Search / alex mitchell

Alexander George Mitchell (1911-1997), academic, studied English literature and language at the University of Sydney and the University of London before joining the English department of the University of Sydney, where he assumed the McCaughey Chair of Early English Literature and Language in 1947.

1 portrait in the collection

Painter John Brack with Professor Alex Mitchell and Sir Garfield Barwick, c. 1977

Jozef Vissel

Gift of the Jozef Vissel 2015

Alan Mitchell

Alan Mitchell is based in Melbourne and specialises in room set photography.

4 portraits in the collection

Tony Mitchell

Tony Mitchell was in a band called Wheelbarrow, who released a single, 'Dame Zara' before Mitchell left to join Harry Young and Sabbath.

3 portraits in the collection

Harold Mitchell AC

Harold Mitchell AC (1942-2024), businessman and philanthropist, left his home town of Stawell at seventeen to become an office boy in a Melbourne advertising agency.

1 portrait in the collection

David Mitchell

David Mitchell (1829-1916), builder, contractor and businessman, arrived in Melbourne in mid-1852 in the Anna.

1 portrait in the collection

Second thoughts, 2008

by Brad Mitchell

Portrait, watercolour on ivory

David Mitchell, 1903 (later reworked)

Ada Whiting

Gift of the Mitchell Family 2012

The Hon. Dame Roma Mitchell AC DBE CVO QC

The Hon. Dame Roma Mitchell AC DBE CVO QC (1913–2000) was the first Australian woman to be a Queen's Counsel, Supreme Court judge, Acting Chief Justice, Deputy University Chancellor, Chancellor and State Governor.

2 portraits in the collection

Andrew Mitchell Ramsay

Andrew Mitchell Ramsay (1809-1869), clergyman, was Melbourne's first Presbyterian minister.

1 portrait in the collection

Roma Mitchell

In their own words

Recorded 1978

Lindy Lee - Birth and Death, 2006

by Robert Scott-Mitchell

Tony Mitchell, 1975 (printed 2001)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Harold Mitchell, 2001 (printed 2011)

Lorrie Graham

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Portrait of John Flaus, 2022

Gift of the artist 2022

Alex Ellinghausen

Alex Ellinghausen (b. 1982) is an editorial photographer with Fairfax Media.

1 portrait in the collection

Alex Dimitriades

Alex Dimitriades (b. 1973), actor, grew up in Earlwood, Sydney, the son of first-generation Greek immigrants.

1 portrait in the collection

Alex Frayne

London-born, Adelaide-based photographic artist and filmmaker Alex Frayne (b.

2 portraits in the collection

Alex Jelinek

Alex Jelinek (1925–2007), architect and designer, graduated from the technical building school of Hradec Králové, near Prague, during World War II.

1 portrait in the collection

Alex Wodak AM

Alex Wodak, doctor, trained at St. Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, then worked as a medical registrar in several London teaching hospitals before beginning research on alcoholic liver disease.

1 portrait in the collection

Alex Kolozsy

Alex Kolozsy left his native Transylvania for Hungary as a small child.

1 portrait in the collection

Gift of friends of Dame Roma Mitchell 2018

Dame Roma Mitchell, 1998

Jessica Hromas

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Hammond Care Group 1999

Rev. Andrew Mitchell Ramsay, 1865

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on paper laid on cardboard

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009

Alex Carmichael, Chairman of Santos - Ansett Director

Alex Carmichael, Chairman of Santos - Ansett Director,

Joe Greenberg

Portrait, watercolour, crayon, coloured pencil, gouache and fibre-tipped pen on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001

Neil Finn, 1987 (printed 2021)

Portrait, conté pencil and pastel on paper

Gift of the artist 2021

The Hon. Alex Chernov AC KC, 2019

Anne Middleton

Portrait, oil on linen

Gift of twenty members of the Victorian Bar 2020

Study for a portrait of Alex Wodak, 2003

Nick Mourtzakis

Gift of Dr Jack Wodak 2006. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Portrait of Alex Dimitriades, 2005

