Search / archibald mcdonald

Portrait, albumen photograph carte de visite

Purchased 2010

Chang the Chinese Giant with his wife Kin Foo and manager Edward Parlett

Chang the Chinese Giant with his wife Kin Foo and manager Edward Parlett, c. 1871

Archibald McDonald

Purchased 2010

Archbishop James Goold, c. 1870

Archibald McDonald

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

The Catholic Hierarchy of Australia, 1869

Archibald McDonald, Henry Samuel Sadd

Portrait, albumen photograph on carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Garry McDonald AO

Norman Gunston (1973-1993) was a fictional television character, conceived by writer Wendy Skelcher and developed by actor Garry McDonald.

1 portrait in the collection

Darren McDonald

Darren McDonald gained his Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting) degree from RMIT in 2000, having completed an associate diploma in painting at the same institution.

1 portrait in the collection

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Helen Garner in her kitchen, 2018

by Mia McDonald

Magazine article by John McDonald, 2007

Artists' space

Studio: Australian Painters Photographed by R. Ian Lloyd presents 61 of some of Australia’s most respected and significant painters working in the studio environment.

Barry McDonald, 1997

Selina Snow

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 1999

Darren McDonald

The wild balancing act of McDonald’s home décor (is that there as a joke? where do I actually sit down? is this ironic or what? what a lovely photo of Darren and Robin in Europe!) is reflected in his own personality.

Angel Street (Adam Cullen), 2010

Darren McDonald

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2015

Purchased 2012

Self Portrait with Stetson, 2011 by Darren McDonald

Painting them gently

Penny Grist on motivation, method and melancholy in the portraiture of Darren McDonald.

Norman Gunston and Denise Drysdale, 1976 (printed 2010)

Bruce Postle

Portrait, type C photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by James Bain AM and Janette Bain 2010

Archie 100

A Century of the Archibald Prize

Previous exhibition, 2023

This major exhibition celebrates 100 years of Australia’s oldest and most-loved portrait award and reflects upon the changing face of our nation.

Sporting Archibald

Previous exhibition, 2000

Celebrating the focus on sport during 2000, this special exhibition features our national sporting heroes and heroines immortalised on canvas

Self, titled, 2013

by Stella Rosa McDonald

Finalist, MDPA 2013

Portrait 49

Winter 2015

Magazine

This issue features Jude Rae, Arthur Boyd, Darren McDonald, John Singer Sargent, Tom Wills the 'inventor' of Australian Rules Football and more.

Lyall Trindall

Gordon Lyall Trindall (1886–1965), painter, gave up his Marrickville barbering business at the age of 26 to become an artist.

1 portrait in the collection

Reg Campbell

Portrait, oil on galvanised iron

Reg Campbell was a self-taught painter specialising in landscapes and portraits.

1 portrait in the collection

Young Mo (Roy Rene), 1977

Martin Sharp

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

R. Ian Lloyd

Portrait, oil on primed masonite

Ian Lloyd was born in Canada and studied photography at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York and Brooks Institute in California.

5 portraits in the collection

Self portrait at 85, 1990

Joshua Smith

Gift of the late May Ralph 2019

Joshua Smith

Joshua Smith studied sculpture with Rayner Hoff and took classes in drawing and painting at Julian Ashton's Sydney Art School.

5 portraits in the collection

Master Molteno, c. 1866

Townsend Duryea

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

Fiona Lowry

Fiona Lowry is a Sydney-based artist. Having held her first solo exhibition in 2002, she exhibited at Sydney’s Gallery Barry Keldoulis from 2004 to 2010; from 2010 she was also represented by Hugo Michell in Adelaide, and she is currently handled by Martin Browne Contemporary in Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

William Dobell, 1943

Gift of Danina Anderson, daughter of Max Dupain 2017.
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Another painter in the studio: Tim Storrier

Another painter in the studio: Tim Storrier, 1982

Purchased 2012

Danelle Bergstrom

Danelle Bergstrom (b. 1957) was born in Sydney. She studied art and art education at the Julian Ashton school (1974-1979) and at Alexander Mackie CAE.

2 portraits in the collection

William Dobell, 1942

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard King 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Cowboy Louie Pwerle

Cowboy Louie Pwerle (b. 1941) is an Eastern Anmatyerr Elder from Utopia in Central Australia.

1 portrait in the collection

Gloria Petyarre, 2005

R. Ian Lloyd

Magazine article by Wendy Sharpe, 2013

Gift of the artist 2010. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Models with trident and 1970s lamp 2013
by Wendy Sharpe

Observation point

Australian artist and Archibald Prize finalist, Wendy Sharpe reflects on the art of portraiture.

Sister Mary Brady

Sister Mary Brady OP (1922-2014), born in Tamworth, is a self-taught painter, though she did receive critiques from Joshua Smith and Norman Carter.

1 portrait in the collection

William Robinson AO

William Robinson AO (b. 1936) is one of Australia's most distinguished and influential contemporary painters, known for his distinctive and prolific output as landscape painter in particular.

3 portraits in the collection

Noel Fraser Hickey, 1957

Nancy Menetrey

Gift of the artist 2021

William Dobell, Potts Point, Sydney, 1960 (printed 2000)

David Moore

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
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.

Josonia Palaitis

Previous exhibition, 2016

Josonia Palaitis trained as an art teacher in Sydney in the early 1970s, and experimented with diverse painting styles before settling into the photorealist mode for which she became best known.

1 portrait in the collection

The Popular Pet Show

This exhibition expresses the joy and warmth that many of us derive from our animal companions, and celebrates their trusting, unpretentious ways, with portraits of Australians and their furry, feathered and fluffy friends.

Kerrie Lester

Kerrie Lester (1953–2016) became well-known as a portraitist for her playful, textured, highly coloured works that appeared regularly in the Archibald and Portia Geach exhibitions of the late 1980s and the 1990s.

6 portraits in the collection

Luke Cornish

Luke Cornish (b. 1979) is a Sydney-based handmade stencil artist. A self-described former blue-collar worker from Canberra, under the name of E.L.K he began experimenting with stencil cutting and spray paint in his mid-twenties.

1 portrait in the collection

Betina Fauvel-Ogden

Betina Fauvel-Ogden was born in Adelaide and lives and works in Melbourne.

2 portraits in the collection

John Cann and his father, 2007

by Hugh Stewart

Kim Spooner

Kim Spooner (b. 1955), artist, studied at the University of Sydney and the Julian Ashton School, from which she gained a travel scholarship.

2 portraits in the collection

Brandon Walters - Overawed, 2009

by John Hegarty

Judy Cassab AO CBE

Portrait, encaustic, oil and pigment on composition board

Judy Cassab AO CBE (1920–2015) was one of Australia's best-loved, most successful and prolific portrait painters.

22 portraits in the collection

Kate (Kate Grenville), 2012

Jenny Sages

Gift of the artist 2014. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Sir William Dobell OBE

Sir William Dobell (1899–1970), painter, studied art and was apprentice to an architect in Sydney before leaving Australia for Europe in 1929.

10 portraits in the collection

Mathew Lynn

Friday 19 – Sunday 21 January 2023

Mathew Lynn (b. 1963), primarily a portrait painter, lives and works between Sydney and the Blue Mountains.

2 portraits in the collection

Archie 100: The Final Countdown

What's on

Join us as we celebrate the final days of Archie 100: A Century of the Archibald Prize at the National Portrait Gallery! We've got three fun-filled days of activities, workshops, talks and tours planned for visitors of all ages.

John Mawurndjul AM

John Mawurndjul (b. 1952) is a Kuningkju-speaking man who lives near Maningrida, one of the Northern Territory's oldest and best-equipped art centres.

2 portraits in the collection

David Naseby

David Naseby (1937–2022) was born in England and studied in the United Kingdom before coming to Australia in 1953.

8 portraits in the collection

Greg Warburton

Portraits of Australian Visual Artists

Greg Warburton (1952–2022) trained at Hornsby Technical College and Alexander Mackie College in the 1970s.

2 portraits in the collection

William Barak at work on the drawing ‘Ceremony’ at Coranderrk

The Reflecting Eye

Touring exhibition, 1996

As the first National Portrait Gallery travelling exhibition, The reflecting eye: portraits of Australian visual artists represents an important milestone in the history of Australia's National Portrait Gallery.

