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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.

Search / charles blackman

General information

Charles, 2015 video: 7 minutes

Charles, 2015

by Amiel Courtin-Wilson

General content

Winner, DPA 2016

Marion Borgelt

Time and Line

Now on display in Gallery Seven

General content

Be drawn in to the diversity and longevity of drawing as an intimate and affecting portrait medium. Encompassing the 1820s to the 2020s, Time and Line showcases the depth and extent of our drawing collection – from intricate miniatures in watercolour on ivory to big, bold, contemporary drawings by artists such as Jenny Sages, Charles Blackman and Cherry Hood.

Judith Wright with Barbara Blackman

Friendship’s rhyme and reason

Nearest & Dearest

Poetic trio

The family

Literary lovers’ life liaison

Desire drives forbidden love

Mirka and Philippe - 9 Collins Street

New Australians bring creative wealth

Nearest & Dearest

Melbourne’s iconic culture-shapers

Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Captain Charles Ulm

Extraordinary airmen make aviation history

Charles is my wingman

Rod McNicol

Rod McNicol

Winner, National Photographic Portrait Prize 2012

General content

Rod McNicol on photographing Jack Charles.

Wild Man, 2005 by Ron Mueck

Ron Mueck

More about In the flesh artists

Ron Mueck grew up in Melbourne and began a career in puppetry and special-effects based in the US and then London. In the mid-1990s Charles Saatchi commissioned four major works including Dead dad, which were exhibited in Saatchi’s exhibition ‘Sensation’ at the Royal Academy, London and which travelled to Berlin and Brooklyn.

Charles (still from video) by Amiel Courtin-Wilson

The Winner of the Digital Portraiture Award 2016 is...

2 December 2016

Archived media releases 2016

The winner of the Digital Portraiture Award 2016 has been announced. Congratulations to Amiel Courtin-Wilson for his submission titled Charles.

Rachel Ward and Bryan Brown

Australian Love Stories

Archived media releases 2021

A major new exhibition celebrating love in all its guises. Opening 20 March 2021.

spaces between movement and stillness

Harriet Schwarzrock: spaces between movement and stillness

10 February 2021

Archived media releases 2021

To celebrate the new exhibition Australian Love Stories, renowned Australian glass artist Harriet Schwarzrock has been commissioned to make a large-scale installation reflecting on the role the heart plays as our emotional centre.

The Brougham

The Brougham

A philosopher-style of beard – thick and lengthy; a greyer, hence wiser version of the Burke; and suited to older men who saw themselves as sagacious or statesmanlike.

HM Queen Elizabeth II

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (1926–2022)

9 September 2022

The National Portrait Gallery is deeply saddened by the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning monarch in British history. Throughout her 70-year reign, Her Majesty represented graciousness, humanity and stability during times of enormous social change.

The Lambert

The Lambert

Barbering manuals of the turn of the century might describe this style as a ‘Van Dyck’, named after the Dutch painter Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641) who is known to have adopted this look.

Beadle, Winchester, 1823 by John Dempsey

Beadles, bellmen and bumbles

General content

For Dempsey’s people their occasional encounters with state power would have been largely through the local parish, which administered the ‘Old Poor Law’.

George and Jemima Billet with family

In the most correct style

Nearest & Dearest

Desirable outcomes, undesirable origins

© National Portrait Gallery 2023
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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.

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