Michael Zavros

Gift of the artist 2006. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Yellow portrait (portrait of Alex Jelinek), 1955

Lina Bryans

Portrait, oil on plywood

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Paul and James Bryans 2015. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Erin Phillips OAM, 2022

Alex Frayne

Gift of the artist 2022

Ken Wyatt, 2019 (printed 2020)

Alex Ellinghausen

Portrait, inkjet print from 35mm film on paper

Purchased 2022

Andrew Steiner, 2020 (printed 2021)

Alex Frayne

Gift of the artist 2021

A City Auctioneer. "What shall we say for this lot?" [Mr HMC Gemmell], 1874

Tom Durkin, The Weekly Times

Portrait, lithograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Neil Finn and Paul Hester, 1987 (printed 2021)

Gift of the artist 2021

Former prime ministers of Australia, 2014

by Alex Ellinghausen

Portrait, cold cast bronze

Sir Percy Spender, 1981

Alex Kolozsy

Gift of the artist and the New South Wales division of the Liberal Party of Australia 2004

Fugue in Yellow

Magazine article by Roger Benjamin, 2015

Roger Benjamin explores the intriguing union of Lina Bryans and Alex Jelinek.

Paul Hester, 1987 (printed 2021)

Portrait, inkjet print on canvas

Gift of the artist 2021

Sherbet, 1974 (printed 2002)

Henry Samuel Sadd, Fergusson & Mitchell, Melbourne after Thomas Adams Hill

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

William John Wills, 2nd in command of the Victorian Expedition

William John Wills, 2nd in command of the Victorian Expedition, 1860-1861

Portrait, mezzotint on paper

Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2007

Robert O'Hara Burke, Leader of the Victorian Expedition

Robert O'Hara Burke, Leader of the Victorian Expedition, 1860-1861

Henry Samuel Sadd, Fergusson & Mitchell, Melbourne after Thomas Adams Hill

Portrait, mezzotint on paper

Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2007

Sherbet, 1974

Magazine article by Leslie Moran, 2007

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Judicial portraits

Leslie Moran investigates the portraits of judges in the National Portrait Gallery's collection.

Alex Miller, novelist, 2022

Hong Fu

Gift of the artist 2022

The Hon. Alex Chernov AC QC, 2019

Anne Middleton

Portrait, lithograph on paper

Piper, the native who accompanied Major Mitchell in his expedition to the interior of N.S.W.

Piper, the native who accompanied Major Mitchell in his expedition to the interior of N.S.W., 1836

William Fernyhough

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dr Robert Edwards AO 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Alex, 2018

by Michael Murchie

Alex and Doug Dunn, 2013

by James Brickwood

Portrait, lithograph on paper

Piper, the native who accompanied Major Mitchell in his expedition to the interior

Piper, the native who accompanied Major Mitchell in his expedition to the interior, c. 1836

William Fernyhough

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Alex Perry, 2016

by Nic Walker

Portrait, pencil on paper

Alex Miller, 1992

Rick Amor

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Alex Miller, 1992

Rick Amor

Portrait, pencil on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

The choices of a modern woman

It's Complicated

When opposites attract

Joel, Mitchell Queensland, 2014

by Matthew Abbott

NPPP 2012 learning resource

Alex Frayne

An interview with the photographer.

Sketch portrait of Sir Alex Onslow, 1896

Tom Roberts

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2006

William Fernyhough

William Henry Fernyhough (1809-1849) was a sketcher, silhouette artist, lithographer and draughtsman who immigrated to Sydney in 1836.

13 portraits in the collection

Hong Fu

Vox pops

My subject, he is a writer. He is a big name, very famous writer, Alex Miller, age 85.

John Piper

Piper (life dates unknown), also known as John Piper, was a Wiradjuri man who acted as a guide to Thomas Mitchell’s surveying expedition along the Murray and Darling Rivers into present-day Victoria in 1836.