Portrait of a beautiful mind - Adam Cullen, Blue Mountains

Portrait of a beautiful mind - Adam Cullen, Blue Mountains, 2005 (printed 2019)

George Fetting

Purchased with funds provided by Alan Dodge AM & Neil Archibald 2019

Raelene Sharp

Magazine article by Eric Smith, 2004

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

2 portraits in the collection

Creative space

Eric Smith describes the agony and finally the ecstasy of winning the 1982 Archibald Prize with the portrait of Peter Sculthorpe.

Bill Leak

Bill Leak (1956-2017), portrait painter and caricaturist, trained at the Julian Ashton art school in the mid-1970s, and began his career painting landscapes.

7 portraits in the collection

Evert Ploeg

Evert Ploeg began his career as a commercial illustrator in the mid-1980s.

7 portraits in the collection

Cherry Hood

Cherry Hood (b. c. 1950), is an artist well known for her haunting, large-scale images of faces.

3 portraits in the collection

W B McInnes

William Beckwith (Bill) McInnes (1889–1939), artist, was only fourteen when he began studying drawing under Frederick McCubbin at the National Gallery School in Melbourne, before moving to painting.

5 portraits in the collection

Charles Wheeler

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

Self portrait, 2006

Portrait, watercolour on canvas

Gift of Dr Phillip Dutton and Valerie Dutton 2013. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Simon Tedeschi unplugged, 2002

Cherry Hood

Gift of Tim Olsen 2010. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Margaret Olley AC

Margaret Olley AC (1923-2011), painter, studied art at East Sydney Technical College and the Grande Chaumière in Paris.

6 portraits in the collection

Sketch for Prime Minister Robert Menzies

Sketch for Prime Minister Robert Menzies, 1960

Portrait, watercolour and gouache on paper

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 1999

Margaret Olley, 1995

Adam Knott

Portrait, type C photograph on paper

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

Cowboy Louie Pwerle, 1994

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

Guido Maestri

Guido Maestri, born in Mudgee, completed a Bachelor of Fine Art (Hons) in painting at the National Art School, Darlinghurst in 2003.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait of Charles Blackman, 1979

Portrait, encaustic, oil and pigment on composition board

Gift of Warwick Evans 2021. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

After Jack, 2012

Jenny Sages

Purchased 2018

Jean Goldberg

Jean Nethercote (now Goldberg) first met Ola Cohn when she took a life class in Cohn's studio in the mid-50s.

1 portrait in the collection

Mitch Cairns

Previous exhibition, 2007

Mitch Cairns (b. 1984), painter and cartoonist, won the 2017 Archibald Prize with a portrait of his partner, artist Agatha Gothe-Snape.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait Paintings by Matthew Perceval

From 1967 until 1981 Matthew Perceval lived and painted in France and during those years produced a large body of portrait paintings.

Roslyn Oxley

Roslyn Oxley AM, gallerist and art dealer, was born Roslyn Walton, the daughter of John Walton, owner of the department store Waltons.

1 portrait in the collection

Margaret Olley, 1998

Lewis Morley

Previous exhibition, 1999

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

A Tribute to William Dobell

Adapted from A Tribute to William Dobell an exhibition presented by the Australian National University's Drill Hall Gallery in association with the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation, The National Gallery of Australia, and the Australian War Memorial. Dobell is of course, celebrated for his achievements in portraiture, winning the Archibald prize (1943, 1948 and 1959), the Wynne Prize (1948), and representing Australia at the 1954 Venice Biennale. Curator Mary Eagle concludes her essay in the catalogue of the exhibition thus, "Overall I see a dissonance in Dobell’s art and life

Vincent, 2012

by Linda Wachtel

Jenny Sages - artist, 2012

by Gary Grealy

Sarah and Ann Jacob, c. 1866

Townsend Duryea

Purchased 2018

Meg Padgham

Meg Padgham studied at East Sydney Technical College and the Meldrum School.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait 69

Magazine

In conversation with Aretha Brown, Pieter Roelofs on Vermeer, humanoid robots, the nationwide search for Archibald portraits, and 25 years of collecting at the National Portrait Gallery.

Peter Wegner

Peter Wegner first participated in a group exhibition in 1977, when he had had no art training.

7 portraits in the collection

Sunny day, 2019

Dalu Zhao

Previous exhibition, 2002

Angela Belgiorno-Zegna, 2001 by Salvatore Zofrea

Intimate Portraits

Intimate Portraits is an exhibition of paintings, drawings and prints that explore the less public side of portraiture

Vincent Fantauzzo

Vincent Fantauzzo (b. 1977), award-winning portrait artist, was born in England and grew up in Melbourne's northern suburbs.

2 portraits in the collection

George Judah Cohen, 1925

George Lambert

Gift of the National Australia Bank 2002

Guy in his studio

Peter Morgan

The painter transmogrified and Mrs Smith

Eric Smith

Eric Smith (1919-2017), painter, was born in Brunswick, Melbourne, and trained in commercial art at the Brunswick Technical College before serving in the army during World War 2.

6 portraits in the collection

John Passmore

John Passmore (1904-1984), painter, studied with Julian Ashton in Sydney between the ages of fourteen and twenty-nine, and took some instruction from George Lambert.

1 portrait in the collection

Geoffrey Dyer

Geoff Dyer (1947-2020) was renowned landscape and portrait painter whose practice depicted Tasmania and its people.

1 portrait in the collection

Peteris Ciemitis

Peteris Ciemitis was born in Western Australia in 1959, the son of Latvian refugees.

1 portrait in the collection

Self portrait as Sarah Wisse, Transported

Self portrait as Sarah Wisse, Transported, 1996

Margaret Woodward

Gift of the Karmel family in memory of Lena and Peter Karmel 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

A D. Colquhoun

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2003

A D (Archibald Douglas) Colquhoun studied art with his father Alexander, a Glasgow-born painter and critic living in Melbourne, and also at the NGV School and in classes with Max Meldrum.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir William Dargie CBE

Sir William Dargie, painter and eight times winner of the Archibald Prize for portraiture, died in Melbourne on July 26, 2003, aged 91.

Hui Hai Xie

Hui Hai Xie began exhibiting in 1979 in his native Shanghai, where he studied at Jiaotong University, graduating in 1984 with a Master of Arts (Painting).

2 portraits in the collection

Nancy Menetrey

Nancy Menetrey (née Wilkinson) was born in Sydney in 1924. After serving with the Australian Women's Land Army, formed during the Second World War to address labour shortages in the agricultural sector, she travelled overseas in the early 1950s, living and working in London for a number of years.

1 portrait in the collection

Geoffrey Legge and Frank Watters, 2008

Gary Grealy

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2010

W.A. Bowring

Walter Bowring, born and educated in Auckland, contributed cartoons to the New Zealand observer and The weekly press, exhibited with the Canterbury Society of Arts and studied with Orpen and John in London, where he contributed to Punch, before arriving in Sydney in 1925.

3 portraits in the collection

Head study for portrait of Margaret Olley

Head study for portrait of Margaret Olley, 1994

Jeffrey Smart AO

Portrait, oil and hand-stitching on canvas

Bequest of Nick Enright AM 2004

Fred Hollows, 1993

Kerrie Lester

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Kerrie Lester, 1990

Anne Zahalka

Portrait, type C Duraflex print on paper

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

John Bell as King Lear oil on Belgian linen, 2001 by Nicholas Harding

Lear unbuttoned

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2011

Sarah Engledow steps up to the footlights and applauds the storyline behind Nicholas Harding's portraits of actor John Bell.

Soffritto di Lucio, 2009

Garry Shead and Adrienne Levenson

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Lucio Galletto OAM 2012
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Ernest Buckmaster

Ernest Buckmaster grew up in country Victoria, where his facility for art was recognised early on.

1 portrait in the collection

Sophie and Ann Cape – artists, 2014

by Gary Grealy

Noel Rubie

Noel Rubie (1901–1976) was a painter and photographer who had a portrait and industrial photography studio in Sydney and worked during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

1 portrait in the collection

Ben Quilty

Ben Quilty (b. 1973), painter, gained bachelor’s degrees in painting and visual communication at Sydney College of the Arts and the University of Western Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

Study for Portrait of W S Robinson, 1952

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2003

Lesley Moline

West Australian-born Lesley Moline (née O’Toole) studied at Perth Technical College before moving to Melbourne in 1933.

