Search / angus young

Malcolm and Angus Young, AC/DC

Angus Young, 2003 (printed 2014)

Gift of the artist 2017. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Angus Young, AC/DC, LA, 1978

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2006

Bon Scott & Angus Young, Atlanta, Georgia, 1978 (printed 2010)

Purchased 2010

No shirt, no service

Bon Scott and Angus Young photographed by Rennie Ellis are part of a display celebrating summer and images of the shirtless male.

Nat Young

Albert Falzon's photograph of Australian surfer Nat Young captures what it is to be a surfing hero.

Ah Young, 2017

Purchased 2019

Bill Henson

Recorded 2021

Nat Young, c. 1968

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John Witzig 2006

Bob Hawke, 2010

Bruce Beresford at home in Birchgrove, 2018

Pro Hart & Associates, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2004

Nat in Hawaii, 1967

Gift of the artist 2008

Simone Young, 2002

Commissioned with funds from the Farrell Family Foundation and the Basil Bressler Bequest 2002

Sir John Young, c. 1862

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Simone Young

Simone Young

Simone Young

Yaritji Tjingila Young, 2021

Purchased with funds provided by the Annual Appeal for Contemporary Australian Photography 2022

Arcadia

An exhibition of photographs by John Witzig, drawings by Nicholas Harding and film footage by Albe Falzon, expressive of the free-spirited, hot-blooded energy of Australian surfers under the cloud of conscription to Vietnam.

Conduct becoming

Penelope Grist speaks to Bill Henson and Simone Young to discover the origins of the artist’s stunning photographic triptych.

The Australian exploring expedition travelling through scrub (from the Illustrated London News 1879), 1876

Purchased 2010

Lord Viscount Sydney, c. 1790

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Sir George Young Kt, Admiral of the White Squadron, 1814

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Ted and Gina Gregg 2012

Daddy Cool, Melbourne, 1974

Purchased 2005

Angus Trumble

Angus Trumble (1964-2022) was born and raised in Melbourne. He studied Fine Arts and History at the University of Melbourne, graduating in 1986.

Geo Face Distributor, 2009

Commissioned with funds donated by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009

Australian Portraits

In this ten-part series on Australian portraits, Angus Trumble and Fiona Gruber hold a wide-ranging, thought-provoking and often unexpected face-off with history and culture.

A papal pet encounter

In honour of the launch of the Popular Pet Show, Angus recalls a diplomatic incident with an over-excited golden retriever.

Old Blighty

Angus Trumble ponders the many faces of William Bligh.

The Archduke

The immediate chain of events that led to the outbreak of the First World War began 100 years ago on June 28.

The hands have it

Angus Trumble treats the gallery’s collection with a dab hand.

Stigma stigmata

Angus Trumble provides poignant context for Aña Wojak’s portrait of Tony Carden.

Gotta catch 'em all

Angus Trumble grabs his life jacket and rides the Pokémon GO tsunami.

Not perspiring, but glowing.

Angus Trumble explores the creative manifestations of radiance.

Tribute: Mary Isabel Murphy

The Chairman, Board, Director and all the staff of the National Portrait Gallery mourn the loss of our Benefactor, Mary Isabel Murphy.

Portrait dendrochronology

Angus's latest Trumbology is accompanied by the following caveat: 'This one is reeeeeeally geeky.'

Natural, artistic and unselfconscious

Angus Trumble gazes at the once bright star of photographer Ruth Hollick.

A bear of great substance

Just in time for Christmas, Angus reflects on the most special present he has ever received.

The selfie stick

Last week ABC Television came to interview me about selfie sticks. The story was prompted by the announcement that the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has lately prohibited the use of these inside their galleries. So far as I am aware we have not yet encountered the phenomenon, but no doubt we will before too long.

The Lawrence lustre

Angus Trumble salutes the glorious portraiture of Sir Thomas Lawrence.

Audacity, audacity, audacity

Angus delves into the biographies of two ambitious characters; Sir Stamford Raffles and Sir John Pope-Hennessy.

Cocky McGrath

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

Very fine and very like

When did notions of very fine and very like become separate qualities of a portrait? And what happens to 'very like' in the age of photographic portraiture?

The National Photographic Portrait Prize turns ten

It is now a little more than 178 years since the French Academy of Sciences was made aware of the invention of the daguerreotype process.

Inditchenous beestes of New Olland

A remarkable undated drawing by Edward Lear (1812–88) blends natural history and whimsy.

Grateful admiration and brotherly love

In the earliest stages of the Great War, the Royal Pavilion in Brighton was turned into a military hospital, and arrangements made there to accommodate the different dietary and other requirements of Hindu, Sikh and Muslim patients.

The Viceroyalty of New Spain

European painters always enjoyed a good deal of latitude in the representation of angels, those asexual, bodiless, celestial regiments of God, so long as they were young and beautiful.

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.

The National Portrait Gallery's 20th Anniversary

Last month we marked the twentieth anniversary of the formal establishment of the National Portrait Gallery, the tenth of the opening of our signature building, and the fifth of our having become a statutory authority under Commonwealth legislation.

The stately lotus

I spent much of my summer holiday at D’Omah, on the outskirts of Yogyakarta. Lotus and waterlilies sprout in extraordinary profusion in artful ponds amid palms and deep scarlet ginger flowers.