2 portraits in the collection

Youthful intrigue, 2014

by Stuart Elwin

Previous exhibition, 2007

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2007

Photography is the most pervasive and popular medium for portraiture and makes a natural fit with the Gallery, being a natural extension of the Gallery's longstanding commitment to photography as a contemporary portrait medium.

Alexandra Schepisi, 2011

by Anita Beaney

Portrait, gouache, fibre tip pen and natural pigment on colour photocopy

Study for the portrait of Aldo Giurgola, 2005

Mandy Martin

Gift of the artist 2005

Geoffrey Legge and Frank Watters, 2008

Gary Grealy

Previous exhibition, 2019

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2010

Greta In Her Kitchen, 36 weeks, 2018 by Alana Holmberg

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019

The exhibition is selected from a national field of entries, reflecting the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.

Freeman Brothers

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2002

James Freeman, who is credited with bringing the wet-plate photographic process to New South Wales, arrived in Sydney in 1854 to join his brother William, who had arrived the year before.

9 portraits in the collection

Little treasures

The acquisition of the ivory miniatures of Mortimer and Mrs Lewis.

Darling Portrait Prize 2022

Previous exhibition, 2022

The Darling Portrait Prize is a biennial national prize for Australian portrait painting honouring the legacy of Mr L Gordon Darling AC CMG (1921-2015). The winner receives a cash prize of $75,000.

The making of SKIN in Bare

Youth theatre comes to the Gallery

Responding to Bare, Canberra Youth Theatre in partnership with the Gallery presented a performance that explores identity.

Tom Glover

English-born Thomas Ellis Glover moved to New Zealand as a child and by his early twenties was working as a cartoonist, court reporter and journalist.

10 portraits in the collection

Claudia Karvan OAM

Claudia Karvan OAM (b. 1973), actor, grew up in Sydney and made her first film appearances as a ten-year-old.

1 portrait in the collection

Clive Shakespeare

Clive Shakespeare formed the soul/Tamla Motown cover group the Downtown Roll Band in 1968.

3 portraits in the collection

Nic Walker

Nic Walker spent his early years in Cairo and Beijing with his father Tony Walker, a foreign correspondent.

1 portrait in the collection

John Marsden

John Marsden (b. 1950), children's writer and social commentator, grew up in country Victoria and Tasmania and then attended the Kings School in Parramatta.

1 portrait in the collection

Elizabeth Lewis

Mortimer Lewis (1796–1879), surveyor and architect, and his wife Elizabeth (née Clements, c.

1 portrait in the collection

Mortimer Lewis

Mortimer Lewis (1796–1879), surveyor and architect, and his wife Elizabeth (née Clements, c.

1 portrait in the collection

Claudia Karvan on the set of Love My Way,

Jimmy Pozarik OAM

Archived media releases 2019

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2007

The Textiles Scientist, 2018 by Kate Atkinson

Textiles Scientist Voted the People’s Favourite

27 March 2019

The black and white portrait of an elderly woman with sidelong glance and irreverent, contemplative smile has taken out the people’s choice award in this year’s National Photographic Portrait Prize.

Romaldo Giurgola AO

Romaldo Giurgola AO (1920–2016), architect, was a founding partner of the firm that won the international design competition for Australia’s New Parliament House in 1980.

2 portraits in the collection

Mrs Elizabeth Lewis, c. 1830

Portrait, watercolour on ivory

Gift of Leo Schofield AM 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Enrico Taglietti AO

Enrico Taglietti (1926-2019), architect, spent his early childhood in Milan, moving to Eritrea in the year leading up to World War 2.

1 portrait in the collection

Daphne Mayo MBE

Daphne Mayo MBE (1895–1982), sculptor, was born in Sydney and moved to Brisbane as a child.

1 portrait in the collection

Francis Reiss

Francis Reiss (1917-2017), portrait photographer and photojournalist, was born in Hamburg and educated in Germany, England and the USA before joining London's Picture Post as a staff photographer.

