Skip to main content
Menu

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

The Gallery’s Acknowledgement of Country, and information on culturally sensitive and restricted content and the use of historic language in the collection can be found here.

Self portrait

1992
Rolf Harris

oil on canvas (frame: 65.0 cm x 54.5 cm)
Image not available (NC)

Rolf Harris (1930-2023) was named the 5th most influential artist and entertainer of the 20th century in a millennial poll by Time magazine. National junior backstroke champion in 1946, Harris appeared on Australia's Amateur Hour while he was at university in Perth, singing Seven Beers with the Wrong Woman. In 1952 he left to study art in England, enrolling at the City & Guilds Art School upon arriving in London (in the mid-1950s his work was hung in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition).He began his television career as a cartoonist-storyteller in London 1953. The song Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport became an international number one hit in 1960. Later recordings Jake the Peg and Two Little Boys - the latter Margaret Thatcher's favourite song - also topped the charts, as did a version of Stairway to Heaven in 1992. Since 1967 Harris has fronted The Rolf Harris Show , Rolf's Cartoon Club and Animal Hospital on UK TV. He made television history in 2001, when 6.8 million people watched the first episode of the BBC's Rolf On Art. Since then he has been credited with significantly raising broad public interest in art. In 2002, to coincide with the second series of Rolf on Art, the National Gallery in London mounted an exhibition of Harris's paintings alongside those of the artists who inspired him, including Monet, Degas, Van Gogh and Rousseau. Between 2004 and 2007, he filmed three series of the television program Star Portraits with Rolf Harris, a showcase for the work of professional portrait artists; he himself completed a remarkably informal commissioned portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2005. Harris’ legacy as entertainer and artist was irreparably damaged following his 2014 conviction and imprisonment for a number of sexual offences against teenage girls, with the crimes committed in the 1970s and 1980s. Subsequently stripped of his CBE and Order of Australia honours, amongst other awards, Harris was released in 2017 after serving three years in jail.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 1999

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. Works of art from the collection are reproduced as per the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The use of images of works from the collection may be restricted under the Act. Requests for a reproduction of a work of art can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

Artist and subject

Rolf Harris (age 62 in 1992)

Donated by

Rolf Harris (1 portrait)

© National Portrait Gallery 2024
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia

Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

The National Portrait Gallery is an Australian Government Agency