Waterloo and Mrs. Moore

Beyond the centenary of the ANZAC landings at Gallipoli, a number of other notable anniversaries converge this year. Waterloo deserves a little focussed consideration, for in the decades following 1815 numerous Waterloo and Peninsular War veterans came to Australia.

Portraiture in a Bleak House

It may seem an odd thing to do at one’s leisure on a beautiful tropical island, but I spent much of my midwinter break a few weeks ago re-reading Bleak House.

Anangu landscape learning

Angus' initial perception of Uluru shifts, as he comes to see it as central to the entire order of Anangu life.

Poise and Carats

I keep going back to Cartier: The Exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia next door, and, within the exhibition, to Princess Marie Louise’s diamond, pearl and sapphire Indian tiara (1923), surely one of the most superb head ornaments ever conceived.

Christmas Island

This is my last Trumbology before, in a little more than a week from now, I pass to my successor Karen Quinlan the precious baton of the Directorship of the National Portrait Gallery.

The Rothschilds, the Montefiores, and the Victorian Gold Rush

Some years ago my colleague Andrea Wolk Rager and I spent several days in the darkened basement of a Rothschild Bank, inspecting every one of the nearly 700 autochromes created immediately before World War I by the youthful Lionel de Rothschild.

Humdinger

At a meeting by teleconference of the National Portrait Gallery Foundation last week, I found myself reporting that our forthcoming exhibition So Fine is going to be “a humdinger,” whereupon Tim Fairfax chuckled and said that he hadn’t heard that expression for years.

Centenary of ANZAC

Just now we pause to mark the centenary of ANZAC, the day when, together with British, other imperial and allied forces, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed at Gallipoli at the start of the ill-starred Dardanelles campaign.

On the passage and pace of time

In shock it fluctuates and with age, accelerates. Remembering the First World War and the Easter Rising.

An Australian in Paris

This week it is impossible not to contemplate the ways in which France has touched many Australian lives.

Empirical art

Several years ago I came across this curious painting on the racks in a distant, dusty corner of the store room in the basement of the Johannesburg Art Gallery in South Africa. Since then the mystery surrounding it has never been far from my mind. 

Banksia and grevillea

Portraits can render honour to remarkable men and women, but there are other ways.

The mystery of Enoch Arden

Tennyson's Enoch Arden was inspired by a story that Thomas Woolner passed on to him – but whose story and of whom?

Magna Carta

On this day eight hundred years ago at Runnymede near Windsor, King John signed Magna Carta.

The Pavlova

It is a painful truth, but one which must be faced up to, that the pavlova, that iconic Australian dessert, a staple since the 1930s, was actually invented in New Zealand.

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.

Indexing, the art of

The first index I created was for my first book, and, to my astonishment, that was almost twenty-five years ago.

Dementia and the arts

That principle of equity of access has ever since been a noble aspiration for all public art museums, as it is for us here at the National Portrait Gallery.

Milestones

This month I turn fifty, soI am just now looking rather more closely than usual at Fiona Foley, Steven Heathcote, Brenda Croft, Russell Crowe, Jeff Fenech, Akira Isogawa, Lee Kernaghan, My Le Thi, Shona Wilson and Mark Taylor AO, mindful that they too were 1964 arrivals. 

The Thyssen Art Macabre

Books seldom make me angry but this one did. At first, I was powerfully struck by the uncanny parallels that existed between the Mellons of Pittsburgh and the Thyssens of the Ruhr through the same period, essentially the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

Angkor Wat

Nothing quite prepares the first-time visitor to Cambodia for the scale and grandeur of the monuments of the ancient Khmer civilisation of Angkor.

The Black Death

The best horror stories are real. A flea sinks its proboscis into the skin of a sick black rat, feeds on its blood, and ingests lethally multiplying bacteria.

A reflection on conversation pieces

There is in the collection of the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut, an English painting, datable on the basis of costume to about 1745, that has for many years exercised my imagination.

The cost of living luxuriously

In 1904, the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia purchased as a gift for her sister, Queen Alexandra, a fan composed of two-color gold, guilloché enamel, mother-of-pearl, blond tortoiseshell, gold sequins, silk, cabochon rubies, and rose diamonds from the House of Fabergé in Saint Petersburg.

Remembering Ursula

I first knew Dr. Hoff when in 1986, long after retiring from the National Gallery of Victoria, she taught a graduate seminar on Rembrandt.

Cherish the brethren

Fortunately, perhaps, there is no instruction manual for newly appointed art museum directors.

Trumble's way

At the end of a summer break one is tempted to say that there is nothing much to report. Isn’t one restful holiday very much like another?

Brains trust

Eminent doctors and scientists have for more than a century consistently caused our nation to punch far above her weight.

Crème Valaze

Helena Rubinstein (1872‒1965) was the first self-made millionairess of modern times, and created the first publicly-listed global cosmetics corporation. 

Lord Kitchener

Once central to military strategy and venerated in patriotic households, Lord Kitchener is now largely forgotten.

Queen Victoria

Last Sunday I had the privilege of appearing at the Canberra Writers’ Festival in conversation with Julia Baird. The subject of our session was Julia’s recent biography, Victoria the Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman who Ruled an Empire.