11 portraits in the collection

William Griffith

William Griffith (c. 1808-1870) emigrated to Australia around 1840 and moved to Parramatta with his wife, Susan, whom he had married ten days after landing in Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

Christos Tsiolkas, 1998 (printed 2009)

John Tsiavis

Purchased 2009

Christos Tsiolkas, 1998 (printed 2009)

John Tsiavis

Purchased 2009

George Baird Shaw

Previous exhibition, 2003

George Baird Shaw (1812-1883), painter and printmaker, arrived in Australia in 1856.

2 portraits in the collection

POL

Portrait of a Generation

POL was a magazine that ran from 1969 to 1986

Desert Island Discs

I agonized over the choice of four songs to take with me to the ABC Studios for Alex Sloan’s Canberra 666 afternoon program, a sort of iteration of the old BBC Desert Island Discs.

William Nicholas

William Nicholas was born near London and is believed to have trained with English printmaker A.M Huffam.

2 portraits in the collection

John Schaeffer AO - art collector and philanthropist

John Schaeffer AO - art collector and philanthropist, 2014

Evert Ploeg

Purchased with funds provided by Harold Mitchell AC

Raelene Sharp

Raelene Sharp (b. 1957), artist, was born in Melbourne and began her career as a graphic artist in advertising.

2 portraits in the collection

Megan Gale

A Portrait of Colonial Australia

Megan Gale (b. 1975), model, entrepreneur and media personality, achieved fame in Italy before becoming widely recognised in Australia.

1 portrait in the collection

Bungaree, late chief of the Broken Bay tribe, Sydney

Heads of the People

Previous exhibition, 2000

For Tom Roberts - Australia's best nineteenth-century portrait painter - neither a proto-national portrait gallery nor more popular collections of portrait heads, were sufficient public celebrations for the notables of Australian history

Ross Watson

Portrait, ochre, pigment and oil on canvas (triptych)

Ross Watson specialises in interpolating representations of lithe semi-naked men into copies of paintings by masters such as Vermeer, Ter Borsch, David and Bronzino.

2 portraits in the collection

Aldo Giurgola, 2005

Mandy Martin

Gift of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects 2005

Madame Melba, 1922

Harold Cazneaux

Purchased 2015

Enrico Taglietti, c. 1985

Edward Richards

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Jon Lewis

Jon Lewis (1950-2020) was born in Maryland, USA, and came to Australia in 1951.

3 portraits in the collection

Portrait sketch of Nellie Melba, 1902

Hugh Ramsay

Gift of the Mitchell Family and the Fullerton Family 2000

Christos Tsiolkas

Christos Tsiolkas (b. 1965) is a Melbourne-born writer of Greek descent, whose work deals uncompromisingly with sexuality, identity and politics.

2 portraits in the collection

Charles Summers

Charles Summers (1825-1878) was an English born sculptor, who came to Australia in 1852.

2 portraits in the collection

Cocky McGrath

The long life and few words of a vice-regal cockatoo

Alexander Miller

Alex Miller (b. 1936), one of Australia’s most decorated and popular authors, migrated from England to Australia on his own as a sixteen-year-old.

3 portraits in the collection

Basil Hetzel AC

Basil Hetzel AC (1922-2017), medical scientist, came to South Australia as a three year old and was educated - like Nobel Prize winners William Lawrence Bragg, Howard Florey and Robin Warren - at St Peter's College and the University of Adelaide.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Abraham

Charles Abraham, son of a London architect, trained at the Royal Academy schools under the sculptor Sierier, and for a further three years in Paris and Rome.

1 portrait in the collection

Edward Henty, late 19th century

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Tim Clark 2018

Linda Burney MLA Canturbury and Rick Farley at home, Marrickville

Linda Burney MLA Canturbury and Rick Farley at home, Marrickville, 2003

Juno Gemes

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Crowded House

Crowded House is a much-loved Australian-New Zealand rock band formed in Melbourne in 1985 by talented singer/songwriter Neil Finn OBE (b.

3 portraits in the collection

Neil Finn OBE

Singer/songwriter and guitarist Neil Finn OBE (b. 1958) was born in Te Awamutu, Aotearoa New Zealand, a small town on the north island.

