Bernard Smith (1916-2011) was one of Australia's most important twentieth-century art historians and an influential cultural commentator.
2 portraits in the collection
Recorded 1975
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1998
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of an anonymous donor 2002
Bernard Patrick O'Dowd (1866-1953) began his working life as a teacher in Ballarat.
1 portrait in the collection
Bernard Katz (1911-2003), winner of the 1970 Nobel prize for medicine with Ulf von Euler and Julius Axelrod, was naturalised as an Australian citizen in 1941.
1 portrait in the collection
Sir Bernard Heinze AC KT (1894-1982) was a conductor who brought classical music to the general public and promoted the works of Australian composers.
1 portrait in the collection
Bernard Fanning (b. 1969) is the frontman of Queensland band Powderfinger.
1 portrait in the collection
Bernard King (1934–2002), chef and television personality, grew up on a farm at Maleny in Queensland and appeared in his first talent quest at the age of eight.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2004
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dr Ray Marginson AM 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2006
Gift of John Garran 2019. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
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
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Eric Smith 2019
Dick Smith (b. 1944), businessman, aviator, film-maker and explorer, developed interests in radio and the bush as a boy.
2 portraits in the collection
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
Julian Smith, surgeon and photographer, came to Australia with his family from England at the age of three.
2 portraits in the collection
Tommy Smith (1916-1998), racehorse trainer, was born at Jembaicumbene near Braidwood, NSW.
2 portraits in the collection
David Smith, painter, draughtsman, printmaker and teacher, was born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, where he attended the Technical School and the Lowestoft and Norwich Schools of Art.
1 portrait in the collection
Sydney Ure Smith, publisher, was responsible for the establishment of Art in Australia in 1916-1942 and the journals The Home and Australian National Journal.
1 portrait in the collection
Sir Gerard Smith (1839-1920), governor, was educated at Eton before purchasing a commission as an ensign and lieutenant in the Scots Fusilier Regiment of Foot Guards, with whom he served in Canada in 1863-1864.
1 portrait in the collection
Robin Smith grew up in rural New Zealand, and studied arts and fine arts at Canterbury University before beginning to write and illustrate adventure and natural history stories.
1 portrait in the collection
Heide Smith took up photography as a young girl in Germany in 1948, when her uncle gave her a Zeiss Ikon camera.
3 portraits in the collection
Shirley 'Mum Shirl' Smith AO OBE (1921–1998), humanitarian, was a Wiradjuri woman.
1 portrait in the collection
Recorded 1965
Recorded 1962
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the late May Ralph 2019
Purchased 1999
Peter Purves Smith (1912–1949), artist, went to Geelong Grammar with his lifelong friend Russell Drysdale.
2 portraits in the collection
Sir Charles Kingsford Smith MC AFC (1897- last seen 1935) and Captain Charles Ulm (1898-last seen 1934) together founded Australian National Airlines.
3 portraits in the collection
John Firth-Smith (b. 1943) is a Sydney abstract painter. In the early 1960s he won a number of 'young artist' prizes for his paintings of yachts on Sydney Harbour, but by 1968 his work was becoming increasingly abstract, featuring large fields of opaque colour.
2 portraits in the collection
Grace Cossington Smith OBE (1892–1984) was a pioneer of modernist art in Australia.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003
Stephen Murray-Smith (1922-1988), writer and editor, was educated at Geelong Grammar and the University of Melbourne before serving in New Guinea during World War 2.
1 portrait in the collection
John Raphael Smith worked in various drapery establishments and painted miniatures before turning to engraving in London.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003
Purchased 2018
Born: 1957, Gympie, QLD
Works: Brisbane
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Eve 2013
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012
Recorded 1965
Recorded 1961
Purchased 2002
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2017
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015
Gift of the artist 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Eric Smith 2019
Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Commissioned in 2018 with funds raised through the 2020 project
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001
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
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Bequest of Richard Divall AO OBE 2017
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2004
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2007
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2004
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Henry Vernon Crock AO in memory of David Smith 2007
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2007
Eric Smith describes the agony and finally the ecstasy of winning the 1982 Archibald Prize with the portrait of Peter Sculthorpe.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Jessica Smith looks at the 'fetching' portrait of Tasmania's first Anglican Bishop, Francis Russell Nixon by George Richmond
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Sydney Airports Corporation 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Lyn Williams AM 2011
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Heide Smith 2012
Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
The National Portrait Gallery acquired the self-portrait by Grace Cossington Smith in 2003.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Eric Smith 2019
Bequest of Lady Maisie Drysdale 2001
Purchased 2019
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.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010
Close contemporaries, Thea Proctor, Margaret Preston and Grace Cossington Smith were frequently sources of inspiration and irritation to each other.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Susanna de Vienne, Sarah Wood and David Lloyd Jones 2009.