Cooey! An Australian Song

"Coo-ey, Coo-ey, Coo-ey, Coo-ey—Love has caught the strain, Coo-ey, Coo-ey, Coo-ey, Coo-ey—it whispers back again." The “Australian lady” who composed these fruity lyrics was none other than Desda— Jane Davies, sometime Messiter (née Price) of Leddicott, Lavender Bay.

Dempsey's people

Those of you who are active in social media circles may be aware that through the past week I have unleashed a blitz on Facebook and Instagram in connection with our new winter exhibition Dempsey’s People: A Folio of British Street Portraits, 1824−1844.

Embrace your inner nerd

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.

Stubbs and the horse

One of the chief aims of George Stubbs, 1724–1806, the late Judy Egerton’s great 1984–85 exhibition at the Tate Gallery was to provide an eloquent rebuttal to Josiah Wedgwood’s famous remark of 1780: “Noboby suspects Mr Stubs [sic] of painting anything but horses & lions, or dogs & tigers.”

The last word

David Hansen’s tribute to his close friend, prince of words and former National Portrait Gallery director, the late Angus Trumble.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2015

The National Photographic Portrait Prize 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.

Abstraction and figuration

James Angus discusses his major sculpture commission Geo Face Distributor with Christopher Chapman.

Humour’s warm refuge

Angus Trumble pays tribute to John Clarke.

Country man

Angus Trumble’s tribute to the late Right Honourable Malcolm Fraser.

Missing Persons

Desperately seeking Woolner medallions

Study in scarlet

Angus Trumble reflects on the force of nature that was Helena Rubinstein.

Of beef in burgundy

Angus Trumble reveals the complex technical mastery behind a striking recent acquisition, Henry Bone’s enamel portrait of William Manning.

Maria Caroline Brownrigg

At first glance, this small watercolour group portrait of her two sons and four daughters by Maria Caroline Brownrigg (d. 1880) may seem prosaic, even hesitant

Prime Ministers

On the day before the Hon. E. G. Whitlam, AC, QC, died last month, at the great age of 98, there were seven former prime ministers of Australia still living, plus the incumbent Mr. Abbott – eight in all.

An active and contemplative life

From Cicero through St. Augustine and Coluccio Salutati right up to the present day, we have regularly weighed the significance, respective merits and competing priorities of the “active” versus the “contemplative” life. Can they coexist?

William Bligh

The life of William Bligh offers up a handful of the most remarkable episodes in the history of Britain’s eighteenth and early nineteenth-century maritime empire.

Longest reign

Queen Elizabeth II is now the longest-reigning British sovereign

Betty Churcher

The National Portrait Gallery mourns the loss of our colleague and friend Betty Churcher, AO.

Autumn in Canberra

In Persuasion (1818), a long walk on a fine autumn day affords Anne Elliot an opportunity to ruminate wistfully and at great length upon declining happiness, youth and hope.

Desperately seeking Sonia

Esther Erlich’s portrait of Lady McMahon.

The Right Hon. Malcolm Fraser, AC, CH

The Right Honourable Malcolm Fraser, AC, CH, who died in Melbourne on 20 March, was the last surviving prime minister of Australia to have been sworn of H.M. Privy Council (in 1976)—hence the “Right Honourable”.

William Bligh

Twice rebelled against, and twice vindicated, William Bligh occupies an ambivalent space in Australian history. Angus Trumble, former Director of the National Portrait Gallery, explains.

Goods and chattels

I have been reading systematically through the ads in the earliest issues of the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, such a rich vein of information about certain aspects of daily life in Regency Sydney.

Fame or celebrity?

A question lately cropped up in connection with Madame Melba as to whether fame and celebrity are not essentially the same thing. My feeling is that they are different.

The Bath Butterfly

The caricaturist and engraver James Gillray's biting satires about Sir Joseph Banks. 

The medallion

In recent years I have become fascinated by the so-called Sydney Cove Medallion (1789), a work of art that bridges the 10,000-mile gap between the newly established penal settlement at Port Jackson and the beating heart of Enlightenment England.

Shop Talk

Angus and the arbiters talk (photo) shop for the National Photographic Portrait Prize.

3 Mordants, 2011

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Mordant Family 2013
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Bon Scott and Angus Young, AC/DC

Angus Trumble

Members of the Board, Foundation and staff of the National Portrait Gallery are deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Angus Trumble.

Georgia and Angus (Australian Gothic), 2016

Statement from Mr Angus Trumble

Today, Mr Angus Trumble, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, expanded on his reasons for removing the photographic portrait of Indonesian President Joko Widodo from exhibition.

Portrait of a young Aussie, Matuse Peace, 2016

Backstage on the way to the top

Living for the moment

Young Mo (Roy Rene), 1977

Gift of Richard Wherrett 1998. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Portrait of the artist as a young man

Dr Sarah Engledow explores the early life and career of John Brack.

Young Mo (Roy Rene)

An interview with Australian artist and collector of quirky artefacts, Martin Sharp.

Young Australian #3, 2009

Portrait of a young man, held to be John Robertson, c. 1852

Gift of Malcolm Robertson in memory of William Thomas Robertson 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Oz Rock

Two of the music industry’s highest-selling performers originated in suburban Australia. The Bee Gees started out in Brisbane, for instance, and AC/DC played their first gigs at a nightclub in inner Sydney.

Young girl in a dance class waiting to be photographed, 2010

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2015

National Portrait Gallery Director Angus Trumble invites media to the announcement of the winner and exhibition preview for the 2015 National Photographic Portrait Prize.

