Near-Naked Princess Mary Portrait Wins Bald Archy

How can the archive resist a story like this?

The Bald Archy Prize was created in 1994 as a spoof of Australia’s most prestigious art award, the Archibald Prize for Portraiture. This is also the only art competition in the world allegedly judged by a cockatoo, named Maude.

Newcastle railway worker James Brennan was awarded the $5,000 Bald Archie prize in Canberra this morning. His painting shows Princess Mary and her husband, Crown Prince Frederik, in their underwear. The couple’s children and a pet tasmanian devil are also depicted.

“I was vacuuming and it just popped into my head out of nowhere,” Brennan said. “I saw a magazine probably a couple of weeks before that with Princess Mary and baby Isabella and a family portrait, and it [the idea] just came out of nowhere.”

Click on the thumbnail for a better view!

Christian picking his nose is a delightfully informal touch in this strangely appealing domestic scene!

Click here for the 2009 Bald Archy winner

16 responses to “Near-Naked Princess Mary Portrait Wins Bald Archy

  1. this is hilarious Archie….
    I think the royal family would get a big kick out of this 😀
    soooo informal…
    will definitely put this up on my party post hehe….
    so different to the formal portrait painted of her by Ralph Heiman’s a while back…

    It certainly is different 🙂

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  2. I think the entries for the Bald Archie are really great and I vote for Maude to judge the real Archie too 😉

    I think Maude’s cousin has already judged this Bald Archie – and decided he was worth three rapid pecks! OUCH!

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  3. How irreverent! How decadent!! How utterly delicious!!! I think Mary and Freddie may see the fun in it but not sure about his Mum! And I just love the Ugg boots! And the Tassie Tiger skin! LOL

    It is the details which make it so good – in the image I have, you can just see the snout of the Tassie Devil 🙂

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  4. I’m sure Mary would see the fun in it – she’s a true blue isn’t she?

    I like the hand on the y-fronts 🙂

    I was trying not to think about the hand on the y-fronts 🙂

    I would be interested to see if they make any comment on it.

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  5. Love it, specially the kid on the potty, maybe liz’s pommy royal family should pose for one of these, it may help them not to be so “Royal” & give them a bit more ‘downtoearthness’ about them.

    I wonder how Liz would react to it – and the jukembra holding a knife and saying “Out damned spot” in front of a portrait of Diana – or ever how our late but unmissed Prime Minister would look with his family. He had Royal tendencies.

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  6. Judged by a cockatoo named Maude? The Turner prize is judged by a cockatoo but I think not as discerning as Maude.

    Tasmaniac – our Royal Family is half greek and a bit german and a bit scottish. In fact I’m more English. But they don’t need to be helped to be less royal – being Royal is their job. But I suppose it depends on the definition of your terms.

    Archie – Diana died, she is no more, no longer a spot even, she is an ex spot. If only Fayed would take that on board! And as for ex-PM’s having royal tendencies – Bliar is apparently not only employed by an American bank (why??) but teaching religion at Yale. I think we’d all like to get rid of Bliar but he hangs around like a bad smell.

    Alas, she is no more, and all the propaganda coming from the establishment makes this little black duck suspicious. But then I may just be a conspiracy nut who wonders why her feet were nailed to the perch!

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  7. Bliar? that’s funny. I’m gonna use it

    That is the problem with being a ground breaker – everyone calls you names – and on the internet we all know that name flames are the weakest form of flaming. Pity they don’t realise it in the real world. A Tony by whatever name at least got rid of the grocer’s daughter! For which may the Lord make us truly thankful.

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  8. Oh Archie how ill informed you are! Twas the grocers daughters own party what stabbed her in the back and the Major took over, only then did the Bliar win office.

    Actually Tone (I’m just that kinda guy) would be a good ground breaker, wearing chains and a prison uniform whilst performing this public service. He should have been impeached for lying to parliament. The two-faced grinning bastard should be in prison doing hard labour, I agree Archie.

    Hey, we are talking politics which means the facts are not important! It is all about spin! I accept your point that had there been no major revolution, the grocer’s daughter would still be in power!

    Does the British Parliamentary system allow for “impeachment” or is this simply a wish-fulfillment thing from a wanna-be Republican? The same as we have here in Oz where there is a small but vociferous group which keep insisting on their “constitutional right to bear arms”.

    I note that they are at it again. A democrat gets laid so they all begin baying “impeach, impeach” (burn the witch, burn the witch) while denying that causing the deaths of over a hundred thousand people could possibly be cause for impeachment of a Republican!

    Democrats make love while Republicans make war – for who would willingly make love to a Republican?

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  9. um.. I answered your question, where dat den??

    Yes impeachment is allowed and should be prposed and 2nded in the House of commons.

    You did, dood? Maybe it got swallowed into the same deep dark well which has been the bane of the raincoater’s life over the past week. I don’t recall seeing it.

    Anyways, it is interesting to see that little Britain does the same as the large cuckoo chick over the pond. Have any interesting people been impeached in Britain?

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  10. Ah but we’ve been doing it for longer. Last one impeached was about 200 yrs ago I think.

    You are out of practice! Time to impeach Geoffrey Archer for crimes against literature!

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  11. haha lovely royal portraiture. There’s a fantastic picture of the artist with his family arranged in front of the work in poses similar (but less scantily clad) to the painting.
    btw sorry to nitpick but should this post read Bald Archies established in 1994 (not 2004)?

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  12. Welcome, wombat, All I did was cut’n paste from the ABC News Online – so while I should have checked the facts, I’m pleading for leniency in this case 🙂

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  13. Pingback: The 16th Annual Bald Archies, 2009 « Ærchies Archive - The Curmudgeon’s Magazine

  14. I wonder if the painter is intentionally exposing their not so glorious side, for being so extravagant and blowing their huge budget year after year, while their countrymen pay so much taxes to support the system. you know their wedding alone costs 11 millions euros, at a time of cuts in social security and education in Denmark.
    I believe that it is not just to poke fun, but to debase them as well.

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  15. Pingback: Bald Archie; 2010 « Ærchies Archive – The Curmudgeon's Magazine

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