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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 / ambrose patterson

Ambrose Patterson

Biography

Ambrose Patterson (1877-1967) was a printmaker, painter and teacher. Like Ramsay, Patterson studied under Bernard Hall at the National Gallery School.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait of Ambrose Patterson, 1901-1902

Hugh Ramsay

Portrait, oil on canvas

Gift of the Estate of John Oswald Wicking 2003

Ambrose Hallen

Biography

Ambrose Hallen (1886-1943) was an Australian modernist artist whose work went largely unrecognised in this country.

2 portraits in the collection

Ambrose Hallen, 1941

Max Dupain OBE

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Ambrose Hallen, 1937

Lina Bryans

Portrait, oil on composition board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Sir James and Lady Cruthers 2001

Sir Les Patterson, 1999

Polly Borland

Portrait, type C photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Velasquez Touch

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2004

Former NPG Director, Andrew Sayers, explores the creative collaborations between four Australian artists living in Paris during the first years of the twentieth century.

The Victor

Other styles

The style adopted by an American Civil War general, Ambrose Burnside, from whose name the term ‘sideburn’ originated.

Self portrait (Full Length in front of Easel)

Self portrait (Full Length in front of Easel), 1901-1902

Hugh Ramsay

Portrait, oil on canvas

Gift of the Estate of John Oswald Wicking 2003

Saltwater Cowboys, 2013

by Tamara Voninski

Image

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.

James Scobie

Biography

James Scobie (1860-1940), horse trainer, was born at Ararat, Victoria, and at age 20 he rode his first metropolitan jumping winner at Ballarat.

1 portrait in the collection

Slim Dusty and Dame Edna Everage, Carlton Hill Station, WA, 10 July 1993

Rarely Everage

The Lives of Barry Humphries

Previous exhibition, 2002

The exhibition begins with Barry's childhood in Camberwell, Melbourne and chronicles his days as a struggling actor in Australia and England, his creation of characters including Barry McKenzie, Dame Edna Everage, Sandy Stone and Sir Les Patterson

Polly Borland

Australians

Previous exhibition, 2001

Polly Borland: Australians, is an exhibition of 54 new portraits of significant Australians who have made a contribution to British life and who have largely made their home or based their professional life in the UK

Will Dyson

Biography

Will (William Henry) Dyson, cartoonist, caricaturist, writer and draughtsman, was born in Alfredtown, near Ballarat, and studied for a short time in Melbourne, where he worked closely with his older brother Ambrose.

11 portraits in the collection

Charles Wheeler

Biography

Charles Wheeler OBE (1881–1977), artist, won the Archibald Prize in 1933 for a portrait of the popular Melbourne-based writer Ambrose Pratt.

8 portraits in the collection

Tom Durkin

Biography

Thomas Coleman Durkin trained at the Williamstown School of Design and started work in Melbourne as an apprentice to an engraver and then a jeweller.

27 portraits in the collection

Lina Bryans

Biography

Lina Bryans OAM (1909-2000), artist, was born into a prosperous Melbourne family and grew up moving freely between Toorak and Europe.

3 portraits in the collection

Geoff Cousins, 2017

David Naseby

Portrait, oil on canvas

Gift of Geoff Cousins AM 2007

Artist interviews

Headspace 4

General content

The chase, 1952

Charles Blackman OBE

Portrait, tempera on masonite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Rob and Paula McLean 2011
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

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

Little treasures

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2002

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

Olga Radalyski prison records, on loan from the Public Record Office of Victoria.

The sensational denouement of the case

The Yarra Boot Trunk Tragedy, 12 January 1899

About Face article

The 'Yarra Boot Trunk Tragedy' unfolded a week before Christmas 1898, when some neighbourhood boys noticed a wooden box floating in the river at Richmond.

Barry Humphries

Biography

Barry Humphries AO CBE (1934–2023), actor, writer and artist, was the world's all-time most successful solo theatrical performer.

12 portraits in the collection

The 1850s to the 1880s

Mo and beard timeline

The restrained and cultivated facial hair fashions evident through the first decades of the 1800s were on the wane by the middle of the century, when hirsute faces became mainstream.

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.

Jim Cobb at Chroma factory Mt Kuring-gai, NSW, 2017 by Mark Mohell

The alchemist’s profile

Magazine article by John Zubrzycki, 2017

John Zubrzycki meets Australian paint pioneer Jim Cobb.

Bloodlines

Magazine article by Michelle Fracaro, 2004

Michelle Fracaro describes Lionel Lindsay's woodcut The Jester (self-portrait).

Big bouquet of Blackmans

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2013

Dr. Sarah Engledow explores the context surrounding Charles Blackman's portrait of Judith Wright, Jack McKinney and their daughter Meredith.

Girl with Cigarette, c. 1925 by Agnes Goodsir

Agnes enigma

Magazine article by Karen Quinlan AM, 2019

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

No Laughing Matter

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2002

The biographical exhibition of Barry Humphries was the first display of its kind at the National Portrait Gallery.

The Art Lovers - Megan, 2013 by Gary Grealy

Everybody, look serious

NPPP 2014 exhibition essay

General content

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

The Long Awaited, 2008 by Patricia Piccinini

In the flesh

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2015

An exhibition of humanness in ten themes by Penelope Grist.

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