1 portrait in the collection

John Coburn, 1974

Vaike Liibus

Recorded virtual programs

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Liibus family 2015

Drawing workshop: Focus on the face with Nicholas Harding

27th February 2021

Join us from wherever you are for an intimate, online drawing workshop with British-Australian artist Nicholas Harding.

Jenny Sages

Jenny Sages (b. 1933), artist, was born to Russian Jewish parents in Shanghai and came to Australia with her family in 1948.

34 portraits in the collection

Julian Meagher

Julian Meagher was born in Sydney in 1978 and studied part time at the Julian Ashton Art School before undertaking a Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery at the University of New South Wales.

1 portrait in the collection

Graeme Drendel

Graeme Drendel (b. 1953) is a Melbourne-based painter and printmaker.

1 portrait in the collection

Amanda King

Amanda King is a Sydney-based visual artist and producer and director of film documentaries.

1 portrait in the collection

Melissa Beowulf

Melissa Beowulf grew up in Sydney, where she became a graphic artist.

2 portraits in the collection

Dora Toovey

Dora Toovey, born in Bathurst, trained in Sydney under Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo, James R Jackson (whom she married) and John Passmore.

2 portraits in the collection

Barbara Tribe

Barbara Tribe (1913–2000), artist, is one of Australia's most significant sculptors.

4 portraits in the collection

2015-17 Acquisition Fund

Annual Appeal

From 2015 to 2017 the Acquisition Fund was focussed on Reg Richardson AM by Mitch Cairns, a finalist in the Archibald Prize 2014, and a great example of minimalist portraiture.

Mike Chavez

Mike Chavez, also known as MIGS, was born in the Philippines and studied at the Queensland College of Art from 1988 to 1990.

1 portrait in the collection

Harold Thornton

The life of eccentric Sydney artist Harry 'The Kangaroo' Thornton is yet to be thoroughly researched.

2 portraits in the collection

Neil Armfield, 2010

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2010

Esme Bell

Esme Bell (1919-2018), daughter of inventor, animal fancier and philanthropist Sir Edward Hallstrom, wrote and illustrated a children’s book, The Rainbow Painter, which was published in 1939.

2 portraits in the collection

William Pidgeon

A Ninetieth Birthday Tribute

William Edwin 'Wep' Pidgeon, cartoonist, illustrator and painter was born in Paddington and studied art at the JS Watkins School and East Sydney Technical College.

2 portraits in the collection

Sir William Dargie

Previous exhibition, 2002

As a tribute to Sir William Dargie's singular contribution to Australian art and cultural institutions, and on the occasion of his birthday, The Australian War Memorial, Parliament House and the National Portrait Gallery will mount exhibitions of his work between May and October

Hong Fu

Vox pops

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

Jun Chen

Jun Chen (b. 1960), based in Brisbane, trained in traditional Chinese brush painting at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, China.

1 portrait in the collection

Adam Chang (Hong Jun Zhang)

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2005

Adam Chang (Hong Jun Zhang) (b. 1960), in a Sydney based portrait painter.

2 portraits in the collection

True Stories

The story behind the creation of the portrait of Helen Garner by Jenny Sages.

Graham Thorley

Graham Thorley (1921–1990) entered the Archibald Prize 23 times between 1940 and 1976, and in 1980 was one of the first Australian artists to visit Antarctica, where he painted a series of landscapes.

2 portraits in the collection

Avril Thomas

Avril Thomas (b. 1956), artist, was born in Malaysia and went to boarding school in Scotland and Australia.

2 portraits in the collection

Brett Whiteley - portrait 1, 1975

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

Del Kathryn Barton

Del Kathryn Barton (b.1972) lives and works in Sydney. She is one of Australia's most celebrated contemporary artists, famous for her figurative paintings that feature fantastical characters posed against ornate—and sometimes psychedelic—backgrounds.

1 portrait in the collection

Sally Robinson

Sally Robinson, born in England, studied at the National Art School in Sydney from 1970 to 1973, and in the following year took up a position as designer at the Australian Museum in Sydney.

3 portraits in the collection

Garry Shead

Born in Sydney, Garry Shead studied at the National Art School in 1961-2.

3 portraits in the collection

Sir William Dargie CBE

Portrait, colour lithograph on paper

Sir William Dargie CBE (1912–2003) studied at the Melbourne Technical College, and then in the studio of AD Colquhoun from 1931 to 1934.

22 portraits in the collection

Equestrian self portrait, 2004

William Robinson AO

Purchased 2022

Esther Erlich

Esther Erlich (b. 1955), a Melbourne-based painter, has been exhibiting since the early 1980s, often with the Libby Edwards Galleries in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane and the Barry Newton Gallery in Adelaide.

3 portraits in the collection

Nicholas Harding

Nicholas Harding (1956–2022) was one of Australia's most highly regarded artists, known for his portraits and drawings, and his light-filled, vigorously painted images of the bush and the coast.

5 portraits in the collection

Summer 1986, 1986

Janet Dawson

Purchased 2000, part gift of Michael Boddy

Howard Barron

Howard Barron (1900–1991), artist, was born in Kent, England. He arrived in Sydney in 1924 where he trained with Sir Will Ashton.

1 portrait in the collection

Hayward Veal

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2004

Hayward 'Bill' Veal was born in Eaglemont, Victoria, and studied in Melbourne with AD Colquhoun and Max Meldrum between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four.

1 portrait in the collection

Before Too Long

The story behind the creation of the portrait of singer-songwriter Paul Kelly by the artist Jon Campbell.

John Olsen AO CBE

John Olsen AO OBE (1928–2023), painter, was one of the major figures in 20th-century Australian art.

7 portraits in the collection

You are what is most beautiful about me: a self portrait with Kel and Arella, 2007 Del Kathryn Barton

Unplanned arrival leads to blissful adoration

Nearest & Dearest

A mother’s ‘in-loveness’

David Lloyd Jones, 1944

Gift of David Lloyd Jones, in memory of his father, David Lloyd Jones 2021. Donated through Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

David Strachan

David Strachan (1919–1970), painter and printmaker, was educated at Geelong Grammar School and then studied art at the Slade School in London.

2 portraits in the collection

Rosemary Valadon

Rosemary Valadon (b. 1947) is a Sydney artist best known for large-scale oil paintings characterised by theatricality and opulence and informed with irony and feminism.

2 portraits in the collection

Louise Hearman

Louise Hearman (b. 1963), graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 1984 and has built her visual arts career over the decades since.

2 portraits in the collection

Margaret Woodward

Previous exhibition, 2013

Margaret Woodward (b. 1938), painter, grew up in Sydney where she gained a scholarship to study art at the NAS.

3 portraits in the collection

Judy Cassab

The artist's diary

The artist's diary profiles six decades of Cassab's work, from the early portrait commissions of the 1950s to later paintings that have helped confirm her eminent place in the canon of Australian portraiture.

Paul Newton

Paul Newton (b. 1961), is a Sydney-based portrait painter noted for his ability to capture likeness and sensibility.

6 portraits in the collection

Richard Divall OBE in the church mantle of the Order of Malta

Richard Divall OBE in the church mantle of the Order of Malta, 1999

Eric Smith

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Bequest of Richard Divall AO OBE 2017

Paul Haefliger, 1974

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

Dalu Zhao

Dalu Zhao, Beijing-born artist, worked during the Cultural Revolution in Heilongjiang Province, like his countryman Jiawei Shen.

1 portrait in the collection

Sam Leach

Born in Adelaide in 1973, Sam Leach studied at RMIT University, graduating with a BA (Hons.) in Painting in 2004 and a Master of Arts (Fine Arts) in 2009.

1 portrait in the collection

David Campese II, 2000

Paul Newton

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001

A deep, abiding love affair

Devotion

Frames for his life’s love

AñA Wojak

AñA Wojak describes themselves as a 'cross-disciplinary artist working in performance, painting, assemblage, installation and theatre design, with a particular interest in site-specificity, ritual and altered states'.

1 portrait in the collection

Alexander 'Jock' Sturrock, 1962

Graham Thorley

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999

Davida Allen

Davida Allen is a Queensland artist. As a student at Brisbane's Stuartholme School in the 1960s she had Betty Churcher as an art teacher.

2 portraits in the collection

Brett Whiteley

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2019

Brett Whiteley AO, artist, displayed a brilliant talent for drawing as a Sydney private schoolboy.

11 portraits in the collection

Study for Aunty Mary King, 2010 by Mathew Lynn

The animating signature

Joanna Gilmore delights in the affecting drawings of Mathew Lynn.

