John R Walker Portrait of Tony Bilson

John Walker was commissioned to paint Tony Bilson’s portrait by the James Joyce Foundation for a Bloomsday lunch at which Bilson was cooking. “I jumped at the chance,” he says.

Walker has known Bilson, not well but for many years, having met him through Melbourne restaurateur/gallery owner Georges Mora. “Georges used to employ artists like Albert Tucker and Charles Blackman as kitchen hands,” says Walker. “Tony was a school kid in Melbourne at the time but he used to nick out of school and go to Georges’ restaurant, which was then the height of French sophistication. I met Tony when I started showing with Georges Mora [at the Tolarno Gallery] in 1985.”

Bilson is one of Australia’s most acclaimed chefs. Walker considers him a cultural pioneer who has encouraged a number of other leading chefs, including Tetsuya Wakuda (whose portrait, by Branca Uzur, also hangs in the 2001 Archibald Prize). Walker went to Ampersand, where Bilson was then based, to watch him at work – “nice research for me!” he says. “I was sitting on the terrace during my second visit when I conceived of the idea for the picture. It seemed to me that Tony was the maître d’, the ringmaster, the guy running the show. He oversees the kitchen but he is also facing the world.”

The sitting took place at Walker’s studio where the portrait was painted in five hours, with Bilson standing throughout. “I’m very much of Delacroix’s belief that though you may think about a portrait for months, if you can’t paint it in one hit, forget it,” says Walker. “I dislike a lot of over-fussy, overdone portraits.” In two shorter sessions he adjusted the relationship between the waiter and Bilson.

Born in Sydney in 1957, Walker did an art diploma at the Alexander Mackie College. He had a portrait in last year’s Archibald Prize and this year is represented in the Sulman and Wynne Prizes as well.