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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 / stella bowen

Mary Chomley

The Cosmopolitans

Previous exhibition, 2023

Spanning the 1880s to the 1930s, this collection display celebrates the innovations in art – and life – introduced by the generation of Australians who travelled to London and Paris for experience and inspiration in the decades either side of 1900.

Mary Chomley

The Cosmopolitans

Now on display in Gallery Two

General content

Spanning the 1880s to the 1930s, this collection display celebrates the innovations in art – and life – introduced by the generation of Australians who travelled to London and Paris for experience and inspiration in the decades either side of 1900.

Self portrait

Give me five

Magazine article by Karen Quinlan AM, 2021

National Portrait Gallery director Karen Quinlan AM nominates her quintet of favourites from the collection, with early twentieth-century ‘selfies’ filling the roster.

Self portrait

Sharing the dream?

It's Complicated

In love and war

Portrait 10

December 2003 - February 2004

This issue of Portrait Magazine features Roy de Maistre, the Australians in Hollywood exhibtion, Stella Bowen, portraits of scientists and more.

Self portrait with glove

To Look Within

Self Portraits in Australia

Previous exhibition, 2004

This exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of self-portraits in Australia, from the colonial period to the present

Self portrait with gladioli

Facing Facts

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

Former NPG Director, Andrew Sayers describes the 1922 Self-portrait with Gladioli by George Lambert.

Self portrait

A Singular Line

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2003

A newly acquired work by Stella Bowen adds to the National Portrait Gallery's growing collection of important Australian self-portraits.

Self portrait

Self portrait

Self portrait

Self portrait, c. 1934

Portrait, oil on cardboard

Purchased 2003

The sitter (Drusilla Modjeska)

The sitter (Drusilla Modjeska)

The sitter (Drusilla Modjeska)

The sitter (Drusilla Modjeska), 2001

Portrait, oil on canvas

Purchased with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2002

Self portrait

Stella Bowen

Stella Bowen, painter and writer, grew up in Adelaide, where she studied with Margaret Preston.

1 portrait in the collection

The sitter (Drusilla Modjeska)

Drusilla Modjeska

Drusilla Modjeska (b. 1946), writer, feminist and academic, was born in England and moved to Australia in 1971 after several years in Papua New Guinea.

1 portrait in the collection

© National Portrait Gallery 2024
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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