1939
By 1939, Geelong was a bustling regional city and the Eastern Beach promenade and children’s pool were opened to the public.
Also in this year, Geelong Gallery held two art prizes, the Frank Evan Richardson Prize and the James Hugh McPhillimy Prize. The J H McPhillimy Prize was for oil paintings, watercolours and statuary, and was awarded in the inaugural year to Arnold Shore for his oil work Dahlias. The F E Richardson Prize was for any other medium, and was won by Murray Griffin for his linocut Spoonbill.
These works reflect the growing importance of the still life genre and works on paper to the collection: two artistic mediums that Geelong Gallery continues to advance and promote through the Geelong contemporary art prize and Geelong acquisitive print award.