Bill Leak, 1999

Simon Obarzanek

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2002

Not your average teacher’s pet!

It's Complicated

Love versus art

Aileen Dent

Aileen Dent (1890–1979), painter, is the most-exhibited woman artist in the Archibald Prize, with 63 works hung between 1921 and 1962.

1 portrait in the collection

Dame Mary Gilmore, 1961

Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Jasper Knight

Jasper Knight (b. 1978) is a Sydney-based artist known for his bright, brash colours and distinctive graphic approach, using materials such as spray paint, masonite, pegboard and salvaged signage.

2 portraits in the collection

Eileen, 2017

by Sue Healey

Finalist, DPA 2017
Single channel HD digital video

Helen Edwards

Helen Edwards, a member of Portrait Artists Australia, has been a finalist in the Black Swan Prize four times, the Shirley Hannan Portrait Prize in Bega once and has been selected for the Salon des Refusés of the Archibald twice.

1 portrait in the collection

Self portrait, Paris, 1989

Brett Whiteley

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on composition board

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2010. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Albert Namatjira, 1958

Sir William Dargie CBE

Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC and with the assistance of Philip Bacon Galleries 2000

Self portrait, 1993

Tim Storrier

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dr Gene Sherman AM and Brian Sherman AM 2012
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Adam Cullen

Adam Cullen (1965-2012), painter, studied art in Sydney from 1986 to 1999, when he obtained his master’s degree in fine arts from the University of New South Wales.

8 portraits in the collection

Jiawei Shen, 2006

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Phyllis Shillito

Phyllis Shillito (1895-1980), designer and teacher, grew up in Yorkshire and trained and taught at Halifax Technical School before moving to teach design, craft and principles of art at Winchester School of Art and Liverpool City School of Art.

1 portrait 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

Arthur and Ria Murch, 1945

Margaret Michaelis

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Andrew Bonneau

Tasmanian-born Andrew Bonneau (b. 1981) lives and works in Cairns, Queensland.

2 portraits in the collection

Tim Storrier

Portrait, watercolour on paper

Tim Storrier AM (b. 1949), painter, studied at the National Art School from 1967 to 1969.

4 portraits in the collection

Marion Borgelt, 2001

Cherry Hood

Gift of Marion Borgelt 2022. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

A bond of friendship

Magazine article by Yvonne Audette AM, 2005

Australia's major abstract painter Yvonne Audette discusses her portrait of sculptor Robert Kippel.

Alan Jones

Alan Jones (b. 1977), artist, completed an advanced diploma of fine arts at the National Art School, Sydney, in 1997.

1 portrait in the collection

Lewis Miller

More about In the flesh artists

Lewis Miller (b. 1959), artist, won the Archibald Prize in 1998 with one of his many portraits of fellow artist Allan Mitelman, and has been a finalist seventeen times.

4 portraits in the collection

Robin Eley

Robin Eley studied Fine Arts at Westmont College, USA and began his career as a professional illustrator. Eley was a finalist in the Eutick Memorial Still Life Prize in 2010 and his work was Highly Commended in the Doug Moran Portrait Prize in 2010 and 2011.

Yvonne East

Yvonne East was born in Meningie in regional South Australia and studied art at the University of South Australia, Adelaide, and the University of New South Wales, Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

Hugo at home (Hugo Weaving), 2011

Nicholas Harding

Archived media releases 2016

Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2012

Pets of all types take over the National Portrait Gallery

3 November 2016

It is not every day that a national gallery turns its walls over to the animal companions that bring unconditional love and joy to their owners but this summer we have opened the doors to 15 contemporary artists with very different ways of depicting our furry, feathered and scaled pets.

Sir Ivor Hele

Sir Ivor Hele (1912–1993) was born in Adelaide and studied art at Prince Alfred College and the South Australian School of Arts and, later, in Paris and Munich.

3 portraits in the collection

Judy Cassab, 1984

Lewis Morley

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

Ray Crooke AM

Ray Crooke AM grew up in Melbourne, where after army service in WA, North Queensland and Borneo, he trained at Swinburne Tech from 1946 to 1948.

3 portraits in the collection

Andrew Sibley

More about In the flesh artists

Andrew Sibley (1933–2015), painter and teacher, is known for his figurative paintings, landscapes and abstract works.

20 portraits in the collection

Michael Peck

Born in Melbourne in 1977, Michael Peck has a Bachelor of Fine Art (honours) (Painting) from Monash University. He has exhibited as a solo artist since 1998, when he won the National Gallery of Victoria’s Trustees Award.

Graeme Inson

Graeme Inson (1923–2000), artist and teacher, was born in Cootamundra, New South Wales and educated at Canberra Grammar School.

6 portraits in the collection

The Witching Hour - Elena Kats-Chernin, 2017

Wendy Sharpe

Purchased with the assistance of funds provided by the Circle of Friends 2018

Study for "Barry Humphries in the character of Mrs Everage", 1969

John Brack

Portrait, pencil, charcoal and paper collage on paper

Gift of Timothy Fairfax AC 2012. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Study for "Portrait of the artist as an evolving landscape", 1991

James Gleeson

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Ray Wilson OAM in memory of James Agapitos OAM 2011
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Abdul Abdullah

Artists and Collectives

Abdul Abdullah, a multi-disciplinary artist identifying as a Muslim and with both Malay/Indonesian and convict/settler Australian heritage, explores concepts of the ‘other’ in his highly distinctive practice based on Gadigal Country.

Designing the ideal marriage

Devotion

Deep foundations, shared vision

Sketch of Clifton Pugh painting John Perceval

Sketch of Clifton Pugh painting John Perceval, 1985

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2016

John Caldwell

John Caldwell, (b.1942) is best known as a painter of landscapes in watercolour, began painting in 1969 while living in London.

2 portraits in the collection

Ivy Shore, 1961

Graeme Inson

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Harvey and Russell Shore 2014

John Longstaff

Sir John Longstaff, born in Clunes, Victoria, studied at the NGV school from 1883 to 1887 and thenceforth at Corman's in Paris.

1 portrait in the collection

Dr Edward MacMahon, 1959

Gift of the MacMahon family in affectionate memory of Edward MacMahon and William Dobell 2015. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Deidre But-Husaim

Deidre But-Husaim (b. 1959), based in Adelaide, South Australia, undertook her formative art study at the Adelaide Central School of Art, where she has since taught painting.

2 portraits in the collection

Deborah Mailman, 1999

Evert Ploeg

Portrait, oil on jute

Purchased 2000

Peter Hudson

Peter Hudson (b. 1950), is a landscape and portrait painter who lives and works in Maleny, Queensland.

5 portraits in the collection

Andrew Mezei

Portrait, oil on wood panel

Andrew Mezei (b. 1963), artist, was born to Hungarian refugee parents in Melbourne and grew up in their leather-goods workshop, observing their adherence to a tradition of fine European craftsmanship.

1 portrait in the collection

Self portrait, late 1930s

Sir William Dargie CBE

Gift of L Gordon Darling AC CMG in recognition of Sir William Dargie's role in the establishment of the National Gallery of Australia 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Study for John Bell as King Lear, 1998-2001

Nicholas Harding

Portrait, ink, charcoal and conté on paper

Gift of the artist 2010. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Reg Richardson AM, 2014

Mitch Cairns

Purchased with funds provided by the Circle of Friends 2015

Tim Storrier, 1995

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

Donald Cameron

Donald Cameron (1927-2018), Melbourne-born painter and teacher, attended Scotch College before beginning work as an engraver for the Commonwealth Bank in 1943.

2 portraits in the collection

Jean Isherwood OAM

Portrait, pencil and oil on canvas laid on chipboard

Jean Isherwood OAM (1911–2006), artist, was born in Marrickville and won a scholarship to the National Art School at East Sydney Technical College at the age of fourteen.

1 portrait in the collection

Zelman Cowen, c. 1977

Ray Crooke AM

Gift of David Crooke 2011. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Our only concern is the void, 2013 by Nik Lee, video: 12 minutes

Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award media information

28 August 2013

Archived media releases 2013

The National Portrait Gallery recently announced the finalists for the Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award 2013.

Max Meldrum, c. 1937

Previous exhibition, 1999

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

The Possibilities of Portraiture

What does 'portraiture mean at the end of the 20th century? At the outset of building a national portrait collection it seems an appropriate question to investigate.

