is one of 41 works by Judy Cassab shown in the Archibald between 1952 and 1998. Cassab knew from a young age she would be an artist; however, her studies were interrupted by the Nazi occupation of Vienna. Arriving in Australia, she found the acceptance of women as professional artists a difficult path to navigate. Nonetheless, she went on to win the Archibald Prize in 1960 and again in 1967.