Judy Cassab

Judy Cassab (15 August 1920 – 3 November 2015), born Judit Kaszab, was an Australian painter.

Early years
Judy Cassab was born in Vienna, on 15 August 1920 to Jewish Hungarian parents. She began painting at twelve years old and began studying at the Academy of Art in Prague in 1938 but was forced to flee the German occupation in 1939. Cassab worked in a factory under an assumed name and put her artistic skills to use after hours forging papers and passports.

Her husband, Jancsi Kampfner, was put in a forced labour camp by the Nazis in World War II, and returned to Hungary in 1944.

Cassab, her husband and two sons emigrated to Australia in 1951 and settled in Sydney. Cassab became an Australian citizen in 1957.

Career
Cassab was the first woman to win the Archibald Prize twice:
 * 1960 for a portrait of Stan Rapotec
 * 1967 for a portrait of Margo Lewers.

She held more than fifty solo exhibitions in Australia, as well as others in Paris and London.

After Cassab's work was acquired by the National Gallery, she was interviewed by James Gleeson about how she captured people's character in their portraits. This interview later formed part of the James Gleeson Oral History Collection.

Solo exhibitions

 * 1953 - Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
 * 1953 - Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
 * 1959 - Newcastle City Art Gallery
 * 1959 - Crane Kalman Gallery, London
 * 1963 - Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
 * 1961 - Crane Kalman Gallery, London
 * 1962 - Argus Gallery, Melbourne
 * 1963 - Rudy Koman Gallery, Sydney
 * 1964 - Georges Gallery, Melbourne
 * 1964 - Von Bertouch Gallery, Newcastle
 * 1917 - Skinner Gallery, Perth
 * 1969 - Skinner Gallery, Perth
 * 1971 - Rudy Koman Gallery, Sydney
 * 1973 - Skinner Gallery, Perth
 * 1973 - Reid Gallery, Brisbane
 * 1975 - Von Bertouch Gallery, Newcastle
 * 1976 - South Yarra Gallery, Melbourne
 * 1978 - New Art Centre, London
 * 1979 - Rudy Koman Gallery, Sydney
 * 1990 - Masterpieces Fine Art, Hobart
 * 1980 - Verlie Just Town Gallery, Brisbane
 * 1981 - Australian Embassy, Paris
 * 1981 - New Art Centre, London
 * 1982 - Rudy Koman Gallery, Sydney
 * 1982 - Greenhill Gallery, Perth
 * 1982 - Greenhill Gallery, Adelaide
 * 1983 - Von Bertouch Gallery, Newcastle
 * 1984 - Verlie Just Town Gallery, Brisbane
 * 1985 - Holdsworth Gallery, Sydney
 * 1985 - Benalla Regional Gallery, Victoria
 * 1985 - Hamilton Regional Gallery, Victoria
 * 1985 - Caulfield Art Centre, Melbourne
 * 1985 - David Ellis Gallery, Ballarat, Victoria
 * 1987 - Holdsworth Gallery, Sydney
 * 1987 - David Ellis Gallery, Ballarat, Victoria
 * 1988 - S. H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney and Australian Regional Galleries
 * 1988 - Brisbane City Hall
 * 1988 - National Library, Canberra
 * 1988 - Von Bertouch Gallery, Newcastle
 * 1988 - Solander Gallery, Canberra
 * 1989 - David Ellis Gallery, Melbourne
 * 1989 - Verlie Just Town Gallery, Brisbane
 * 1990 - Festival of Perth, Fremantle Arts Centre
 * 1990 - Holdsworth Gallery, Sydney
 * 1991 - David Ellis Gallery, Melbourne
 * 1991 - Verlie Just Town Gallery, Brisbane
 * 1992 - Freeman Gallery, Hobart
 * 1992 - Schubert Gallery, Gold Coast
 * 1992 - Solander Gallery, Canberra
 * 1992 - Von Bertouch Gallery, Newcastle
 * 1993 - Holdsworth Gallery, Sydney
 * 1993 - Lyall Burton Gallery, Melbourne
 * 1994 - Town Gallery, Brisbane
 * 1994 - Solander Gallery, Canberra
 * 1994 - Schubert Gallery, Gold Coast
 * 1995 - Riverina Galleries, Wagga Wagga
 * 1996 - Von Bertouch Gallery, Newcastle
 * 1996 - Lyall Burton Gallery, Melbourne
 * 1996 - BMG Gallery, Adelaide
 * 1998 - S. H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
 * 1998 - Australian Galleries, Sydney
 * 1999 - Stafford Studios, Perth
 * 1999 - Von Bertouch Gallery, Newcastle
 * 1999 - University of Sydney
 * 2000 - Greythorn Gallery, Melbourne
 * 2001 - Von Bertouch Gallery, Newcastle
 * 2001 - Solander Gallery, Canberra
 * 2001 - Australian Galleries, Sydney
 * 2003 - Vasarely Muzeum, Budapest
 * 2003 - Australian Embassy, Dublin
 * 2003 - Australian Embassy, Berlin
 * 2004 - Charlemagne Building, Brussels
 * 2004 - Maitland Regional Art Gallery
 * 2004 - Michael Carr Gallery, Sydney
 * 2005 - Solander Gallery, Canberra
 * 2005 - University of Sydney
 * 2013 - National Portrait Gallery, Canberra

Awards and distinctions
On 14 June 1969 Cassab was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in "recognition of service to the visual arts".

On 26 January 1988 Cassab was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) again in "recognition of service to the visual arts".

On 3 March 1995 Cassab was awarded a Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) from the University of Sydney.

In 2011 Cassab was awarded Hungary’s Gold Cross of Merit.


 * 1955 - The Perth Prize
 * 1955 - The Australian Women's Weekly Prize
 * 1956 - The Australian Women's Weekly Prize
 * 1961 - The Archibald Prize (portrait of Stanislaus Rapotec)
 * 1964 - Sir Charles Lloyd Jones Memorial Prize
 * 1964 - The Helena Rubenstein Prize, Perth
 * 1965 - The Helena Rubenstein Prize, Perth
 * 1965 - Sir Charles Lloyd Jones Memorial Prize
 * 1968 - The Archibald Prize (portrait of Margo Lewers)
 * 1971 - Sir Charles Lloyd Jones Memorial Prize
 * 1973 - Sir Charles Lloyd Jones Memorial Prize
 * 1994 - The Trustee Watercolour Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
 * 1994 - The Pring Prize, Art Gallery of NSW
 * 1996 - The Nita Kibble Award for Literature, for Diaries
 * 1996 - Foundation for Australian Literary Studies Award, James Cook University, Townsville
 * 1997 - The Pring Prize, Art Gallery of NSW
 * 1998 - The Pring Prize, Art Gallery of NSW
 * 2003 - The Pring Prize, Art Gallery of NSW
 * 2003 - The Trustee Watercolour Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
 * 2004 - The Painters and Sculptors Association of Australia Medal

Personal life
Cassab died on 3 November 2015 at the age of 95 in her nursing home in the Sydney suburb of Randwick.