The Goodsir Scholarship was established by Bendigo Art Gallery Foundation in 2010 in memory of one of Bendigo’s most significant artists; Agnes Goodsir. The scholarship will be open to all Australian visual artists and allow for financial assistance towards international travel, accommodation and a stipend. The value of the scholarship will be $30,000.
Agnes (Noyes) Goodsir (born Australia 1864 – died France 1939) studied with the acclaimed teacher Arthur T Woodward at the Bendigo School of Mines in the late 1890s. Woodward’s most important contribution was the encouragement of his students to travel to the arts centres of the world – namely London and Paris. Goodsir left Australia for England and France in 1900 and in the 1920s established herself as a painter of portraits, still lives and interiors that captured the evocative people, stories and scenes of Parisian life. Goodsir’s work was acclaimed in Europe and relatively unknown in Australia.
The Goodsir Scholarship will provide Australian artists with the opportunity to experience life overseas and explore new ideas for their work. Submissions for the Goodsir Scholarship will be invited every 3 years from 2011. A selection panel comprising the Director and Senior Curator, Bendigo Art Gallery; Committee member, Bendigo Art Gallery Foundation and an independent panel member will assess all entries and award one Scholarship per round.