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Michael Desmond discusses Fred Williams' portraits of friends, artist Clifton Pugh, David Aspden and writer Stephen Murray-Smith, and the stylistic connections between his portraits and landscapes.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Sydney Airports Corporation 2001
Sarah Hill introduces the portrait busts of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Captain Charles Ulm by Enid Fleming.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John Sandefur 2019
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Susanna de Vienne, Sarah Wood and David Lloyd Jones 2009
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Bequest of Lady Maisie Drysdale 2001
Commissioned in 2018 with funds raised through the 2020 project
Paul Haefliger (1914-1982) trained in Sydney and then in London with Bernard Meninsky and Mark Gertler.
1 portrait in the collection
Frank McIlwraith was the London representative for the Australian periodical Smith's Weekly in the late 1930s.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Jan Senbergs (b. 1939) came to Australia from Latvia in 1950. He studied at the Melbourne School of Printing and Graphic Arts, where he was influenced by Leonard French.
2 portraits in the collection
To celebrate Peter Sculthorpe's 80th birthday, the National Portrait Gallery has created a feature exhibition of portraits and associated biographic material drawn from the National Portrait Gallery and the composer’s personal collection.
Lady Maisie Drysdale (1915–2001), children's librarian and artists' muse, developed an interest in art as a child, and attended both the University of Melbourne and George Bell's art school.
1 portrait in the collection
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Bernard-Germain-Etienne de la Ville sur Illon, comte de Lacépède (1756-1825), French naturalist, held the chair of the study of reptiles and fishes in the Jardin des Plantes, formerly the Jardin du Roi.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003
This issue of Portrait Magazine features Grace Cossington Smith, the Fairfax portrait gift and Lewis Morley's photographs.
Francis Lymburner (1916-1972) was a Queensland-born artist who was educated at Brisbane Grammar and took art classes at Brisbane Technical College.
2 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Jean Appleton (1911–2003), painter and art teacher, studied at the East Sydney Technical College, completing a diploma in drawing and illustration in 1932.
2 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Wayne Williams 2015
Ernest Buckmaster grew up in country Victoria, where his facility for art was recognised early on.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Sydney Airports Corporation 2001
George Moore (1923-2008), champion jockey, was born in Mackay, Qld and was apprenticed in Brisbane in 1938.
1 portrait in the collection
Charles is my wingman
Les Darcy (1895-1917), boxer, was one of Australia's earliest sporting heroes.
3 portraits in the collection
George Finey, one of Australia's best-known cartoonists, was born in Auckland and was selling drawings to local newspapers by the time he was 14.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010
Alec Murray was a photographer whose Alec Murray's Album: Personalities of Australia was published by Sydney Ure Smith in about 1948.
1 portrait in the collection
Little is known of John Chapman, who engraved fine allegorical subjects after the designs of J Smith and Richard Corbould and worked closely with Thomas Macklin on his Shakespeare series.
2 portraits in the collection
Bernard 'Midget' Farrelly AM (1944–2016), surfer and boardmaker, grew up in Sydney and first surfed at North Bondi in the early 1950s.
1 portrait in the collection
Harry Hudson (1907-1974) was a Melbourne-based painter. His work was included in a number of group exhibitions at the Bridget McDonnell Gallery, Carlton in the 1980s along with those of such notable artists as Roland Wakelin, Grace Cossington-Smith and James Gleeson.
1 portrait in the collection
Painter, theatrical designer and art teacher, Amy (Amie) Kingston (1912-1996) was born in Hobart, Tasmania.
1 portrait in the collection
Purchased 2007
Ambrose Patterson (1877-1967) was a printmaker, painter and teacher. Like Ramsay, Patterson studied under Bernard Hall at the National Gallery School.
1 portrait in the collection
Gwen Pratt FRAS (b.1917) is a traditional painter and portraitist in oil, watercolour and pastel.
1 portrait in the collection
George Coates, Melbourne-born artist, started his art career in a stained glass workshop, attending classes with Frederick McCubbin at the National Gallery school at night.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1998
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
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
Tamsin Hong recounts the tale of Marion Smith, the only known Australian Indigenous servicewoman of World War One.