Sir Leslie Herron, 1969

Esme Bell

Gift of Susan Crawford OAM 2016

Brett Whiteley - portrait 2, 1975

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

Nora Heysen with her dog sitting outside her home, Hunters Hill, Sydney

Nora Heysen AM

Nora Heysen, AM (1911-2003), fourth child of South Australian landscape painter Sir Hans Heysen, grew up in Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills.

9 portraits in the collection

Portrait of Professor Graeme Clark, 2000

Peter Wegner

Portrait, graphite on paper

Gift of the family of Professor Graeme Clark 2001. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Harold Holt, n.d.

Louis Kahan AO

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Lily Kahan 2017
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Michael with beetroot sprouting, 2008

Janet Dawson

Portrait, pastel on paper

Purchased 2015

Jiawei Shen, 2011

Gary Grealy

Purchased with funds provided by Dr Gene Sherman AM 2016

Bryan Westwood

Bryan Westwood (1930-2000) was a painter and printmaker who twice won the Archibald Prize, for his portrait of artist and critic Elwyn Lynn (1989) and of the then Prime Minister, Paul Keating (1992).

10 portraits in the collection

Lady Knox, c. 1927-1929

W B McInnes

Gift of Mrs Caroline Philippa Parker 2005. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Professor Penny Sackett, astronomer and physicist

Professor Penny Sackett, astronomer and physicist, 2011

Andrew Mezei

Purchased 2012

Portrait of Alex Dimitriades, 2005

Michael Zavros

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

Wes Walters

Wes Walters (1928-2014), painter, studied architecture in Geelong and art at the Ballarat School of Mines before embarking on a successful career as a freelance commercial artist in 1950.

3 portraits in the collection

John Olsen - En plein air, 1996

More about In the flesh artists

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

Natasha Bieniek

Born in Melbourne, Natasha Bieniek began her formal artistic training at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2002. Bieniek’s When the music’s over (2006) won the Nino Sanciolo Art Prize, a painting scholarship to study at the Accademia d’Arte in Florence, where she learnt the ancient technique of egg tempera.

Self portrait, between 1951 and 1953

Janet Dawson

Portrait, oil on cardboard

Gift of the artist 2000

A potpourri of portraits

Magazine article by Natalie Wilson, 2023

Archie 100 curator (and detective) Natalie Wilson’s nationwide search for Archibald portraits unearthed the fascinating stories behind some long-lost treasures.

Catherine Livingstone, 2018

by Mathew Lynn

Archived media releases 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2018

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.

All in the Family

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2002

Portrait launch of Major-General Paul Cullen AC CBE DSO and Bar ED (Rtd) and George Judah Cohen.

David Campbell

David Campbell (1952–1984) decided to become an artist while a student at Erina High on the New South Wales Central Coast.

3 portraits in the collection

Roslyn, 2016

Sally Ross

Purchased 2017

Stan de Teliga, 1973

Vaike Liibus

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Liibus family 2015

John Hamilton, 1969

Meg Padgham

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John Hamilton 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

The sculptor (George Lambert and Arthur Murch)

The sculptor (George Lambert and Arthur Murch), c. 1929

Harold Cazneaux

Purchased 2015

Pamela Thalben-Ball

Pamela Thalben-Ball (1927–2012), daughter of the artist Evelyn Chapman, studied art at the Heatherley Art School in London from 1946 to 1950.

2 portraits in the collection

Peter Sculthorpe, 1982

Eric Smith

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2004

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, 2009

Guido Maestri

Gift of the artist 2011. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Max Cullen

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Max Cullen (b. 1940), actor and artist, trained in art in Sydney in the 1950s, worked as a commercial artist and illustrator for some years, and has continued to exhibit solo and in group shows including the Archibald, Blake and Sulman Prizes.

1 portrait in the collection

Two people at a bench covered in sheets of paper in a room with a wooden floor and a large brown couch

Kate Beynon

Artists and Collectives

Born in Hong Kong, Naarm/Melbourne-based artist Kate Beynon builds from the cultural legacy of her familial ancestry and experience to envision hybrid personas, identities, worlds and mythologies.

Patrick McCaughey, 1985

Fred Cress

Gift of the artist 2005. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Sigrid Thornton, 2000

Andrew Sibley

Portrait, oil and hand-stitching on canvas

Purchased 2010

James Morrison with flugelhorn, 1994

Kerrie Lester

Purchased 1999. Courtesy of the Corrigan family and Stuart Purves.

Louis Kahan AO

Louis Kahan (1905-2002) was born in Vienna, Austria to Jewish parents.

63 portraits in the collection

Self portrait, 2005

Portrait, charcoal on paper

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

Study for portrait of Les Murray, 1995

David Naseby

Gift of the artist 2001

Nell, 2008

Abbey McCulloch

Portrait, oil and charcoal on canvas

Gift of Nell Schofield 2020. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Self portrait, 1999

Portrait, drypoint on paper

Gift of the artist 2005. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

The Honourable Chief Justice Susan Kiefel AC

The Honourable Chief Justice Susan Kiefel AC, 2018

Yvonne East

Gift of the artist 2019 acknowledging Herbert Smith Freehills for supporting the creation of the portrait

Lady [Hannah] Lloyd Jones, 1970

Gift of Charles E. Lloyd Jones and Kim Lloyd Jones 2019. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Kate Fitzpatrick, 1978 (printed 2017)

Robert McFarlane

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2017

Self portrait with Bottlebrush, 1991

Margaret Olley AC

Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC and the Sid and Fiona Myer Family Foundation 2021

Margaret Seares, 2018

by Cherry Hood

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

Hong Fu

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on cabinet card

Hong Fu was born in China in 1946 and held his first solo exhibition at the National Art Gallery, Beijing, in 1988.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait of Henry Kendall, c. 1890-1894

S. Milbourn Jnr

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Dame Elizabeth Couchman, n.d.

Aileen Dent

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Susan Webster, step-granddaughter of Dame Elizabeth Couchman, 2015

Manning Clark, 1985

Portrait, coloured chalk on artist board

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

Lieutenant Colonel Kathleen A. L. Best, 1943-1944

Charles Wheeler

Purchased 2019

Dr Joseph Brown with Two Typists, 1996

Noel McKenna

Portrait, enamel on canvas

Gift of the artist 2021. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Dr Julie Dowling

Julie Dowling, an artist of Badimaya, Irish and Scottish Catholic heritage, was born in Subiaco, Western Australia and grew up in nearby urban and semi-rural areas.

2 portraits in the collection

Margaret Olley, 1991

Portrait, encaustic on canvas

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

(Margaret Whitlam) by the strength of her skin

(Margaret Whitlam) by the strength of her skin, 1998

Kim Spooner

Gift of the artist 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Getting a head

Magazine article by Alexandra Roginski, 2015

Alexandra Roginski gets a feel for phrenology’s fundamentals.

Portrait of Susan Crennan, 2017

Lewis Miller

Gift of the Hon. Susan Crennan AC KC 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

George Lambert

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint and red ochre on canvas

George Lambert (1873–1930), artist, was born in St Petersburg and lived in Germany and England before coming to Australia with his family at the age of fourteen.

7 portraits in the collection

Richard Walley, 2015

Dr Julie Dowling

Commissioned with funds provided by Neil Archibald and Alan R. Dodge AM, Brandon and Angela Munro, Dr Walter Ong and Graeme Marshall 2015

Charles Teo, 2012

Adam Chang (Hong Jun Zhang)

Gift of Eleonora Triguboff 2013

Neil Armfield (study), 2010

Portrait, oil and synthetic polymer paint on linen

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2010

Adam (Adam Goodes), 2014

Alan Jones

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2015. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Jiawei Shen

Jiawei Shen (b. 1948), artist, was born in China in 1948 and began to gain recognition as a painter during the Cultural Revolution.

13 portraits in the collection

Neil Armfield (study), 2010

Portrait, spray paint on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2010

Neil Armfield (study), 2010

Portrait, spray paint on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2010

Considering Persephone - Gay Bilson, 2009

Leeanne Crisp

Portrait, watercolour on paper

Purchased with funds provided by Jan and Gary Whyte, Brian and Barbara Crisp, Gloria Kurtze, Jonathon Mills and Lawsoft Pty Ltd 2011

Robert Hannaford AM

Robert Hannaford AM (b. 1944), a largely self-taught artist, grew up on his family farm near the small South Australian town of Riverton before working as political cartoonist for the Adelaide Advertiser from 1964 to 1967.