Trumbology

Angus' blog posts from 2015–2018

Museum Dance Off 2016

Angus stars in the Gallery's 2016 entry to the international Museum Dance Off.

Nikki – Yurrkan Mantangka Ngargnyi – coll 1 (Nikki – young woman on Country)

Portrait 34

This issue features Australian cricketers, surfing legend Isabel Letham, Christos Tsiolkas, Bob Brown's portrait by Harold 'The Kangaroo' Thornton, James Angus, virtual portraits and more.

Arcadia media information

Press releases and image downloads for media.

Museum Dance-off 2016!

Each year staff from cultural institutions strut their stuff on the international stage for a chance to win fame, glory and a trophy.  But this year our Director, Angus Trumble had other things on his mind...

Capital Cool

Outsiders tend to give Canberra a bad rap: sterile, plagued by politicians, a comatose capital for professionals and academics. Nick Cave once said he didn’t like the city because there were too many punks.

Knox Rocket, 2018

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2017

Save the date: National Portrait Gallery Director Angus Trumble invites media to the announcement of the winner and exhibition preview for the 2017 National Photographic Portrait Prize on 31 March.

Nouvelle-Hollane: N.lle Galles de Sud. Ourou-Maraé, dit bull-dog par leas Anglais, Jeune guerrier de la Tribu des Gwea-Gal (New Holland: New South Wales. Ouron Marae, called Bull Dog by the English. a young Warrior of the Gwea Gal tribe), c. 1800

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

Pub Rock

Celebrate the people, places and sounds of Australian pub rock and its enduring impact on our nation’s identity.

National Portrait Gallery Director's tenure ends in triumph

National Portrait Gallery Director Angus Trumble is ending his five-year tenure with a flourish, after announcing that Gallery publication Dempsey’s People: A Folio of British Street Portraits 1824-1844 has been awarded the 2018 William MB Berger Prize for British Art History.

Catherine Martin, 2001 (printed 2006)

Gift of the artist 2006

American dream leads to tragic end

Young love lost, treasured

Boyca dharraka mayung ngurr gartji. Lardum ratjuk gurr (Boyca at Mayung Creek, Gartji. Hunting for barramundi)

Becky feeding Hazel, 2012

Fifteen, 2016

Grow the Portrait Gallery of Australia

The Portrait Gallery is calling for contributions to support in the acquisition of superb portraits for the national collection.

New partnership with Stripy Sock

We have a new partnership with Canberra-based leading mobile application development consultancy, Stripy Sock.

Mr King was once on Countdown, 2010

Headspace 2

A dynamic young people's art exhibition, Hearts/Heads: Headspace II explored portraiture, produced by students from year 7 to year 12

National Portrait Gallery Director announced

The National Portrait Gallery welcomes Angus Trumble

Sayeh: from the series Iranians, 2011

Rugby great unveiled

A new portrait commission of Australian Rugby great, Ken Catchpole OAM by Gary Grealy will be officially unveiled on 3 December.

Portrait of a Girl Eating, 2006

Larry Clark

Larry Clark's black-and-white documentary images of young outsiders reveal raw feelings. 

Treading Water, 2017

Finalist, DPA 2017
Single channel digital video

Ngalim-Ngalimbooroo Ngagenybe

Using ochres collected on her country in Western Australia’s East Kimberley, Shirley Purdie’s self-portrait is a kaleidoscope of traditional Gija stories and Ngarranggarni (Dreaming) passed down to her.

Bill Henson

Photographer Bill Henson describes creating his three part portrait of Simone Young.

Lleyton Hewitt, 1998

Gift of the artist 2004

The Murdoch

Sport was a potent means by which, in the lead up to Federation, Australians began to assert a sense of themselves as youthful, manly and athletic – the products of an equally young and virile new nation.

Last week to vote for your favourite portrait

The National Portrait Gallery’s National Photographic Portrait Prize 2015 will close Monday 8 June 2015, this is the last week to visit the exhibition in Canberra and vote for your favourite portrait in the People’s Choice.

Richard Walley OAM honoured in new Portrait Gallery commission

A new commissioned portrait funded by the Gallery’s Foundation will be launched at Murdoch University in Perth tonight, Wednesday 2 September.

Portrait 55

Explore convict art, photography by Ruth Hollick and Collier Schorr, an interview with neurosurgeon Charlie Teo, portraiture on money, and more!

Portrait 50 hits the shelves

With contributions from Julia Gillard, Fiona Gruber, and Dr Karl James, the National Portrait Gallery’s 50th edition of Portrait has something for everyone.

Gallery unveils Portrait of Mark Ella

Last night in Sydney, the National Portrait Gallery unveiled a newly commissioned portrait of Australian sporting legend Mark Ella AM.

Tarcissius, 2006

Portrait 58

Paul Cézanne, Bill Henson and Simone Young, Australian cinema’s iconic women, and feminist portraits by Kate Just.

Portrait 60

Ralph Heimans on his portraits, and features on Louis Kahan, Helena Rubinstein, Judy Cassab and Tasmanian convicts.

Amanda, 2017

The Perch Creek Family Jugband, 2008

McLean Edwards, 2006

Artist in residence creates portraits using brainwave zctivity

Digital media artist, George Khut, is creating a spectacular form of digital portraiture involving public participants.