3 portraits in the collection

Great stylists: Caruso, Melba, Pavarotti, Bonynge and Sutherland

Dame Nellie Melba GBE

Dame Nellie Melba GBE (1861–1931), world-renowned soprano, was born Helen Porter Mitchell in Melbourne.

8 portraits in the collection

Basil Hetzel, 2007-2008

Mark Kimber

Commissioned with funds provided by Mrs Diana Ramsay AO 2008

Jon Lewis, 1990 (printed 2002)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Anna F. Walker

Previous exhibition, 2003

Anna Frances Walker (1830–1913), botanical artist and collector, was one of the thirteen children of Thomas Walker, a high-ranking colonial public servant, and his wife Anna Elizabeth, the daughter of merchant and landowner John Blaxland.

1 portrait in the collection

Headspace 4

Facing Memory

Facing Memory: Headspace 4 provides us with valuable insights into the thoughts, creative processes and art-making practices of secondary students from Year 7 to Year 12 from sixty-two schools in the Australian Capital Territory, regional New South Wales and Victoria

Maurice Felton

Maurice Appleby Felton (1803-1842) arrived in Sydney with his wife and four children in late 1839 as surgeon to the immigrant ship the Royal Admiral.

3 portraits in the collection

Dame Nellie Melba,

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on cabinet card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2007

Donors

$10,000 - $49,999

John Gollings

John Gollings made his first photographs and received darkroom tuition at age eleven; he later studied Arts/Architecture at Melbourne University, supporting himself through architectural and wedding photography.

3 portraits in the collection

John Sumner AO CBE

John Sumner AO CBE (1924–2013), described as the 'father of Australian drama', was born in England and trained and worked in repertory theatre there before World War 2.

2 portraits in the collection

Hon. Linda Jean Burney

The Hon. Linda Jean Burney MP (b. 1957), a Wiradjuri woman, is the first First Nations person elected to the New South Wales parliament, and the first First Nations woman to serve in the federal House of Representatives.

2 portraits in the collection

John Vickery

John Vickery (1906-1983), illustrator, designer and painter was the only Australian to be part of the New York School in 1960s which includes painters such as Jackson Pollock, Joan Mitchell and Willem de Kooning.

1 portrait in the collection

Supporters

$5,000 - $9,999

Sir James Dowling

Sir James Dowling (1787-1844), judge, worked as a parliamentary reporter before he was called to the Bar in London in May 1815.

1 portrait in the collection

Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt

Previous exhibition, 2009

Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt (1813-c. 1848) went to school and university in Germany but the range of his interests was such that he never actually graduated (he was later called Dr Leichhardt in recognition of his broad scholarship).

1 portrait in the collection

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2009

In its second year at the National Portrait Gallery, and for the first time touring to other venues, the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2009 continues to present surprising perspectives on the nature of contemporary portrait photography.

Headspace 7

Me and My Place

Previous exhibition, 2006

Headspace 7: Me and My Place, the seventh in the National Portrait Gallery's series of student exhibitions, will be presented at Commonwealth Place. Me and My Place is the curatorial theme for the 2006 exhibition.

Lt. Genrl. the Rt Honble. Sir George Murray G.C.B., G.C.H. &c.

Lt. Genrl. the Rt Honble. Sir George Murray G.C.B., G.C.H. &c., 1838

John Cochran after Sir Thomas Lawrence

Portrait, engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Myles Nelson

Finalist interviews

It was definitely a candid encounter as was the expression on the face. It was constructed insofar as the image was deliberately taken from a distance so as to minimize intrusion and to magnify the effect of the image.

Sir Oswald Brierly

Sir Oswald Brierly (1817–1894), marine painter and adventurer, studied art, naval architecture and navigation in England before his fascination with seafaring caused him to sign up as staff artist on the Wanderer – a schooner owned by entrepreneur Benjamin Boyd, who was about to embark on a round-the-world trip.