6 portraits in the collection

Mickey Johnson

Mickey Johnson (1834-1906) was an Indigenous leader in the Illawarra district of New South Wales during the second half of the nineteenth century.

1 portrait in the collection

Simon Tedeschi

Simon Tedeschi (b. 1981), award-winning classical pianist, grew up in Sydney, and essentially abandoned his school lessons as an adolescent to concentrate on his piano studies with Neta Maughan.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Zelman Cowen, 2000

Wes Walters

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Marc Besen AO and Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE 2000

Henry Kendall

Henry (Thomas Henry) Kendall (1839-1882) was once regarded as the finest poet Australia had produced.

1 portrait in the collection

David Armstrong, B.A., B. Phil., 1959

Clifton Pugh AO

Gift of Jennifer Armstrong 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Sir George Coles, 1935

W B McInnes

Infamy, the macabre & the portrait

Gift of Coles Myer Ltd 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Sideshow Alley

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.

Elaine Haxton

Portrait, type C photograph on paper

Elaine Haxton (1909-1999), painter, graphic artist and theatre designer, grew up in Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

Dichotomia, Barry Otto, 2008

Peter Brew-Bevan

Gift of the artist 2010

Michael Zavros

Previous exhibition, 2014

Michael Zavros (b. 1974) graduated from Queensland College of Art with a Bachelor of Visual Arts in 1996.

2 portraits in the collection

Rick Amor

21 Portraits

Rick Amor, noblest yet most unaffected of contemporary Australian portraitists, is also a painter of enigmatic, ominous landscapes, seascapes and cityscapes that haunt the viewer like dreams, dimly-recalled.

In the mirror: self portrait with Joy Hester

Depth of Field

Portrait Photography from the Collection

Over the last five years the National Portrait Gallery has developed a collection of portrait photographs that reflects both the strength and diversity of Australian achievement as well as the talents of our photographers.

William Macleod

William Macleod, artist and magazine proprietor, attended the Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts as a young teenager and saw his first illustration published in 1866.

4 portraits in the collection

Richard Morecroft & Alison Mackay, 2016

Gary Grealy

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2018

Michael Peck

Michael Peck, artist and academic, was born in Melbourne in 1977; he was awarded a Bachelor of Fine Art (honours) (Painting) from Monash University and has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions since 1998.

1 portrait in the collection

Jon Molvig

Helge Jon Molvig was born and grew up in Newcastle, where he left school at thirteen and worked in a garage and at the steelworks.

6 portraits in the collection

Janet Dawson

When soulmates Janet Dawson and Michael Boddy moved from Sydney to a property, Boddy was clear about why: ‘Our marriage is one long conversation - we moved to the bush so we could talk to each other without so many interruptions.’

Portrait of Kenneth Rowell, 1967

David Strachan

Previous exhibition, 2009

Gift of Margaret Olley 2002. Transferred from the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

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.

Geoff Cousins, 2017

David Naseby

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on composition board

Gift of Geoff Cousins AM 2007

Professor Harry Messel, 1973

Louis Kahan AO

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Lily Kahan 2006
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Recollections of a sinologist sitter

Magazine article by Professor Stephen FitzGerald AO, 2016

Professor Stephen Fitzgerald, Australia’s first Ambassador to China, traces the historical course from sino-australian cultural engagement to a maturing Australian identity.

Clifton Pugh

Australians

Previous exhibition, 2005

This exhibition offers a comprehensive display of Clifton Pugh's portraits revealing his development and growth from tonal paintings to a unique style that was in demand from politicians, artists, academics and Australian personalities.

Jessie Street, 1929

Reginald Jerrold-Nathan

Gift of the Street family and the Jessie Street National Women's Library 2010

Wesley Enoch and David McAllister, 2020

Peter Brew-Bevan

Purchased with funds provided by Alan Dodge AM and Neil Archibald 2021

Robert Campbell Jnr

Robert Campbell Junior, urban Aboriginal artist, was a Ngaku/Dhunghutti man who grew up in Kempsey, New South Wales.

1 portrait in the collection

Donors

$10,000 - $49,999

Honour board

Alex Miller, 1992

Magazine article by Diana Warnes, 2007

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

Oz and beyond

Martin Sharp fulfils the Pop art idiom of merging art and life.

Portrait of HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark

Portrait of HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, 2005

Jiawei Shen

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint and charcoal on unstretched canvas

Commissioned with funds provided by Mary Isabel Murphy 2005

Portrait 68

Summer 2022/23

Magazine

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.

Faith Bandler, study, 2006

Greg Warburton

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2019
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Wendy Sharpe, 2000

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

Clifton Pugh AO

Clifton Pugh AO was one of Australia’s best-known artists of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and one of its leading advocates for the arts.

11 portraits in the collection

Fred Hilmer, 2018

by Evert Ploeg

Commissioned with funds provided by Dr Helen Nugent AO 2018

Janet Dawson

Janet Dawson (b. 1935), painter, printer, teacher and stage designer, is known for her contribution to abstract art in Australia.

10 portraits in the collection

Portrait of Leslie Walford, 1970s

Vaike Liibus

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Sally Hardy 2019

Wendy Sharpe

Portrait, oil on Belgian linen

Wendy Sharpe undertook art studies in Sydney between 1978 and 1984 and held her first solo exhibition at the Nicholson Street Gallery in 1985.

3 portraits in the collection

Portrait of Jerry Ellis, 1999

Lewis Miller

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

David Dridan OAM

David Dridan (b. 1932), artist, studied at the South Australian School of Art and later at East Sydney Technical College.

1 portrait in the collection

Neville Gruzman, 1968

Eric Smith

Self Portraits in Australia

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2007

To Look Within

Portrait, oil on composition board

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

Study of Archbishop Daniel Mannix, 1962

Clifton Pugh AO

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005

John Vickery

Archived media releases 2014

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

Rick Amor 21 Portraits

20 November 2014

Press releases and image downloads for media.

Courage, Self-analysis and Skill

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2002

The story behind George Lambert's Self-portrait with Gladioli.

Self portrait, 1934

Nora Heysen AM

Purchased 1999

Sir Colin Syme, 1970

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on composition board

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

Portrait of David Dridan, 1992

Brian Dunlop

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of David Dridan OAM 2017

Sir Ian McLennan, c. 1978

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

J.C. Williamson, c. 1913

John Longstaff

Significant Australian Women 1913–2013

Gift of the family of Aimée Viola Horsley, daughter of J.C. Williamson 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

First Ladies

Previous exhibition, 2013

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

Grow the Portrait Gallery of Australia

9 June 2016

Archived media releases 2016

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

Be bold

Magazine article by Katherine Russell, 2007

The name of Florence Broadhurst, one of Australia’s most significant wallpaper and textile designers, is now firmly cemented in the canon of Australian art and design.

Richard Walley OAM honoured in new Portrait Gallery commission

2 September 2015

Archived media releases 2015

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

Mervyn Horton, 1964

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint and oil on canvas

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

Caroline Jones, 1978

David Campbell

Gift of Elizabeth Campbell-MacKenzie on behalf of the family of David Campbell 2012

Sir Ian Potter, 1973

Portrait, oil on composition board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Lady Primrose Potter 2006
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Nicholas Harding

28 Portraits

Previous exhibition, 2017

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.

Sir Donald Bradman, 1990

Bill Leak

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

David Combe and the portrait, 1983

Keith Looby

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of David Combe 1998
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Arthur Murch

Magazine article by Jenny Sages, 2015

Arthur Murch, artist, is best-known as a painter in a colourful cubistic style, but he was occupied with sculpture throughout his career.

8 portraits in the collection

Observation point

Australian artist and Archibald Prize winner, Jenny Sages reflects on her work.

Sketch for portrait of Justin O'Brien, 1980

Portrait, oil with fibre-tipped pen underdrawing on composition board

Gift of the Margaret Olley Art Trust 2002

Jenny Sages

Paths to Portraiture

Previous exhibition, 2010

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

Caroline Chisholm

Magazine article by Blak Douglas, 2023

Caroline Chisholm (1808–1877), philanthropist and political agitator, spent almost two decades working to improve conditions for immigrants to Australia.

2 portraits in the collection

hey, Betty (Portrait of Betty Churcher), 1990

Davida Allen

Portrait, oil on plywood

Gift of the artist 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Moby Dickens, 2022 Blak Douglas (Dunghutti, South-east region)

Why portraiture?

