Born: 15 August 1920 Vienna, Austria

Judy Cassab is one of Australia's best known portrait painters and the winner of many prestigious art awards including the coveted Archibald Prize. Austrian-born and of Hungarian parents, Judy Cassab emigrated to Australia in 1951 with her husband and two children. In Australia, she quickly gained a reputation for her distinctive expressionist technique and portrait abilities. In 1969 Judy was appointed as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her service to the visual arts. In 1988 she was also appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). Following the publication of her diaries in 1995, Sydney University conferred upon her the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (Hon. PhD). In 1996 she also won the Nita B. Kibble Award for women writers.

 Cassab is not an artist whose work is easily characterised. She is well-known as a portraitist but already in the 1950s she was painting expressive abstract images. A compulsive traveller, she has created numerous images of the Australian landscape, including the Red Centre, the outback, mountain ranges and the coastal regions.  

Since 1953 she has participated in more than 70 solo exhibitions throughout Australia, has won a plethora of awards and is represented in numerous public collections in Australia and overseas. These include the National Gallery of Victoria, New Parliament House Canberra, The High Court Canberra, Art Gallery of NSW, and United Nations Building Geneva Switzerland.