2025 Judge

Chris White

Chris’ 50 year painting career started as a result of frequent family excursions into the Victorian countryside and consequently an early love of nature, the landscape, and of its’ artists.

His painting career has earnt him over 80 awards in Oil Painting, including the Goya National Art Prize 1965; a silver medal at Camberwell Rotary Art Show (2); the McCubbin Medal 3 times; the Streeton Award 3 times and the Heysen Award in South Australia.

His landscape and portraiture is represented in numerous public and private collections here and overseas.

While starting a career in Advertising Art, he changed direction to art teaching from which he retired in 2003 to pursue painting full-time. A simultaneous career has seen equal success as a theatrical performer, the designer and director, earning him the Victorian Music Theatre Guild Award for design on six occasions. As a secondary school teacher he produced and directed 20 annual musical productions and a further 10 for professional and non-professional companies.

He is still in demand as a theatrical designer, being regularly called-upon to lecture on design and stagecraft.

Like art students of his generation, his early work was influenced by abstract expressionism, and his large gestural works showed the influences of French, Daws, Olsen. From about 1980 his work took a reversal in development to traditional impressionism, working from the landscape – a motif he has not changed since. His work he describes as romantic impressionism and prefers the strong light of early morning and the last light of day. He stresses the importance of working directly from the motif while emphasising a strong technical and traditional approach to his craft.

Strong influences include the work of Sargeant, Velasquez, Turner, Monet and the Heidelberg School.

(His father, Harold White was instrumental in the formation of the Art/Craft Degree course at Melbourne State College, becoming foundation Principal).