The winner of the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize 2016 is Henry Kondracki for his oil painting, The Cowgate. He receives prize money of £15,000 and an engraved gold medal.
Now in its 11th year, the open submission award is presented by The Worshipful Company of Painter Stainers and the Lynn Foundation. Its focus is draughtsmanship and representational painting.
Talking about the winning painting, artist and 2016 selector Ken Howard OBE RA NEAC, said: “Henry Kondracki’s The Cowgate was an instant choice for the prize. The painting is full of atmosphere and feeling. Kondracki is a very respected painter and he has been in the final selection several times, although he has never actually won the prize.”
Kondracki, who lives and works in Edinburgh, said: “A well worn part of Edinburgh, the Cowgate’s history goes back a long way … My memory is part of the story of the city, but only a small part. I am aware of all the people who have walked these same snowy streets, leaving tracks that record their journeys, rather like drawing – a moment in time frozen.”
Other awards presented at a ceremony last night include the Young Artist Award of £2,500, awarded to Bernadett Timko for her oil painting Studio 7. Timko is currently studying portrait painting at Heatherley’s School of Fine Art, London.
The £5,000 Brian Botting Prize went to Charlie Schaffer for his painting Madonna.
Five Runner-up prizes of £1,500 each were awarded to: Benjamin Andreas for Hoxton Square Daytime; Peter Clossick for Garden; Joe Fan for Fontainebleau Reconstruction; Ian Rowlands for The Pond; and Neale Worley for Model.
An exhibition at the Mall Galleries, London features 139 works selected by Howard, fellow artists Catharine Davison, James Lloyd and Sam Wadsworth, and Andrew Wilton, Visiting Research Fellow at Tate Britain.
The exhibition continues until 13 March and tours to Guildford House Gallery from 25 June–17 July 2016.