1 portrait in the collection

David Unaipon

Archived media releases 2018

David Unaipon (1872-1967) writer, public speaker and inventor, was a Ngarrindjeri man, fourth of nine children of the evangelist James Ngunaitponi and his wife Nymbulda, both of whom were Yaraldi speakers.

1 portrait in the collection

Finalists announced for National Photographic Portrait Prize

14 November 2018

The National Portrait Gallery would like to congratulate the forty finalists for the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019.

Pretty in peach

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2008

It's remarkable that the inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond has produced two of Australia's most successful opera singers. Three decades apart, but within a short distance of each other, both Helen Porter Mitchell and Florence Wilson were born.

Nellie Melba, 1898

Ernest Walter Histed

Significant Australian Women 1913–2013

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

First Ladies

Previous exhibition, 2013

First Ladies profiles women who have achieved noteworthy firsts over the past 100 years.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018

Previous exhibition, 2018

The exhibition is selected from a national field of entries, reflecting the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and his wife Theresa

Husbands and Wives

Photographic Portraits from 19th Century Australia

Previous exhibition, 2010

'I have just been to my dressing case to take a peep at you.

Intense identity

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2009

Dr Chistopher Chapman discusses the portrait of Australian author Christos Tsiolkas taken by John Tsiavis.

Patrick Corrigan AM

Patrick Corrigan AM (b. 1932), businessman, art collector and arts patron, was born in Hanghow (Hankou) in China.

3 portraits in the collection

2021 Annual Appeal

Annual Appeal

In 2021 the Annual Appeal was focussed on Peter Brew-Bevan's portraits of athletes Turia Pitt, Leisel Jones OAM and Ellie Cole OAM.

William Henry Harvey

Archived media releases 2018

William Henry Harvey (1811-1866), botanist, formed a boyhood passion for natural history which was encouraged at Ballitore School, County Kildare.

1 portrait in the collection

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018

8 March 2018

Images for media use will be available from 8 March 2018.

Winner announced for National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019

22 February 2019

Archived media releases 2019

From an outstanding field of more than 3,000 entries, culminating in a shortlist of 39 exceptional finalists, the Winner and Highly Commended entries for this year’s National Photographic Portrait Prize have been named.

Vlase Zanalis

Palassis (Vlase, Vlazio or Vlasio) Zanalis (1902–1973) arrived in Western Australia as a twelve-year-old, accompanied by an uncle, from the Greek island of Kastellorizo in 1914.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait of Professors Margaret Gardner and Glyn Davis

Portrait of Professors Margaret Gardner and Glyn Davis, 2017

Jacqueline Mitelman

Commissioned with funds provided by Jim and Barbara Higgins, Sir Roderick Carnegie AC, Rupert Myer AO and Annabel Myer, Louise and Martyn Myer Foundation, Peter and Ruth McMullin, Diana Carlton, Professor Derek Denton AC, Harold Mitchell AC, Peter Jopling AM KC, Andrew and Liz Mackenzie, Patricia Patten, Tamie Fraser AO, Bruce Parncutt and Robin Campbell, Lauraine Diggins, Steven Skala AO and Lousje Skala 2017

Portrait Donors

Listed by year

Magazine article by Anne O'Hehir, 2019

Snap chat

2019 National Photographic Portrait Prize judge Anne O’Hehir looks beneath the surface of this year’s entries.

Australian Visit

Previous exhibition, 2006

The exhibition will include works of art from the NPG Canberra's permanent collection with some inward loans and aims to highlight the achievements of notable Australians.

Sideshow Alley

Infamy, the macabre & the portrait

Previous exhibition, 2015

Death masks, post-mortem drawings and other spooky and disquieting portraits... Come and see how portraits of infamous Australians were used in the 19th century.

Self-portrait in white jacket , 1901-02 Hugh Ramsay

Wunderkind lost

Magazine article by Inga Walton, 2021

Inga Walton on the brief but brilliant life of Hugh Ramsay.

In character on location

Magazine article by Alistair McGhie, 2011

A photograph of Claudia Karvan that blends actor, character, photographer and captures the creative collaboration of the television series Love my way.