Rowan Thomas, 2015

Portrait of Zachary

Thomas Wentworth Wills

Linda and Binni, 1984 (printed 2013)

Purchased 2013

The Hinders: doyens of Australian modernism

Progressive partnership

Sir William Charles Windeyer, 1892

Gift of the family of Sir Victor and Lady Windeyer 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Ryan Presley: Paradise won

Marri Ngarr artist Ryan Presley's site-specific commission Paradise won is prominently positioned at the Gallery’s entrance. This ambitious new work invites conversations about the ongoing legacies of colonisation and celebrates First Nations survival and autonomy.

Past directors

Directors of the National Portrait Gallery from 1998 to today.

To coin a (farewell) phrase

A penny for their thoughts

Keenan

Gulgawarnigu

In partnership with Big hART we are proud to present Gulgawarnigu - Thinking of something, someone, a national presentation of digital artworks created from Ngarluma country leramagadu (Roebourne), in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Barry, 2006

Rosemary Dobson, 1981

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

Bangardidjan

Ngayulu Minyma Tjanpinya, I am a Tjanpi Woman, 2018

Purchased 2022

Ivan and Lillian, 2012

In Doubt, 2017

Zareth, 2009

Danny, 2013

Australia's Creative Diaspora

Paris based Australian photographer and filmmaker Nathalie Latham has an ongoing interest in the creative achievements of other Australian artists living in various locations around the globe.

Tribute

Stevie Wright (1947-2015), singer-songwriter, came to Australia from England at the age of nine.

Shirley Purdie

Born: 1947, Gilbun – Mabel Downs Station, WA
Works: Warmun, WA

Eleni and the bookshop

Sophie at 17

Shahleena Musk, c. 2000

Gift of the artist 2004

Malala Yousafzai

National Youth Self Portrait Prize

At the end of 2007 the National Portrait Gallery launched the inaugural National Youth Self Portrait Prize and artists aged between eighteen and twenty-five were invited to submit self portraits using a variety of media including drawing, painting, printmaking and traditional or digital photography.

Masters of modern Indonesian portraiture

Masters of modern Indonesian portraiture presents key modernist paintings and drawings along with a selection of contemporary works.

Look Whales

Sasha and Gus, 2014

Philanthropic donations enable otherwise unobtainable acquisition

A magnanimous portrait of Helena Rubinstein has been acquired for the National Portrait Gallery’s collection.

National Youth Self Portrait Prize

An annual event, the National Youth Self Portrait Prize seeks to encourage young people to embrace self portraiture and its expressive possibilities.

Before dark (Metamorphosis)

John Mitchel with John Martin and Father John Kenyon [the three Johns], 1866

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Runners, 2010

The 70 year old jetty jumper, 2011

Karl Fender, 2019

Portrait of Ezgi, 2016

Sleep, 2019

Self portrait, c. 1948

Purchased with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2010

My Olivia, 2017

Marilyn Darling AC, 2010

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2010

Jesse, 2010

Rhoda Roberts, c. 2000

Gift of the artist 2004

Cameron and the prosthetic arm, 2016

Binowee, 2010

Headspace 6

The sixth in the National Portrait Gallery’s series of student exhibitions, will feature 200 portrait artworks, both two and three-dimensional, from secondary school students from across Australia

Between Light and Shadow

The late Australian photographer Stuart Campbell produced superb photographs of Australian actors of stage and screen.

Welcome home, Captain Bligh

The National Portrait Gallery will, next Tuesday, unveil an exciting new acquisition of irrefutable importance to all Australians. Portrait of William Bligh, in master’s uniform c. 1776, attributed to John Webber, is one of the earliest portraits of the contentious, historical figure, and extends the Gallery’s remarkable collection of early colonial portraits.

Isaiah, arms and legs folded, 2015

Marissa

Robert, 2010

Anne

Mysterious eyes

Boyd’s self-portrait at age 25 is joined by his equally emotive portraits of those around him.

Tiffany, 2015

Sage, 2015

Dayannah, 2018

A weekend at Edie's, 2016

The Salway family

Fatima, 2016

Kuei - The Sea of Gazelles - South Sudan to Oz, 2016

Fostin outside his mum's, Kings Park, Melbourne, 2015

Dave

Breast cancer, age 37

Weight of the Mind's Periapt

Portrait Gallery benefits from generous Boxer bequest

Canberran and modernist art collector Alan Boxer has generously bequeathed two works by artists Arthur Boyd and Jenny Sages to the National Portrait Gallery.

Portrait Gallery unveils new commission

The National Portrait Gallery unveiled its most recent portrait commission for the collection on Thursday 30 November 2017.

Divine, 2014

Graeme Murphy's Swan Lake: Ella Havelka, Beijing

Gurkirat, 2009

Richard Walsh, Editor OZ magazine at the Hunter Street offices, c. 1966 (printed 2021)

Purchased with funds provided by Tim Bednall 2021

Troye Sivan, 2018

All that fall

Focussing on the wide-ranging theme of loss and absence, this exhibition provides a moving ‘portrait’ of loss during the First World War on the Australian home front. Powerful symbolic images, including contemporary works, evoke the emotional intensity of loss. All that fall: Sacrifice, life and loss in the First World War is the National Portrait Gallery’s contribution to the Anzac Centenary.

