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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.

Open Air

Portraits in the Landscape

Previous exhibition
from Wednesday 3 December 2008 until Sunday 1 March 2009

Open Air is an exhibition of portraits of Australians in environments of particular significance to them.

Margaret Whitlam
Margaret Whitlam, 2005 Sahlan Hayes. © Sahlan Hayes

The exhibition extends the notion of portraiture beyond the simple definition of 'pictures with faces' to embrace deeply-rooted visual expressions of identity in which various artists have engaged with different kinds of ancestral history. Inclusive, lyrical and strongly Australian in character.

16 portraits
view all

The crime writer Shane Maloney
Jeffrey Smart
Joshua Ross
Peter Carey in Kelly country
Sidney Nolan, Western Australia
Arthur Boyd, Bundanon, New South Wales
1 The crime writer Shane Maloney, 2004 Rick Amor. © Rick Amor/Copyright Agency, 2022. 2 Jeffrey Smart, 1992 Greg Weight. © Gregory Weight/Copyright Agency, 2022. 3 Joshua Ross, 2006 Sahlan Hayes. © Sahlan Hayes. 4 Peter Carey in Kelly country, 2000 Bruce Armstrong. © Bruce Armstrong. 5 Sidney Nolan, Western Australia, 1962 (printed 2000) David Moore. © Lisa, Michael, Matthew and Joshua Moore http://davidmoorephotography.com.au/. 6 Arthur Boyd, Bundanon, New South Wales, 1995 (printed 2000) David Moore. © Lisa, Michael, Matthew and Joshua Moore http://davidmoorephotography.com.au/.

Related people

Dr Sarah Engledow (curator)

Andrew Sayers AM

Related information

Tim Bonyhady
Tim Bonyhady
Tim Bonyhady
Tim Bonyhady

At easel

Magazine article by Tim Bonyhady, 2016

Tim Bonyhady recalls his experience as sitter for his close friend and former National Portrait Gallery Director, the late Andrew Sayers.

Sir Henry Barkly

Portrait story

An interview with former National Portrait Gallery Director, Andrew Sayers, who describes the portrait of Sir Henry Barkly by Thomas Clark.

Kym Bonython

'The man and his cap'

Portrait story

Former National Portrait Gallery Director, Andrew Sayers, describes John Brack's portrait of Kym Bonython.
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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.

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