Australian artist Ben Quilty wins Archibald Prize 2011

Australia's New South Wales (NSW) artist Ben Quilty has won the nation's most prestigious portraiture prize, the Archibald, for his portrait painting of celebrated Australian artist Margaret Olley, local media reported on Friday.

Quilty, the 37-year-old artist was chosen from almost 800 entries and 41 finalists to win the 2011 Archibald Prize, now in its 90th year, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.

Born in Sydney in 1973, Quilty was named runner-up in the 2009 Archibald and has been a finalist six times in the competition.

Quilty embraced the elderly artist after he was awarded the 50, 000 AU dollars (52,620 U.S. dollars) prize at the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney on Friday.

Quilty told reporters that he first met the elderly artist when she was a guest judge for the 2002 Brett Whiteley Traveling Art Scholarship, which he won.

"It's quite moving to be here today," he said, adding that Olley has been a friend and great supporter of his work ever since.

Source: Xinhua

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