Skip to main content
Menu
What's on The Portraits Watch
The Gallery Governance & Board Circle of Friends
Learn Access Search the website
close close
What's on The Portraits The Gallery Learn Watch More O

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.

About Face

Portrait treats and treatises

From punchy short pieces to longer form leanings, it's the place to come for a frequent fix of the world's most accessible art form.

Field Marshal the Lord Birdwood
Field Marshal the Lord Birdwood
Field Marshal the Lord Birdwood

Centenary of ANZAC

by Angus Trumble, 24 April 2015

Just now we pause to mark the centenary of ANZAC, the day when, together with British, other imperial and allied forces, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed at Gallipoli at the start of the ill-starred Dardanelles campaign.
Betty Churcher
Betty Churcher
Betty Churcher

Betty Churcher

by Angus Trumble, 31 March 2015

The National Portrait Gallery mourns the loss of our colleague and friend Betty Churcher, AO.
William Bligh
William Bligh
William Bligh

William Bligh

by Angus Trumble, 30 March 2015

The life of William Bligh offers up a handful of the most remarkable episodes in the history of Britain’s eighteenth and early nineteenth-century maritime empire.
Malcolm Fraser
Malcolm Fraser
Malcolm Fraser

The Right Hon. Malcolm Fraser, AC, CH

by Angus Trumble, 20 March 2015

The Right Honourable Malcolm Fraser, AC, CH, who died in Melbourne on 20 March, was the last surviving prime minister of Australia to have been sworn of H.M. Privy Council (in 1976)—hence the “Right Honourable”.

The selfie stick

by Angus Trumble, 24 February 2015

Last week ABC Television came to interview me about selfie sticks. The story was prompted by the announcement that the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has lately prohibited the use of these inside their galleries. So far as I am aware we have not yet encountered the phenomenon, but no doubt we will before too long.

Trumble's way

by Angus Trumble, 29 January 2015

At the end of a summer break one is tempted to say that there is nothing much to report. Isn’t one restful holiday very much like another?
Sydney Cove medallion, 1789 by Josiah Wedgwood
Sydney Cove medallion, 1789 by Josiah Wedgwood
Sydney Cove medallion, 1789 by Josiah Wedgwood

The medallion

by Angus Trumble, 1 January 2015

In recent years I have become fascinated by the so-called Sydney Cove Medallion (1789), a work of art that bridges the 10,000-mile gap between the newly established penal settlement at Port Jackson and the beating heart of Enlightenment England.
Anna Matveyevna Pavlova (1885–1931)
Anna Matveyevna Pavlova (1885–1931)
Anna Matveyevna Pavlova (1885–1931)

The Pavlova

by Angus Trumble, 1 December 2014

It is a painful truth, but one which must be faced up to, that the pavlova, that iconic Australian dessert, a staple since the 1930s, was actually invented in New Zealand.
Gough Whitlam
Gough Whitlam
Gough Whitlam

Prime Ministers

by Angus Trumble, 1 November 2014

On the day before the Hon. E. G. Whitlam, AC, QC, died last month, at the great age of 98, there were seven former prime ministers of Australia still living, plus the incumbent Mr. Abbott – eight in all.
Lee Kernaghan near Broken Hill
Lee Kernaghan near Broken Hill
Lee Kernaghan near Broken Hill

Milestones

by Angus Trumble, 1 October 2014

This month I turn fifty, soI am just now looking rather more closely than usual at Fiona Foley, Steven Heathcote, Brenda Croft, Russell Crowe, Jeff Fenech, Akira Isogawa, Lee Kernaghan, My Le Thi, Shona Wilson and Mark Taylor AO, mindful that they too were 1964 arrivals. 
The great South Sea caterpillar transformed into a Bath Butterfly (Sir Joseph Banks)
The great South Sea caterpillar transformed into a Bath Butterfly (Sir Joseph Banks)
The great South Sea caterpillar transformed into a Bath Butterfly (Sir Joseph Banks)

The Bath Butterfly

by Angus Trumble, 1 September 2014

The caricaturist and engraver James Gillray's biting satires about Sir Joseph Banks. 
Canberra Close Up: Angus Trumble
Canberra Close Up: Angus Trumble
Canberra Close Up: Angus Trumble

Desert Island Discs

by Angus Trumble, 21 August 2014

I agonized over the choice of four songs to take with me to the ABC Studios for Alex Sloan’s Canberra 666 afternoon program, a sort of iteration of the old BBC Desert Island Discs.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Related information

The National Portrait Gallery building front entrance
The National Portrait Gallery building front entrance
The National Portrait Gallery building front entrance
The National Portrait Gallery building front entrance

The Gallery

Visit us, learn with us, support us or work with us! Here’s a range of information about planning your visit, our history and more!
The National Portrait Gallery building at night
The National Portrait Gallery building at night
The National Portrait Gallery building at night
The National Portrait Gallery building at night

Support your Portrait Gallery

We depend on your support to keep creating our programs, exhibitions, publications and building the amazing portrait collection!
Visiting the Gallery
Visiting the Gallery
Visiting the Gallery
Visiting the Gallery

Plan your visit

Information on location, accessibility and amenities.
Home Contact Media Privacy statement User agreement Social media and community guidelines
© 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