The National Portrait Gallery has more than 60 works by Louis Kahan, most of them drawings. Eight were amongst the Gallery’s earliest purchases in 1998. Nine more were donated by the artist’s widow, Mrs Lily Kahan, in 2006. A few have come into the collection by purchase or donation from various individuals. In 2017 Mrs Kahan offered curators the opportunity to select desirable portraits from drawings remaining in the artist’s studio. A group of 43 was chosen, many of them drawn ‘from life’ as Kahan watched interviews on television current affairs programs.
Gough Whitlam AC QC was 21st prime minister, holding office from early December 1972 until early November 1975.