Purchased 2020
Jean Shepeard was an actress and artist who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
1 portrait in the collection
Enid Fleming was a pupil of Rayner Hoff's at the East Sydney Technical College at the time these works were made (Hoff and several of his other students were working on the Anzac Memorial at the time).
2 portraits in the collection
This unique exhibition will give an insight into the private lives, pursuits and work of all the Nobel laureates associated with Australia
Bess Norriss Tait (1879-1939), artist, was born in Melbourne and studied under Frederick McCubbin and Bernard Hall at the National Gallery School between 1897 and 1901.
1 portrait in the collection
Willow Legge (b. 1934) is a British artist who studied sculpture at Chelsea School of Art from 1951 to 1956 under Willi Soukop and Bernard Meadows.
1 portrait in the collection
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
Find out more from each of the artists reinterpreting and reimagining elements of Australian history.
Gift of the artist 1999. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
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
Joy Hester (1920-1960) was the only female member of the Angry Penguin movement, which included artists Tucker, Sydney Nolan and Arthur Boyd.
1 portrait in the collection
Charles Ulm (1898-1934) began work as a clerk in a stockbroking office after he left school, but enlisted under a false identity in the 1st Battalion of the AIF just before his 16th birthday.
2 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Barbara Tucker 2004
Roland Wakelin was born in New Zealand and studied at the RAS school in Sydney under Dattilo Rubbo from 1912 to 1914.
1 portrait in the collection
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
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Purchased 2013
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
Irish-born James Horan (b. 1976) is an editorial and advertising photographer whose many clients include banks, hotel chains, medical supply companies, museums and charities such as The Salvos and The Smith Family.
1 portrait in the collection
Hera Roberts (1892-1969) was a painter, illustrator, designer, commercial artist and milliner.
1 portrait in the collection
Gift of the artists 2003
Gift of the artists 2003
Gift of the artists 2003
Portraits from The Movement is the first comprehensive survey of photographs from the Juno Gemes archive, which has supported the Aboriginal struggle for justice in Australia from 1978 to the present day.
Adrian Feint (1894-1971) studied at the Sydney Art School with Julian Ashton after having served in the AIF in France and Belgium in World War I, during which he was praised for gallantry.
1 portrait in the collection
Arthur Horner was born in Malvern, Victoria, and attended Sydney High School and the National Art School.
1 portrait in the collection
Born in Sydney, Garry Shead studied at the National Art School in 1961-2.
3 portraits in the collection
Henry Bryan Hall grew up in England and began his trade as an apprentice to the engravers Benjamin Smith and Henry Meyer.
1 portrait in the collection
Colin Wills (1906–1965), journalist and author, was born in Toowoomba, Queensland and grew up in Sydney.
1 portrait in the collection
Gift of an anonymous donor 2001
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.
The Swiss Studios opened in King Street, Sydney in early 1898, operating from a building described as a 'pleasing reminder of one of those delightful old Swiss chalets, which one always associates with Alpine travel.' The elaborate establishment boasted a first-floor reception room, 'beautifully decorated and luxuriously furnished', 'tastefully arranged dressing rooms, one for ladies and the other for gentlemen', and a 'lofty, cool and well-lit gallery' where 'the best artists in the photographic line' were at work.
1 portrait in the collection
Sir Colin Syme AK (1903-1986) was chairman of BHP from 1952 to1971. Born in Perth, he attended Scotch College in Claremont, the universities of Perth and Melbourne and the University of New South Wales before becoming a solicitor in the Melbourne firm of Hedderwick, Fookes and Alston in 1923.
1 portrait in the collection
Sir Russell Drysdale AC (1912-1981), painter, developed eye trouble in 1929, and had to leave boarding school for the first of many eye treatments which left him fearful of total blindness.
6 portraits in the collection
Mervyn Horton AM (1917-1983), editor, art writer and entrepreneur, founded the journal Art and Australia in 1963 and edited it until his death in 1983.
1 portrait in the collection
Thomas Purves (1909-1969), known as Tam, founded the Australian Galleries in Smith Street, Collingwood, Melbourne with his wife Anne in 1956.
1 portrait in the collection
Emil Otto Hoppe (1878–1972) is considered one of the most important and influential portrait and documentary photographers of the twentieth century.
2 portraits in the collection
Miriam Hyde AO OBE (1913-2005), composer, recitalist, teacher, examiner, poet, lecturer and writer of numerous articles for music journals, studied first with her mother and then with William Silver at the Elder Conservatorium in Adelaide.
1 portrait in the collection
Stella Bowen, painter and writer, grew up in Adelaide, where she studied with Margaret Preston.
