Margaret Fink1987

This work by Judy Cassab was first shown in an exhibition of her portraits at the SH Ervin Gallery in 1988.

The artist and her subject had known each other since the early 1950s through the local art scene. Margaret Fink, a Sydney art teacher turned film producer, had achieved worldwide acclaim for My Brilliant Career, her first feature-length film.

Cassab’s portraits were usually painted in a single sitting, with the subject’s eyes a notable feature of her swiftly-achieved likenesses. As Cassab herself said, ‘It’s a magic moment when the eyes come alive and look back at me’.

Cassab won the Archibald Prize twice and had over 50 solo exhibitions in Sydney. She was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1988.