John Peart Elisabeth Cummings

John Peart and Elisabeth Cummings are friends, neighbours, colleagues and fellow artists. They work together at the National Art School and collaborated to try and stop the developers moving into Wedderburn, NSW where they both live. “And I admire her work,” says Peart.

Peart was represented in last year’s Archibald with a portrait of Margaret Tuckson. Since that was full-face, he decided this year he would like to paint Cummings in profile. “It was nice to do one that was more contemplative. She’s absorbed in something. Perhaps that’s also to do with Elisabeth.” He chose the dark background because he wanted the warm flesh tones to be prominent.

“The challenge was not just to capture a likeness of Elisabeth but the feeling of her presence,” says Peart. “I do enjoy the discipline of portraiture. A lot of my work is quite abstract so I work in a very free way so this was an interesting counterbalance.”

Peart was born in Brisbane in 1945. He began exhibiting in 1965 and is a regular finalist in the Wynne Prize, which he won in 1996. He has entered the Archibald only twice – and been hung both times.