1 portrait in the collection
Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), acknowledged as one of the world's great portraitists, was master of portraits in the 'Grand Manner', replete with moral and heroic symbolism.
3 portraits in the collection
Gift of Rex Dupain 2003. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard King 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Stretton family 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
The exhibition Flash: Australian Athletes in Focus offers various interpretations of sporting men and women by five Australian photographers.
Barry Tuckwell AC OBE (1931-2020), horn soloist, conductor, teacher and author spent his early years in Melbourne, where he learned a variety of instruments including piano and violin.
1 portrait in the collection
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.
Roderick Shaw (1915-1992) is perhaps best known for his worker paintings of the social realist school, such as Cable Layers (in the Art Gallery of NSW).
2 portraits in the collection
Gift of Danina Anderson, daughter of Max Dupain 2017
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Philip Bacon AM 2001
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard King 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Gai Waterhouse AO, thoroughbred racehorse trainer, is the daughter of legendary trainer Tommy Smith.
1 portrait in the collection
Roy de Maistre (Roi (Leroy) de Mestre) CBE (1894-1968), painter, studied music at the Sydney Conservatorium, but was also a student at the RAS School with Dattilo Rubbo and later the Sydney Art School with Julian Ashton.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2000
In 1988 philanthropists Gordon and Marilyn Darling decided to make an Australian portrait gallery a reality, overseeing the development of the 1992 touring exhibition Uncommon Australians.
Intimate Portraits is an exhibition of paintings, drawings and prints that explore the less public side of portraiture
Brian Fitzpatrick (1905-1965) was educated at state schools in regional Victoria and Melbourne before gaining his BA from Melbourne University in 1925.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010
Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2012
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Gina and Ted Gregg 2010
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Anthony Dattilo Rubbo (1870-1955) was born in Naples and received classical art training in Italy.
1 portrait in the collection
Justin O'Brien (1917-1996) was one of the major Australian artists of his generation.
3 portraits in the collection
During his long and distinguished career Max Dupain took thousands of photographs of people
Drusilla Modjeska (b. 1946), writer, feminist and academic, was born in England and moved to Australia in 1971 after several years in Papua New Guinea.
1 portrait in the collection
Sir Charles Lloyd Jones (1878-1958), merchant and arts patron, grew up in Sydney, where he studied at Julian Ashton's art school in 1895.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of David Tuckwell 2018
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.
Hugo Weaving AO (b. 1960), actor, spent his childhood in England, Australia and South Africa before returning to live in Australia in 1976.
1 portrait in the collection
The story behind George Lambert's Self-portrait with Gladioli.
Purchased with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2002
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2004
Ethel Anderson (née Mason, 1883-1958), writer and artist, was an important figure in the Sydney modern art scene of the 1920s and 30s.
2 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Happiness to heartache
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001
Commissioned with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001
Gift of the artist 2019 acknowledging Herbert Smith Freehills for supporting the creation of the portrait
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999
Jean Appleton’s 1965 self portrait makes a fine addition to the National Portrait Gallery’s collection writes Joanna Gilmour.
Gift of the Estate of John Oswald Wicking 2003
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
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Laurie Curley OAM and Mrs Robyn Curley 2012
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
Purchased 2001
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.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dr Robert Edwards AO 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
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
Gift of Claudia Hyles, Dr Christiane Lawin-Bruessel, Gwenda Matthews, Gael Newton, Anne O'Hehir, Susan Smith and Dominic Thomas in memory of our friend, Robyn Beeche 2016
Gift of Nancy Bird Walton AO OBE 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
The Circle of Friends Acquisition Fund for 2012 was dedicated to purchasing a portrait of David Malouf by Rick Amor.
Gift of Rodney Davidson AO OBE 2014. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Peter Garrett AM (b. 1953), musician, environmental and social activist, and former politician, is the lead singer of the band Midnight Oil, which originated in Sydney's northern beaches in the mid-1970s.
12 portraits in the collection
Sir Rupert ‘Dick’ Hamer AC KCMG (1916-2004) was premier of Victoria from 1972 to 1981.
1 portrait in the collection
Gift of Danina Dupain Anderson 2017. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Sir Robert Gibson GBE (1863-1934) trained in design and drafting in Glasgow, where he began work as a designer at an iron company; he soon became manager of its London office.
1 portrait in the collection
Gift of the National Australia Bank 2002
Gift of the artist 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Former NPG Director, Andrew Sayers describes the 1922 Self-portrait with Gladioli by George Lambert.
