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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.

Portrait 27

March - May 2008

Portrait of Henry Vernon Crock AO, 1988 David Smith
Portrait of Henry Vernon Crock AO, 1988 David Smith
Portrait of Henry Vernon Crock AO, 1988 David Smith

Private practice

by Joanna Gilmour

David Smith portrayed Dr Henry Crock without the accoutrements of an orthopaedic surgeon, adding to the National Portrait Gallery's collection of eminent Australian medical practitioners.
Mark Richards, 1976 John Witzig
Mark Richards, 1976 John Witzig
Mark Richards, 1976 John Witzig

Off the wall

by John Witzig

Photographer and surf mag editor John Witzig tells the stories behind his iconic surf images.
Ursus sitting, 1931
Ursus sitting, 1931
Ursus sitting, 1931

Two pair

by Dr Jacqui Strecker

Stuttgart's Art Museum is showing Otto Dix portraits alongside artists from Lucas Cranach to Andy Warhol.
Captain W Kinghorne, 1834 Thomas James Lempriere
Captain W Kinghorne, 1834 Thomas James Lempriere
Captain W Kinghorne, 1834 Thomas James Lempriere

The bright-eyed Mariner

by Dr Sarah Engledow

A new colonial portrait brings a zealous captain near.
Head of a Naked Girl, 2000
Head of a Naked Girl, 2000
Head of a Naked Girl, 2000

Every flap, fold and bulge

by Starr Figura

Lucian Freud's unflinching realism is on display in the first solo exhibition of his paintings and etchings at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Awkward self
Awkward self
Awkward self

Emerging realities

by Helena Bezzina

At the end of 2007 the National Portrait Gallery launched the inaugural National Youth Self Portrait Prize and artists aged between eighteen and twenty-five were invited to submit self portraits using a variety of media including drawing, painting, printmaking and traditional or digital photography.
Charlie as he was, 2007
Charlie as he was, 2007
Charlie as he was, 2007

I'm not there

by Dr Christopher Chapman

Christopher Chapman looks at some contemporary portraits that explore the construction of identity.
Florence Austral, c. 1930 Howard Barron
Florence Austral, c. 1930 Howard Barron
Florence Austral, c. 1930 Howard Barron

Pretty in peach

by Joanna Gilmour

It's remarkable that the inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond has produced two of Australia's most successful opera singers. Three decades apart, but within a short distance of each other, both Helen Porter Mitchell and Florence Wilson were born.
Alexander Pearce executed for murder July 19th 1824
Alexander Pearce executed for murder July 19th 1824
Alexander Pearce executed for murder July 19th 1824

Public hanging

by Michael Desmond

As a convict Thomas Bock was required to sketch executed murders for science; as a free man, fashionable society portraits.

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Portrait is the preeminent journal of Australian and international portraiture.