Blak Douglas reflects on his experiences, process and motivation for making portraits.

Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (future Queen Elizabeth II)

Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (future Queen Elizabeth II), 1942-1943

Charles Wheeler

Portrait, coloured chalk on artist board

Purchased 2019

Making Portraits

Five Years of National Portrait Gallery Commissions

The considered matching of artist to subject has produced an amazing collection of unique and original works in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery

Mark Strizic

A Journey in Photography

Portrait, engraving on paper

This exhibition traces the creative output of nearly 50 years by one of Australia's landmark living photographers.

Portrait of Caroline Chisholm, c. 1851

an unknown artist

Purchased 2001

Primed

Some Prime Ministers

Previous exhibition, 2019

Seventeen of Australia’s thirty prime ministers to date are represented in the contrasting sizes, moods and mediums of these portraits.

Hon Tom Hughes KC, 2001

Jiawei Shen

Commissioned with funds provided by Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull 2003

Robert Dessaix, 1998

Robert Hannaford AM

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2016

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Robert Dessaix 2000
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Dr Edward MacMahon, 1959 by William Dobell

Bill and Ted's excellent portrait.

Sarah Engledow on Messrs Dobell and MacMahon and the art of friendship.

Twin chics

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2021

Joanna Gilmour on the exuberant union of fashion pioneers Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson, captured in luminescent splendour by artist Carla Fletcher.

James Macpherson Grant, c. 1870s

Paterson Brothers

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John McPhee 2018

Uncommon Australians

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.

Li Cunxin, 2017–2018

by Jun Chen

Portraits in the Landscape

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2018

Open Air

Previous exhibition, 2008

Open Air is an exhibition of portraits of Australians in environments of particular significance to them.

Painters' paradise

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2007

Andrew Sayers feels the warmth in the paintings Matthew Perceval made while the sun shone in southern France.

Andrew Sayers AM

Previous exhibition, 2023

Andrew Sayers AM (1957–2015) was inaugural Director of the National Portrait Gallery.

1 portrait in the collection

Time and light

In Gallery Seven

This sample of 56 photographs takes in some of the smallest photographs we own and some of the largest, some of the earliest and some of the most recent, as well as multiple photographic processes from daguerreotypes to digital media.

Andrew Sayers, 2012

Mark Mohell

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, selenium toned on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2013

Self-portrait with guardian spirits, 2009-2010 Kate Beynon

Kate Beynon’s transcultural life and art

Photographic Portraits from 19th Century Australia

Phoebe Lupton profiles artist Kate Beynon, whose contemplative self portrait features in Archie 100: A Century of the Archibald Prize.

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and his wife Theresa

Husbands and Wives

Previous exhibition, 2010

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

Ronald Dale Barassi, 2000

Lewis Miller

Previous exhibition, 2010

Gift of the artist 2007. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Australian of the Year

Inspiring a Nation

The Australian of the Year Awards have often provoked controversy about who is selected and whether their achievements are remarkable.

Chandler P. Coventry AM

Chandler Phillip Coventry AM (1924–1999), grazier, gallerist, art collector and arts patron, was born in Armidale, New South Wales to an established New England grazing family.

1 portrait in the collection

Martin Sharp, 1986

Garry Shead

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2009

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2004
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Where the wild things are

Michael Desmond explores the complex portrait of Dr Bob Brown by Harold 'The Kangaroo' Thornton.

Portrait story

Magazine article by Vincent Fantauzzo, 2022

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

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.

Donated duo

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite

Dr Sarah Engledow writes about the gift of two striking paintings by the Australian artist Ken Done AM.

William Robertson, 1866

Thomas Adams Hill

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Malcolm Robertson in memory of William Thomas Robertson 2018
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Richard Tognetti #1510, 2018

by Louise Hearman

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2005

Commissioned with funds provided by Peter Weiss AO 2018

Friends and Acquaintances

Dr. Sarah Engledow discusses a collection of drawings and prints by the Victorian artist Rick Amor acquired in 2005.

Davida Allen

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2015

Going around a gallery with a child, we point to a painting of a dog and brightly ask ‘What’s that?’ If they don’t say ‘A dog’, we tell them that’s what it is. We don’t say it’s a shape inscribed by an artist that’s popularly understood to signify a dog. That’d only serve to foster a smarty-pants.

A surface against which we can move, 2014 by Sam Leach

No small wonder

Joanna Gilmour describes how artist Sam Leach works on a small scale to grand effect.

Yolngu boy

Magazine article by Ashleigh Wadman, 2011

Guy Maestri’s portrait of the musician was conceived after the artist saw Gurrumul perform in Sydney on New Year’s Eve 2008.

Capturing the Mouse

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2004

Nancy Wake AC (b. 1912), one of the most decorated women of World War 2, earned the name the 'White Mouse' for her maddening ability to evade the Gestapo.

Home and away

Magazine article by Sandra Bruce, 2022

Sir William Dobell painted the portraits of Sir Charles Lloyd Jones and Sir Hudson Fysh, who did much to promote the image of Australia in this country and abroad.

Unboxed

Sandra Bruce explores a new acquisition that has within it a story of interconnectivities in the Australian art world.

Nicholas Paspaley Jnr, 2018

by Andrew Bonneau

Magazine article by Michelle Fracaro, 2003

Commissioned with funds provided by Ross Adler AC 2018

The Secret Life of Deb

Australian actress Deborah Mailman is the subject of a unique portrait by Evert Ploeg.

The Seekers reunite 50 years on, 2011

Helen Edwards

Portrait, synthetic polymer on linen

Gift of Judith Durham, Athol Guy, Keith Potger and Bruce Woodley 2012. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Shen Jiawei

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2010

Shen Jiawei was born in China. During the Cultural Revolution he laboured in the Great Northern Wilderness, but even as he worked there, he gained recognition as an artist.

Undercurrent

Dr Sarah Engledow writes about the portraiture of Australian artist Nicholas Harding.

William Robinson

Unique in the world, perhaps, is a bronze sculpture that fuses the age-old human portrait bronze tradition, and the later genre of the bronze pug figurine: that’d be William Robinson’s Self-portrait with pug.

Dr Brown and Green Old Time Waltz, 1983

Harold Thornton

Gift of the Estate of Harold Thornton 2009

Gail Kelly, 2018

by Paul Newton

Magazine article by Helene Ladomirska, 2006

Commissioned with funds provided by Westpac Group and Optus 2018

A quiet moment

As Bryan Westwood’s portrait of Brian Dunlop hangs adjacent to Brian Dunlop’s portrait of the philanthropist Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE, we see the artist of one work as the subject of the other.

Now Listen...

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2005

Artist Tessa Jones recalls creating her portrait of Daddy Cool and Mondo Rock singer and music producer, Ross Wilson.

Self Portrait with sun damage, 2014 by Andrew Sayers.

At easel

Magazine article by Tim Bonyhady, 2016

Tim Bonyhady recalls his experience as sitter for his close friend and former National Portrait Gallery Director, the late Andrew Sayers.

Lovers of light

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2008

Dr Sarah Engledow traces the significant links between Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo and Evelyn Chapman through their portraits.

Equation of a life - a portrait of Professor Derek Denton

Equation of a life – a portrait of Derek Denton

9 September 2016

Archived media releases 2016

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

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.

Pigeon coup

Magazine article by Christine Clark, 2006

Glenn McGrath makes a strong impact on the English batsmen and the walls of the National Portrait Gallery.

True fella

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2011

Michael Desmond profiles the Australian songwriter and performer Neil Murray and his contribution to Australian music.

The Writer: Peter Goldsworthy, 2018

by Deidre But-Husaim

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2010

Commissioned with funds provided by Jillian Broadbent AO and Dr Helen Nugent AO 2018.

Figurative foundation

Joanna Gilmour explores the life and art of the Australian artist Janet Dawson.

A Pioneering Life

Magazine article by Lauren Dalla, 2005

During her time in Australian politics, Dame Nancy Buttfield was an impressive advocate for equality for women and was responsible for ending the marriage bar for women in the Public Service.

Mal Meninga, 2018

by Peter Hudson

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2006

Commissioned with funds provided by Maliganis Edwards Johnson and Alan Dodge AM 2018

Her Excellency Marjorie Jackson-Nelson AC CVO MBE

Spikes: then and now

As part of its ongoing program of commissions of portraits of prominent Australians, the National Portrait Gallery has unveiled a portrait of Her Excellency Marjorie Jackson-Nelson by South Australian artist Avril Thomas.

