Two of Australia’s most remarkable women have joined forces for a new portrait, unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra today.
Painted by two-time Archibald Prize winner Del Kathryn Barton, the portrait is of beloved chef Maggie Beer, OAM.
Beer saw the “amazing” portrait at a special unveiling in South Australia for her friends and family.
“The work and the detail, the absolutely psychedelic fantasy and whimsy and everything you could imagine,” she said of the portrait.
The artwork places Beer among her favourite fruit and vegetables, and holding her favourite flower — a yellow rose.
“There’s an artichoke, asparagus and peas … the vegetables themselves signify that I’m a produce-driven cook and I have a huge vegetable garden,” Beer said.
“But the fruits are most important … and so close to my heart.
“It was only when I came to South Australia that I found quince and loved it.
“The pomegranate signifies my foundation … and to me, the arils inside the pomegranate are the seeds of change.
“And the fig is about abundance.”
The painting is part of a commissioning program by the National Portrait Gallery to “increase understanding and appreciation of Australian people through the art of portraiture”.
Some of the portraits commissioned since 1999 include Howard Arkley’s portrait of Nick Cave; Hugh Jackman by Vincent Fantauzzo; and Neale Daniher by Michael Peck.
Beer ‘fills a room with light and energy and generosity’
Barton is one of Australia’s most commercially successful artists, renowned for her “beautifully decorative” paintings featuring “fantastical characters posed against ornate backgrounds”.
She won the 2008 Archibald Prize for her self-portrait with her two children, You Are What Is Most Beautiful About Me, and again in 2013 for her portrait of Hugo Weaving.
But the opportunity to paint Beer was one Barton jumped at.
“This is a woman who has lived an incredible life. She fills up a room with light and energy and generosity,” Barton said.
For Beer’s part, she said Barton’s process was unique, as it did not involve posing for the artist.
“It was done very differently to the norm, I suspect, as it started during COVID, so there were all these very close-up photographs my assistant had to take … which were very confronting,” Beer recalled.
“Then I went to Del’s studio and she didn’t paint. What she did was take notes and more photographs and we just talked and talked about life and the things that were important.
“It’s a very different way of doing it but it suited me beautifully.”
The portrait adds another dimension to an already colourful career for Beer, which has seen her release award-winning cookbooks, a food and wine range, and star in ABC television show The Cook and the Chef, alongside Simon Bryant.
‘Equal measures of pleasure and nutrition’
Since being named Senior Australian of the Year in 2010, Beer has dedicated herself to reforming the food served in aged care facilities.
She formed the Maggie Beer Foundation in 2014, funded by the Department of Health and Aged Care, to provide education and training on the quality and nutritional value of food.
“I want to show cooks and chefs in aged care that I think they have the most important job. They can make such a difference to the lives of every resident in their care, more than anyone else can, and I want to encourage them,” she said.
“Without the right nutrition, how do we give enough body mass and muscle mass to be active and to be able to engage in life instead of just existing?
“It’s all about giving equal measures of pleasure and nutrition. Without pleasure, what is there in life?
Beer revealed her Christmas menu this year would feature a home-grown stuffed goose, yabbies, a “well-brought-up chook” and beautiful salads of avocados, mangoes, papayas, and goose fat potatoes.
“Cooking is joy, creativity and it’s tactile,” she said.
The portrait, titled Maggie, 2023, by Del Kathryn Barton, will be on display at the National Portrait Gallery over summer.
