Paul Newton Portrait of Fred Street AM

Paul Newton first met Fred Street at a benefactor dinner held at the Art Gallery of NSW at the time of the 2001 Archibald Prize, in which Newton was represented by a portrait of Roy and HG. 'Later that year Fred commissioned me to paint portraits of him and his wife,’ recalls Newton. 'The whole process of painting the portraits was a wonderful experience – Fred was the ideal client. He was sympathetic to the needs of the artist, sitting for me on numerous occasions and allowing me complete creative freedom in my attempt to capture him authentically. Fred has a great face to paint – tremendous character.

'Fred’s pride and joy, a beautiful Renoir, appears behind him in the portrait. As a painter who admires Renoir’s work, I had to resist the temptation to get too caught up in reproducing the painting,’ says Newton. 'It had to sit back in the composition so as not to compete with the subject.’

Street is a philanthropist, benefactor and art collector. He was recently made a Member of the Order of Australia for services to education, medicine and the arts. He is patron of a highly successful program called OperaEd, which aims to introduce disadvantaged young people to opera and director of the Bundanon Trust, which administers the Shoalhaven property and collections left to the nation by Arthur Boyd as 'a living arts centre’. Street is also the chairman of the Bundanon Education Centre.

A well-known portrait artist, Newton has been a finalist in the Archibald Prize on a number of previous occasions.