Portrait of a patron

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2007

A new painting by Jiawei Shen captures the vision and resolve of the Gallery's founder, L. Gordon Darling AC CMG.

Vintage Cassab

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2006

The oil portrait of Sir Frank Packer KBE by Judy Cassab was gifted to the National Portrait Gallery in 2006.

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.

General Birdwood, the Idol of Anzac, taking a dip in the sea after a hard days work 1915

In the thick of it

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2010

Projecting the splendour of the empire, and the resolve of its subjects, the bust of William Birdwood keeps a stiff upper lip in the National Portrait Gallery.

Une Femme Amoureuse, Self portrait as Mireille Mathieu, 2022 Yvette Coppersmith

You, looking at me

Magazine article by Elspeth Pitt, 2022

Elspeth Pitt chats with Archibald Prize-winning artist Yvette Coppersmith about performance, coincidences and the intersection of art and life.

A guy from Paris

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2018

Sarah Engledow on a foundational gallery figure who was quick on the draw.

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.

Andrew Sayers AM FAHA

13 October 2015

Archived media releases 2015

The Chairman, Board, Director and staff mourn the loss of the National Portrait Gallery's inaugural director.

My father-in-law watering his garden, 1986 by Davida Allen

Lovingly observed

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2017

Sarah Engledow previews the beguiling summer exhibition, Idle hours.

Through thick and thin

Sarah Engledow likes the manifold mediums of Nicholas Harding’s portraiture.

Australian Princess

Magazine article by Katherine Russell, 2005

The full-length portrait of HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark by artist Jiawei Shen, has become a destination piece for visitors.

Worth her salt

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2009

Jerrold Nathan's portrait of Jessie Street shows the elegant side of a many-faceted lady.

200 Years of Portraiture

Magazine article by Jane Raffan, 2013

To celebrate his family bicentenary, Malcolm Robertson looks at the portraiture legacy left by his ancestors.

All dressed up

Jane Raffan asks do clothes make the portrait, and can the same work with a new title fetch a better price?

Someone to watch over you

Magazine article by Carrie Kibbler, 2013

Carrie Kibbler looks at how portraiture fits into the Australian Artbank Collection.

A sketch for some portraits

Magazine article by Judith Pugh, 2005

Judith Pugh reflects on Clifton Pugh's approach to portrait making.

Anatomist's eye

Magazine article by Diana Warnes, 2016

Robert Hannaford has completed around 400 portraits over the span of his career.

Depth of Field

Magazine article by Lauren Dalla, 2004

The exhibition Depth of Field displays a selection of portrait photographs that reflect the strength and diversity of Australian achievement.

Earth to earth

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2013

Dr Sarah Engledow discusses the recent gift of works by David Campbell.

The Philosophy of Teapots and Ducks

Magazine article by Gillian Raymond, 2005

Cartoonist Michael Leunig's insights into the human condition and current affairs have become famous Australia-wide.

Wicked but Virtuous

Faith Stellmaker shares pioneering artist and restaurateur Mirka Mora’s lasting legacy on Melbourne’s art, dining and culture.

Reflections

Magazine article by Gideon Haigh, 2009

All that fall: Sacrifice, life and loss in the First World War exhibition co-curators Dr Anne Sanders and Dr Christopher Chapman reflect on the evolution of the Gallery’s Anzac Centenary exhibition.

Top shot that

Gideon Haigh discusses portraits of Australian cricketers from the early 20th century

School portraits

Magazine article by Emeritus Professor Jaynie Anderson AM, 2015

Inga Walton sheds light on a portraiture collection usually only seen by students and teachers at Melbourne University.

Sitter still

Jaynie Anderson reflects on her experience as sitter for Reshid Bey’s 1962 portrait.

The news from Washington

Magazine article by Lauretta Morton, 2006

Australia's former Cultural Attache to the USA, Ron Ramsey, describes the mood at the opening week of the revitalised American National Portrait Gallery.

Melbourne experience

Magazine article by Diana Warnes, 2007

Diana Warnes explores the lives of Hal and Katherine 'Kate' Hattam through their portraits painted by Fred Williams and Clifton Pugh.

History

About us

How the National Portrait Gallery and its unique collection came to be

Seduce, Amuse, Entertain

NPPP 2007 exhibition essay

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2007

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

Seduce Amuse Entertain

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

Charlie's angles

Magazine article by Stephen Phillips, 2017

Stephen Phillips talks to neurosurgeon Charlie Teo about his practice, perspectives and the anatomy of hope.

Rick Amor: 21 Portraits

Sarah Engledow chronicles Rick Amor's work and accomplishments in this extensive essay in conjunction with the exhibition Rick Amor: 21 Portraits.

Nicholas Harding: 28 Portraits

Exhibition essay

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2010

Sarah Engledow looks at three decades of Nicholas Harding's portraiture.

Each morning when I wake up I put on my mothers face, 2000

Paths to portraiture

The life and art of Australian artist Jenny Sages is on display in the exhibition Paths to Portraiture.

Washington preview

Magazine article by Lauretta Morton, 2005

Ron Ramsey, former Director of Cultural Relations at the Embassy of Australia interviewed NPG Washington Director, Marc Pachter, about their building renovations.

Mental as everything

Magazine article by Diana Warnes, 2006

Chris O'Doherty, also known as Reg Mombassa, is best-known for his Mambo imagery but he also paints a lot of self portraits.

Pop poet

Magazine article by Dr Anne Sanders, 2013

Dr Anne Sanders previews the works in the new focus exhibition Paul Kelly and The Portraits.

Adam’s Prize Apples

Magazine article by Pamela Gerrish Nunn, 2016

Pamela Gerrish Nunn explores New Zealand’s premium award for portraiture.

Ms Anna Burke MP, Speaker of the House of Representatives 2015 by Jude Rae

Hired guns, bounty hunters and horse whisperers

Magazine article by Jude Rae, 2016

Jude Rae contemplates the portrait commission.

Dupain detective

Magazine article by Johanna McMahon, 2019

Johanna McMahon revels in history and mystery in pursuit of a suite of unknown portrait subjects.

Studio portrait of servicewoman Lance Corporal Kathleen Jean Mary (Kath) Walker, c.1942

Past present

Magazine article by Krysia Kitch, 2016

Krysia Kitch celebrates Oodgeroo Noonuccal.

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.

Some prime ministers

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2019

Sarah Engledow explores the history of the prime ministers and artists featured in the exhibition.

Helen Blaxland judging flower arrangements, c. 1940s photographer unknown

Petal to the mettle

Sarah Engledow lauds the very civil service of Dame Helen Blaxland.

Heartfelt

Magazine article by Sandra Bruce, 2021

The portrait of Janet and Horace Keats with the spirit of the poet Christopher Brennan is brought to life by artist Dora Toovey.

Splendid, many-splendoured

Sandra Bruce gazes on love and the portrait through Australian Love Stories’ multi-faceted prism.

Women make history

Magazine article by Jennifer Higgie, 2022

Jennifer Higgie uncovers the intriguing stories behind portraits of women by women in the National Portrait Gallery’s collection.

‘Untitled’ - Yellow Kangaroo Paw, 2008 by Christian Thompson

The 'I' in Indigenous art

Magazine article by Jane Raffan, 2013

Jane Raffan examines unique styles of Indigenous portraiture that challenge traditional Western concepts of the artform.

Flesh, figure and rock

Magazine article by Aimee Board, 2018

Aimee Board traces Judy Cassab’s path to the Australian outback, arriving at the junction of inspiration and abstraction.

What price self?

Magazine article by Jane Raffan, 2013

Jane Raffan investigates auction sales of self portraits nationally and internationally.

Lucy Culliton

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2013

Most well-regarded pictures of chickens show them dead. A reliable way to tell if a chicken in a painting is dead is to check if it’s hanging upside down, because unlike, say, cockatoos, chickens don’t practise inversion for enjoyment in life.

Woman with Fair Hair and Pink Cardigan, 1949 by John Perceval.

The family scene

Magazine article, 2016

Traudi Allen discovers sensitivity, humour and fine draughtsmanship in the portraiture of John Perceval.

Patrick White at Centennial Park, 1979–1980

Listomania

Sarah Engledow describes the fall-out once Brett Whiteley stuck Patrick White’s list of his loves and hates onto his great portrait of the writer.

Nicholas Harding