Grounded.
Artist Fiona Lowry was a fan of Cate Blanchett’s impressive body of work long before she was asked to paint her for this special issue of Vogue Australia, and it would seem the feeling was mutual. Yet despite Blanchett also being a lover of the fine arts – and no doubt aware Lowry had won the 2014 Archibald Prize for her ethereal portrait of Penelope Seidler (at that point, she was only the ninth female winner in the competition’s then 93-year history), the two creatives had never met. It was a group call, facilitated by several members of Vogue’s fashion team in April, that finally brought the two talented Australians together.
“What was memorable from that moment was hearing Cate enter the call,” recalls Lowry, who is based in Sydney. “Her voice is so strong and familiar that it was startling to hear at first.”
Blanchett, who now resides with her family in the English countryside, was photographed outdoors by her husband Andrew Upton, in a shot which then took Lowry “two weeks of very long days to complete” on canvas.
“I’m not sure how others will read it, but for me it’s a moment of surrender,” Lowry says of her depiction, which shows Blanchett, eyes closed, appreciating a quiet moment of contemplation. “There was a time during this crisis where everything we had planned had to be let go of, and when that acceptance came, it was so beautiful to have
