University unveils official Vice-Chancellor portrait

Official portrait of University of Adelaide Vice-Chancellor and President Professor James McWha
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Monday, 4 August 2008

The latest portrait in the University of Adelaide's series of official Vice-Chancellor portraits - this one of the current Vice-Chancellor and President Professor James McWha - will be unveiled at a special event tomorrow, Tuesday 5 August.

Painted by well known Adelaide portrait artist Anna Platten, the painting of Professor McWha is the most recent of the official portraits of the Vice-Chancellors commissioned since the early 1950s and hung in the University's Mitchell Building.

Anna Platten will talk about her experiences in painting portraits and the expectations around commissioned portraits at the unveiling event, this year's Cultural Oration, 'Painting a Portrait'. Professor McWha will speak briefly about his experience as the subject of a portrait.

Ms Platten also painted the portrait of the University's Vice-Chancellor from 1997-2001, Professor Mary O'Kane. This portrait marked a change from the traditional style of the earlier portraits.

"Anna Platten is renowned for her portraiture and the insight with which she interprets her subject and the way she portrays them as part of a broader story," says Mirna Heruc, Manager of the University of Adelaide's Art and Heritage Collections.

"As an artist who has painted two Vice-Chancellors of the University of Adelaide, she will discuss the intricacies of commissions which have a core expectation of a traditional official portrait."

The Cultural Oration 'Painting a Portrait' is part of this year's South Australian Living Artists (SALA) Festival.

What: Cultural Oration: Painting a Portrait by Anna Platten
When: 6.30pm-8pm, Tuesday 5 August
Where: Forum Lecture Theatre, Architecture Building, North Terrace Campus
Cost: Free, all welcome

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