Judy Cassab AO CBE (1920–2015) was one of Australia's best-loved, most prolific portrait painters. Born in Vienna, Cassab studied art in Prague and at the Budapest Academy before adopting false papers and 'going underground' to escape the persecution of Hungarian Jews. After the war, she and her husband reunited and emigrated to Sydney in 1951. Within months of arriving, she was commissioned by Sir Charles Lloyd Jones to paint a portrait of his wife, becoming an Archibald finalist for the first time the following year. By the mid-1960s she was sought-after as a portraitist. She won the Archibald Prize twice, for her portrait of her friend, Stanislaus Rapotec, in 1960, and with her painting of artist Margo Lewers in 1967. Through her many other portraits she created a distinct record of Australian society from the 1950s onwards. Cassab also found inspiration for a more abstract style of painting in the landscape of the Northern Territory, to which she repeatedly returned, and won several awards for her landscape works in the Wynne Prize.
Cassab painted this self-portrait at the age of 86 in 2006. It captures her spirit of resilience and determination, having survived the Holocaust and built a successful career as a portrait artist in Australia.
Gift of Dr Phillip Dutton and Valerie Dutton 2013. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
© Judy Cassab/Copyright Agency, 2021
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