Blek Bala MJ, 2017

Finalist, DPA 2017
Single channel HD digital video

Arthur Boyd’s Mysterious Eyes

The National Portrait Gallery has unveiled a focus exhibition of captivating portraits by renowned artist Arthur Boyd, titled Mysterious eyes: Arthur Boyd portraits from 1945.

Equation of a life – a portrait of Derek Denton

The National Portrait Gallery, has welcomed the newest portrait commission of Emeritus Professor Derek Denton AC by Evert Ploeg.

The girls, 2017

Charmed by the Rose

Anthony Browell reminisces about meeting Rose Lindsay, the wife of Australian artist Norman Lindsay.

Clara Crosbie, c. 1885

Gift of John McPhee 2018

The Skin I'm In II, 2016

Mela

Alex Frayne

An interview with the photographer.

Donors

Interview

Rineke Dijkstra's photographic series of her subject, Almerisa Sehric, evolved over the course of 14 years. 

One Millionth Visitor to Portrait Gallery Touring Program

The National Portrait Gallery is delighted to announce the Gallery’s Touring Exhibitions Program has welcomed its one millionth visitor.

New Chief Patron for the National Portrait Gallery

Mrs Lucy Hughes Turnbull AO has accepted an invitation to become the new Chief Patron of the National Portrait Gallery. 

Portrait 68

Rebecca Ray on Robert Fielding’s Mayatjara series, Jennifer Higgie on Alice Neel, Elspeth Pitt chats with Yvette Coppersmith, Vincent Fantauzzo on virtual sittings with Hugh Jackman and more.

Headspace 7

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.

You Look Like a...Matthew, 2016

Giving a dam

Ensconced and meditative in crisp Tasmania, Joanna Gilmour pays tribute to passionate green advocate and photographer Olegas Truchanas.

To Look Away – Tilda, 2015

Finalist, DPA 2016

Elia, 2006

Jaq Grantford

A self-portrait from a different time, feels like a different time, even though it's only a couple of years ago or one and a half years, if that, and it was my commentary on COVID and how I was feeling about it at the time.

Now and then

Photographed 35 years apart, these two portraits offer both a timeline of, and thematic thread for, Maria (Polly) Cutmore’s life – from a young woman to a respected Gomeroi Elder.

Sophie and Mercy, 2016

Cat Leedon

This was taken as part of a series, documenting my, I call it my shit show roller coaster.

Self portrait

Dr Gene Sherman AM announces resignation from the National Portrait Gallery Board

It is with deep regret, but great pride, that the National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the decision of its Deputy Chairman to resign from the Gallery’s Board, to focus on a new international role as co-Chair of the Tate Asia Pacific Acquisitions Committee.

The sensational denouement of the case

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. 

Donald Friend, 1987

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Emerging realities

Masters of Modern Indonesian Portraiture

Press releases for media

Oz Origins

Australia’s passion for rock ‘n roll was kindled by American and British acts in the 1950s and 60s. The novel genre’s driving, licentious rhythms and voices captured imaginations and libidos, not to mention aspiring young musicians.

Donald Friend at Owl Creek, 1983

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Lawrence Daws 2012
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Wayne Quilliam

The important part about it is is where it was captured. That's the Laura Quinkan Dance Festival, where our remote communities gather every two years to celebrate culture, to share knowledge, and to share stories.

Contemporary Australian Portraits

Contemporary Australian Portraits is a cross section, a sampling, of some of the present-day directions in Australian portrait practice

Matt Ottley, 2019

Rick Amor 21 Portraits

Press releases and image downloads for media.

Woburn Sheepshearing, 1811

Purchased 2018

Johnny, 2006

Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award 2015 finalists announced

The National Portrait Gallery have selected the finalists for the Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award 2015.

Lloyd Rees, 1973

Purchased 1999

Portrait of Paddy Japaljarrii Stewart, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2004

Tough & Tender

Art by Warwick Baker, Chris Burden, Larry Clark, Rozalind Drummond, Nan Goldin, Robert Mapplethorpe and Collier Schorr explores personal relations, individual expression and fluid identity.

John Landy, c. 1954

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2004

National Portrait Gallery to undergo renovation work

The National Portrait Gallery will undergo renovation works in 2019 to maintain the integrity of its building and the Gallery’s collection of prized artworks.

The World of Thea Proctor

The World of Thea Proctor is the Portrait Gallery's second major biographical exhibition - that is, the second exhibition to focus exclusively on the life and work of a single individual

Elizabeth Chong, 2000

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005

Max Dupain

During his long and distinguished career Max Dupain took thousands of photographs of people

Slow Motion @ 300kms per hour Mark ‘Sparky’ Webber, Formula 1 Driver, 2016

POL

POL was a magazine that ran from 1969 to 1986

Collier Schorr

This is the first time Collier Schorr's photographs, which explore gender and identity, have been shown in Australia.

City boys

Christopher Chapman immerses himself in Larry Clark’s field of vision.

Thousand Mile Stare

Thousand mile stare provides a unique portrait of people of rural Australia

The Athlete

Slow Motion @ 300kms per hour Mark 'Sparky'™ Webber, Formula 1 Driver, 2016

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2019

Frederick Burnaby

Golden boy

Dr Christopher Chapman examines Scott Redford's photographic portrait of Australian surfer David 'Rasta' Rastovich.

