At the Archibalds

 The Archibald portraits never disappoint and an invite to the opening night is much sought after. Pictured above left is the NSW Art's Minister Troy Grant with the youthful NSW Premier Mike Baird and the director of the NSW Art Gallery Michael Brand on the far right. Below is the winning portrait on the left, a painting of Penelope Seidler by Fiona Lowry (it picked up $70,000), Rodney Pople's Barry Humphries, Tonya Bright & Zoe Young and Kate Benyon with 'Sangeeta and Fuji'.

# The Shuttle was once invited to a party at Harry & Penelope Seidler's magnificent harbour side duplex that overlooks Luna Park in North Sydney. Asking for the gents, Penny responded "upstairs and down the hallway and through the door with the Picasso on one side and the Van Gogh on the other".  Below-more portraits.

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Two snaps have come to our attention. One is a pic sent to us from our good pal Joan Rivers currently on a European tour. She's just about to join a queue to get into The Vatican. The other a sharp eyed reader has sent with a query : there is a remarkable resemblance between the popular (?) Speaker of the House of representatives Bronwyn Bishop MP and the famous Australian housewife & megastar Dame Edna Everage. Are they perchance related ?. I think we should be told.

Vale Margaret Olley

Margaret Olley, Portrait in the mirror, 1948

It's been just four months since Australia's much loved artist Margaret Olley attended the controversial Archibald Prize when the portrait of her by artist Ben Quilty won Australia's richest art prize for portraiture.

Dobell's portrait of Olley

But it was also the second time a portrait of Margaret had won the Archibald-the first was in 1948 when William Dobell took the gong and launched he and Olley on the road to art celebrity.

Margaret with Ben Quilty in April

Today Margaret passed away at the age of 88 in her Paddington terrace. She'll be sorely missed. No event at the NSW Art Gallery was complete without Margaret shuffling through the crowd with her walking frame-bell ringing incessantly if anyone dared to momentarily impede her trajectory.

Olley was an icon who held over 90 shows during her life. Her paintings brought the largest price for an Australian living artist and she leaves a legacy of work behind, painting right up until the end. She also left a mass of works to the NSW Art Gallery, nearly seven million dollars worth and donated her own collection of masters including 3 Cezannes and a Picasso. When she purchased the Cezanne at auction in London she thought it looked rather lonely so snapped up 2 more saying "three makes a better statement".

Olley never married and once said in an interview that she liked to be "a one-woman band, too independent to be subservient to anyone". She loved helping new young talent and to that end has left a trust fund of a million dollars to assist budding young painters.

Julian Assange in Uncle Sam Outrage

In the week following the prestigious Archibald Exhibition and the awarding of the $50,000 prize for the winning portrait of a notable figure in public life, comes the Bald Archies, the alternative art prize.

This year's winner-a  painting of Julian Assange urinating into Uncle Sam's top hat. It should infuriate Washington even further !

Tilted Bad Ass-Ange by Xavier Ghazi the Bald Archies can be viewed at the Tap Gallery in Darlinghurst.