Nicholas Harding
1956–2022 · Australian painter and portraitist, British-born
Nicholas Harding (London, 1956 – 2 November 2022) was a painter born in Britain who spent most of his career in Australia, where he is best known for his portraits. His family emigrated to Australia in 1965, when he was nine, and settled in the Sydney suburb of Normanhurst. He became an Australian citizen in 1974.
Harding worked mainly in oils, applying thick layers of paint in an impasto technique, and he also produced watercolours and large-scale ink drawings, most often of landscapes. His portraits brought him wide recognition: he won the Archibald Prize in 2001 with a portrait of John Bell as King Lear, and the People's Choice Award at the 2005 Archibald with Bob's Daily Swim. He was an Archibald finalist for thirteen consecutive years, from 1994 to 2006, and again in several later years. He also won the Dobell Drawing Prize in 2001 with Eddy Avenue (3).
His work is held in many public collections, including the National Gallery of Australia and the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra. A twenty-five-year survey, Drawn to Paint, was shown at the S. H. Ervin Gallery in 2010, and the National Portrait Gallery presented a survey of his portraits in 2017. After being diagnosed with tongue cancer in 2017, he recorded his treatment in a self-portrait titled Treatment, day 49 (sorbolene soak). He died in 2022, aged 66.