Boxer, Blake Travers, 2017

Finalist, DPA 2017
Single channel HD digital video

Reg Lindsay, Scone, NSW, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Younger Australians more engaged with arts and history

The second annual brand-awareness snapshot of the National Portrait Gallery is again positive, with indicators moving in the right direction – for the Gallery and for Australia’s cultural engagement.

Presence and Absence

This exhibition focuses on exploring national and communal identity through sculptural production in Australia, from the early decades of settlement through to the present day

Glossy too

The Glossy 2 exhibition highlights the integral role magazine photography plays in illustrating and shaping our contemporary culture.

Dressing for dinner, 1992

Gift of the artist 1999. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Lindy (No. 2 of Robert, Lindy, Grant)

Sharon Atkinson-Firebrace, c. 2000

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2004

David McAllister to join National Portrait Gallery collection

Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet, David McAllister AM will join the Portrait Gallery’s national collection in a newly-commissioned portrait taken by illustrious Australian photographer, Peter Brew-Bevan.

Robert Oatley AO

The National Portrait Gallery mourns the loss of one our most generous benefactors, Robert Oatley AO.

Kylie Kwong, 2003

Purchased 2005

Barbara Robison, 1935

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

Samantha Nimunburr Wyborn, c. 2000

Gift of the artist 2004

Learning programs

Unique experiences and programs for enquiring young minds, teachers and lifelong learners.

‘Never break this heart of stone’

Desired by millions

Study of male ballet dancers standing in a line, 2007

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of J Sages Family Trust 2009
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Lloyd Rees, c. 1988

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

Here and there

Nathalie Latham's exhibition Australia's Creative Diaspora explores Australians, in the arts, who live and work internationally.

The artist and the doctor

Art, war, scandal

Feather voted the people’s favourite

The National Portrait Gallery is thrilled to announce that the People’s Choice award for this year’s National Photographic Portrait Prize goes to Natalie Grono from Byron Bay for her photograph Feather and the Goddess Pool 2014.

Basking in light

Pieter Roelofs, Head of Painting and Sculpture at Rijksmuseum and co-curator of Vermeer, delves into the largest-ever exhibition of the master artist.

Harry Belafonte

Les Darcy, Australian Middleweight Boxer, c. 1910

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

doppelgänger

doppelgänger is the second in a series of virtual exhibitions held by the National Portrait Gallery that explore contemporary notions of portraiture in the online environment.

The most material advantages

A one-in-a-thousand woman

Sir Cecil Colville, c. 1965

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard Due 2010

Cecil Beaton

Accomplished illustrator, painter, writer and diarist, set designer and one of the most distinguished photographers of the twentieth century, Cecil Beaton is renowned for his portraits of well known faces from the worlds of fashion, literature, and film.

Headspace 4

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

Lloyd Rees at 90, Northwood, Sydney, 1985 (printed 2000)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
The series 'David Moore: From Face to Face' was acquired as a gift of the artist and with financial assistance from Timothy Fairfax AC and L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2001

Australian visit in Denmark

In April 2006 the National Portrait Gallery showcased Australian portraits at the Fredenksborg Castle in Denmark. 

Lloyd Rees, 1987

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999

Werner Baer, 1947

Gift of Richard King 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

The Merioola Group, 1940s

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Bee Miles, 1976

Gift of Brian Griffin 2000

Entry guidelines 2024

Read the full requirements for entering the prize.

Study of female ballet dancers, 2007

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of J Sages Family Trust 2009
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Lt. A.R.Cutler VC, 1943

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Cutler family 2017
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Study of a pair of ballet dancers, 2007

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of J Sages Family Trust 2009
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Famous

Australian photographer Karin Catt has photographed world leaders, a host of rock stars and Oscar-winning compatriots Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, and Cate Blanchett.

So Fine

This exhibition features new works from ten women artists reinterpreting and reimagining elements of Australian history, enriching the contemporary narrative around Australia’s history and biography, reflecting the tradition of storytelling in our country.

Anne Hyde, Duchess of York and King James II

Kyle Vander-Kuyp, 1998

Purchased 2001

Glenn Murcutt

Recorded 2017

Daryl Braithwaite, 1975 (printed 2001)

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

Garth Porter, 1975 (printed 2001)

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

Tony Mitchell, 1975 (printed 2001)

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

Alan Sandow, 1975 (printed 2001)

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

Clive Shakespeare, 1975 (printed 2001)

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

Nicholas Harding

Nicholas Harding: 28 portraits features paintings of Robert Drewe, John Bell and Hugo Weaving alongside gorgeously coloured recent oil portraits, delicate gouaches and bold ink and charcoal drawings.

The actor, the artist, her life and her fantasies

Feeling sexy

Jacqueline Mitelman

Recorded 2017

Prince Charles Edward Stuart

Ed Sheeran

Ada Bird Petyarre, 1990

Gift of Leo Christie 2003. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Kristina, 1984 (printed 2013)

Purchased 2013

Who is Lillie Roberts?

Talented wife for a talented husband

Starstruck: Australian Movie Portraits opens

Visitors will be left in awe with the National Portrait Gallery and National Film and Sound Archive of Australia’s (NFSA) new star-studded exhibition, Starstruck: Australian Movie Portraits. 

Jenny Sages

The exhibition Sages examines the process of portrait making through four large-scale portraits of women by Jenny Sages, paired with intimate preparatory drawings.

National Youth Self Portrait Prize

An annual event, the National Youth Self Portrait Prize seeks to encourage young people to embrace self portraiture and its expressive possibilities.

