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Self portrait, 1900

Gift of Rosemary Neilson 2021

Agnes enigma

Karen Quinlan considers the case of Agnes Goodsir, whose low profile in Australia belies her overseas acclaim.

Give me five

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

The attractions of bohemia

In the company of women

Face of South Sudan, 2012

Melanie Faith Dove

I had been watching Agnes with intrigue, her face and profile were so mesmerizing. On our final day together I pulled her aside and convinced her that she had such an amazing face that I needed to get a photograph for myself. It was very spontaneous in that I decided quickly how it would best look and shot it in only two frames.

Rupert C.W. Bunny, 1928

Gift of Ben Travers 2021. Donated through Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

The Brontë Sisters (Anne Brontë; Emily Brontë; Charlotte Brontë)

Portrait 62

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019, the iconoclastic Japanese figures Yukio Mishima and Tamotsu Yato, Angélica Dass’ Humanæ project and more.

Hattie Shepparde, 1872

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Australian Love Stories

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

Harriet Schwarzrock: spaces between movement and stillness

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.

Getting a head

Alexandra Roginski gets a feel for phrenology’s fundamentals.