Jude Rae

Jude Rae (born 1956) is an Australian artist. She has exhibited, predominantly in Australia and New Zealand, since the 1980s, and is famous for her still life paintings, large scale interiors, and portraits.

Biography Jude Rae was born in Sydney in 1956. Her father, David Rae, was a realist painter, who is also exhibited in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Rae has completed a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts, focusing on Art History at the University of Sydney (1993) having started enrolled in Biochemistry.

Rae began exhibiting in the 1980s, and was first included in 12 Contemporary Women at the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery. She returned to Australia in 2003, and in the early 2000s, Rae won several awards including the Portia Geach Memorial Award in both 2005 and 2008. Jude Rae: Still Lifes, in 2010 at Canberra Museum and Gallery (curated by Mark Van Veen). Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, National Gallery of Australia, Parliament House Art Collection, as well as private collections.

Rae is frequently commissioned to paint portraits. Her portraits have included several famous Australians and New Zealanders: Saul Griffith in 2022 Sian Elias, first female Chief Justice in the Supreme Court of New Zealand, in 2019 for the New Zealand Law Society. Linda Burney, first Aboriginal woman elected to the House of Representatives, in 2018 for the Parliament of Australia. Terry Snow in 2017 for the National Portrait Gallery of Australia. Susan Kiefel, Chief Justice of Australia, in 2017 for the High Court of Australia. The Honourable Anna Bourke AO, Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives, in 2015 for the Parliament of Australia, which was the first portrait of a female subject painted by a female artist in the Australian Parliamentary Collection.

Awards Rae has won several awards including:

The Bulgari Award, Art Gallery of New South Wales, in 2016 for SL 359 2016. Rae has also been the finalist in:

Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, in 2022 for The white fig (Ficus virens), Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney. Highly Commended, Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, in 2022 for The big switch – portrait of Dr Saul Griffith. Highly Commended, Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, in 2021 for Inside Out. Highly Commended, Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, in 2019 for Sarah Peirse as Miss Docker in Patrick White's 'A cheery soul''' . Highly Commended, Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, in 2014 for Sarah Peirse. Dobell Drawing Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, in 2012 for Untitled 102.