Rt. Honourable Lord Hawkesbury, 1808

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Ted and Gina Gregg 2012

Portrait of Florence Broadhurst, 1968

Purchased 2007

'Amy-Blue' (Amy Winehouse)

Brett Whiteley, 1974

Gift of the artist 2003. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

The Legend of Ruby and Archie

A bond in song

Handing on the baton

Michael Desmond explores the life of ballerina Irina Baranova through the portrait by Australian artist Jenny Sages.

Twenty new portraits marking Portrait Gallery’s twentieth birthday

To celebrate the National Portrait Gallery’s twentieth anniversary as an institution, twenty portraits of outstanding Australian individuals have been commissioned for the permanent collection. This is the largest undertaking for the Gallery’s commissioning program in its twenty-year existence.

Boyd to man

Christopher Chapman looks at influences and insight in the formative years of Arthur Boyd.

Eyes on the Prize

A short visual essay of some of the works in the National Youth Self Portrait Prize 2010.

Matthew Reilly, 2006 (printed 2009)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Sherbet, 1974

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

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

Kristina, 1986 (printed 2013)

Purchased 2013

Cathy Freeman, 1994

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999

Neil Murray, Bolac, VIC, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Portrait story

Artist Vincent Fantauzzo on dyslexia, connection and virtual sittings with Hugh Jackman.

Madame Sibly, Phrenologist and Mesmerist, c. 1870

Purchased 2017

An international troupe of two

Office romance

Of Burke, Wills ... and wills

Infatuation and (ill-fated) exploration

1 to 6

The National Portrait Gallery's annual survey of student self portraiture highlights the processes of personal inquiry through portraiture by students from all levels across Australia.

Sir Joseph Banks, c. 1788

Purchased 2010

John Firth-Smith, 1974

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

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2023

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.

Paul Kelly and The Portraits

Aspects of singer songwriter Paul Kelly’s performance persona are communicated by portraits selected from a range of artists and leading music photographers in this focus exhibition.

Lloyd Rees full face, 1979

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

Lloyd Rees from behind, 1979

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

Society of Artists Selection Committee, 1907

Purchased 2008

Jarinyanu David Downs, 1986

Purchased 2005

George Rose, 1811

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Paddy Bedford, 2003

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2013. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Rayner Hoff, 1924

Gift of Richard King 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Hattie Shepparde, 1872

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

All that fall artist interviews

Lawrence English, Ellis Hutch and Lee Grant talk about the works they created for All that fall.

National Portrait Gallery unveils twenty new portrait commissions to celebrate twenty years

The National Portrait Gallery has unveiled twenty new portrait commissions of Australian leaders and individualists as part of its twentieth birthday celebrations in a new exhibition, 20/20: Celebrating twenty years with twenty new portrait commissions.

Francis Russell Nixon, c. 1845-1855

Purchased 2009

Headspace 1

Headspace showcases portrait art produced by secondary students from Year 7 to Year 12 in Government, Catholic and Independent schools in Canberra and its surrounding regions extending to Wollongong, Deniliquin, Leeton, Crookwell, Bombala, Narooma and Albury

Malcolm Fraser, Randwick Racecourse, 1975 (printed 2002)

Purchased 2012

Citizen Kenne

April Thompson explores an exhibition of Ingvar Kenne’s global portrait project.

Dr John Yu, 2004

Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2004

Lee Lin Chin, 2005

Gift of the artist 2006

Icons

When a portrait communicates determination and individuality as boldly as these do, it has the potential to become an iconic image. For the Gallery’s 20th birthday this display brings together a group contemporary photographic portraits of inspiring women and men.

Sir Bernard Heinze AC, 1985

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dr Ray Marginson AM 2001

White Whiteley

Eleven works by Brett Whiteley, centred around his scintillating 'Patrick White at Centennial Park 1979-1980'.

Cathryn Fitzpatrick

Portrait of the Gallery

A design diary retrospective.

Marilyn Rowe, 1981

Gift of the family of Graham Thorley in his memory and in tribute to Marilyn Rowe 2010

Tan Le, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by the Sid and Fiona Myer Family Foundation 2018

Canon Australia takes National Photographic Portrait Prize first place to new heights

Entries are now open for the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019, with the winner set to receive $52,000 in cash and prizes, including superb contributions from new sponsor, Canon Australia.

Christos Tsiolkas

Recorded 2017

Murray Bail, c. 1980 (printed 2018)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Noel Fraser Hickey, 1957

Gift of the artist 2021

Susan Lord, c. 1840

Purchased 2015

Cathy Freeman, 2000

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of David Caird and Melbourne Herald Sun 2003

Cathryn Fitzpatrick, 2006

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2006

Colleen McCullough, 1992-1993 (printed 2005)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005

Tim Burstall, Andamooka (filming of the Last of the Knucklemen), c. 1979

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2006

Theresa Byrnes, 1999

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 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.

James T. Donovan, 1892

Purchased 2015

Brett Whiteley - portrait 2, 1975

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Telphia, 1990 (printed 2013)

Purchased 2013

Dave Sands, c. 1940s

Purchased 2011

The black coat: Lily Brett, 1989

Gift of Dr Gene Sherman AM and Brian Sherman AM 2012. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Christos Tsiolkas, 1998 (printed 2009)

Purchased 2009