Uncommon Australians

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

Previous exhibition, 2015

This exhibition showcases portraits acquired through the generosity of the National Portrait Gallery’s Founding Patrons, L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC.

2023 Annual Appeal

Annual Appeal

In 2023 the Annual Appeal was focussed on a work by one of Australia's best loved and most successful portrait painters, Judy Cassab AO CBE, depicting model, entrepreneur and deportment icon, June Dally-Watkins OAM.

Selfhood transcended

Magazine article by Dr Anne Sanders and Dr Christopher Chapman, 2018

Anne Sanders and Christopher Chapman bring passionate characterisation to Express Yourself, the Portrait Gallery collection exhibition celebrating iconoclastic Australians.

Doodles of the Diva

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2010

Three tiny sketches of Dame Nellie Melba in the NPG collection were created by the artist who was to go on to paint the most imposing representation of the singer: Rupert Bunny.

Annual Appeal

Listed by year

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2018

The artist and her family, c. 1854 by Martha Berkeley

Presence and absence

The art of Australia’s colonial women painters affords us an invaluable, alternative perspective on the nascent nation-building project.

NPPP 2012 learning resource

Learning resource archive

Exploring select works from the NPPP 2012. For secondary students.

Lyndall Hobbs and Marilyn at the Come as your favourite blonde party, Blitz Club, London, 1979 Robert Rosen

Shiny, happy people

Magazine article by Glynis Jones, 2022

Glynis Jones on the Powerhouse’s retrospective of one of Australia’s foremost fashion reportage and social photographers.

Seduce, Amuse, Entertain

NPPP 2007 exhibition essay

Michael Desmond, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2007 Prize.

The play’s the thing

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2007

Penelope Grist charts an immersive path through Stuart Spence’s photography.

Seduce Amuse Entertain

Michael Desmond profiles a handful of the entrants in first National Photographic Portrait Prize and notes emerging themes and categories.

Star signs

Magazine article by Barry York, 2018

Barry York charts the course from childhood request to autographed celebrity portrait anthology.

Finest quality

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2010

Joanna Gilmour explores the life of Chinese-Australian businessman and philanthropist Quong Tart.

Trevor Jamieson, 2016 by Brett Canet-Gibson

The more things change...

NPPP 2017 exhibition essay

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2015

Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2017 Prize.

Regarding Henrys

Sarah Engledow ponders the divergent legacies of Messrs Kendall and Lawson.

Australia’s great internationalists

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2016

Penelope Grist explores the United Nations stories in the Gallery’s collection.

The Art Lovers - Megan, 2013 by Gary Grealy

Everybody, look serious

NPPP 2014 exhibition essay

Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2014 Prize.

Some women you may not know

Alison Alder

‘Everybody’s lives are built by so many influences, and for me, it is writers, artists and activists who have influenced how I think about the world.’

Cover, first minute book of the Tasmanian Society of Natural History

Embrace your inner nerd

Magazine article by John Zubrzycki, 2016

The southern winter has arrived. For people in the northern hemisphere (the majority of humanity) the idea of snow and ice, freezing mist and fog in June, potentially continuing through to August and beyond, encapsulates the topsy-turvidom of our southern continent.

Murray frees himself from straightjacket in public, 1928 by Sam Hood

Risky business

John Zubrzycki lauds the characters of the Australian escapology trade.

In a good paddock

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2011

Celebrating a new painted portrait of Joseph Banks, Sarah Engledow spins a yarn of the naturalist, the first kangaroo in France and Don, a Spanish ram.

Mugshots

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2006

A toast to the acquisition of an unconventional new portrait of former Prime Minister, Stanley Melbourne Bruce.

More cash than dash

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2011

Joanna Gilmour describes how colonial portraitists found the perfect market among social status seeking Sydneysiders.

The personal and the historical

Where do we draw a line between the personal and the historical? Although she died in Melbourne in 1975, when I was not quite eleven years old, I have the vividest memories of my maternal grandmother Helen Borthwick.

Christmas Island