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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.

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.

Alex Miller

1992
Rick Amor

pencil on paper (sheet: 57.0 cm x 38.0 cm)

Alex Miller (b. 1936), novelist, was born in London to an Irish mother and Scottish father. He left school at 15 and worked as a farm labourer before emigrating to Australia, alone, at the age of 17. After working as an itinerant stockman in Queensland he moved to Victoria, taking a degree in History and English at the University of Melbourne in 1965. He later taught writing at Brunswick Technical School and worked as a public servant in Canberra. His earliest success as a writer came with the publication of short stories and the production of several of his plays. In 1993 his third novel, The Ancestor Game, received the Miles Franklin Award. He received a second Miles Franklin Award in 2003 for his sixth novel, Journey to the Stone Country.

Rick Amor is a Victorian-based painter, printmaker and sculptor. After studying in Melbourne he produced a series of political cartoons before developing an individual, painterly style. After 1983 he began to paint more personal and emotionally charged works, often incorporating a haunting solitary figure. Some of his paintings of suburban and inner Melbourne now number amongst the defining images of the city. During the 1990s Amor was awarded several art residencies and worked in Barcelona, New York and London. In 1999, as Australia's first official war artist since Vietnam, he travelled to East Timor to document the devastated land and the reconstruction efforts of peacekeepers. Represented in most major Australian galleries, Amor is a highly regarded portrait painter and a regular exhibitor in the Archibald Prize.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
© Rick Amor/Copyright Agency, 2024

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

Rick Amor (age 44 in 1992)

Alexander Miller (age 56 in 1992)

Donated by

Rick Amor (21 portraits)

© National Portrait Gallery 2024
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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