From a Christian Art Award to a Broader Religious View

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
By Steve Meachem

In His image ... Corey Worthington as Jesus Christ (2008) by Dean Sewell.

AUSTRALIA - Sixty years ago, when the inaugural Blake Prize exhibition was held in the ballroom of the Mark Foys department store, says author Rosemary Crumlin, the Blake Prize for Religious Art (as it was originally known) was the preserve of a select kind of artist: white, male, Christian and preferably Catholic. The idea for the Blake (named after William Blake, the 18th-century visionary, poet and painter) came from a Jesuit priest, Michael Scott. Scott's motives were transparent and naive. He believed a one-off exhibition of religious art would encourage painters to return to biblical subjects and churches to buy their works. Yet for all its Christian bias, the Blake only got off the ground because of a Jew. Scott's friend and walking companion, art gallery dealer Richard Morley, grew so tired of hearing Scott complain he offered to put up 100 guineas as prizemoney provided his donation remained anonymous. [link]