Following the success of Glossy: Faces, Magazines, Now in 1999 the National Portrait Gallery again highlights the huge array of contemporary portraiture in the pages of magazines.
Vali Myers (1930-2003) artist, vagabond and agitator, was born near Box Hill and moved to Melbourne at the age of eleven.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Geoff Cousins AM 2007
Jill Ker Conway AC (1934-2018), academic, writer and company director, was born in Hillston in western New South Wales and spent her early years on her father's sheep station, Coorain, which was so isolated that she was seven years old before she saw another girl.
1 portrait in the collection
Jason Yat-Sen Li (b. 1972) was born to parents who came to Australia from China in 1959.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003
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
Frank Hurley (1885-1962), photographer, first made his name on Douglas Mawson's Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911-14.
2 portraits in the collection
Harold Cazneaux's portraits of influential Sydneysiders included Margaret Preston and Ethel Turner, both important figures in the development of ideas about Australian identity and culture.
William Hardy Wilson (1881-1955) - or Hardy Wilson, as he styled himself - is regarded as one of the most significant and visionary Australian architects of the twentieth century.
1 portrait in the collection
Gilbert Eric Douglas (1902-1970), pilot and air force officer, took part in Sir Douglas Mawson's British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE) of 1929-1931.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2002
Australia has become recognised for the range and talent of its musicians, composers, conductors and celebrities in general associated with the music industry
Nancy Bird Walton AO OBE (1915–2009), aviatrix, decided she wanted to be a pilot when, at age eight, she saw a plane make an emergency landing on a beach near her home.
2 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001
Sir Douglas Frank Hewson Packer KBE (1906-1974), media proprietor, grew up in Sydney and became a cadet journalist on the Daily Guardian, owned by his father RC Packer, in 1923.
2 portraits in the collection
This exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of self-portraits in Australia, from the colonial period to the present
Gael Newton delves into the life and art of renowned Australian photographer, Max Dupain.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John McPhee 2018
A YGen to IGen Across Borders project by Newcastle’s Catapult Choreographic Hub, Canberra’s Australian Dance Party and QL2 Dance.
Gideon Haigh discusses portraits of Australian cricketers from the early 20th century
This is the first in a series of National Portrait Gallery exhibitions to survey the portraits painted by artists who are not thought of, primarily, as portrait painters
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of BHP Billiton 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
RM (Reginald Murray) Williams AO CBE (1908-2003), saddlery, boot and clothing manufacturer, miner and author, moved to Adelaide from his birthplace near the Flinders Rangers when he was 10.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
The Australian of the Year Awards have often provoked controversy about who is selected and whether their achievements are remarkable.
Originally conceived as an anthropological record, Percy Leason’s powerful 1934 portraits of Victorian Aboriginal people are today considered to be a highlight of 20th century Australian portraiture
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Margaret Olley Art Trust 2002
Vanity Fair Portraits traces the birth and evolution of photographic portraiture through the archives of Vanity Fair magazine.
David Unaipon (1872-1967) writer, public speaker and inventor, was a Ngarrindjeri man, fourth of nine children of the evangelist James Ngunaitponi and his wife Nymbulda, both of whom were Yaraldi speakers.
1 portrait in the collection
The Darling Prize is a new annual prize for Australian portrait painters, painting Australian sitters. The winner receives a cash prize of $75,000.
First Ladies profiles women who have achieved noteworthy firsts over the past 100 years.
Introduction The National Portrait Gallery’s photographic exhibition Flash: Australian Athletes in Focus explores various interpretations of Australian sporting men and women.
Australia's tradition of sculpted portraits stretches back to the early decades of the nineteenth century and continues to sustain a group of dedicated sculptors.
Gift of Sally Douglas 2009
Sir William Dargie, painter and eight times winner of the Archibald Prize for portraiture, died in Melbourne on July 26, 2003, aged 91.
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.
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.
Michael Kimmelman, Chief Art Critic of The New York Times and author of Portraits: Talking with Artists at the Met, the Modern, the Louvre and Elsewhere, presented the National Portrait Gallery Third Anniversary Lecture on 2 March 2002. He was generously brought to Australia by the Gordon Darling Foundation and Qantas.
Gift of John McPhee 2018
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Lucio Galletto OAM 2012
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
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.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2003
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
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.
Open Air is an exhibition of portraits of Australians in environments of particular significance to them.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
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.
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 National Portrait Gallery would like to congratulate the forty finalists for the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2004
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Sarah Engledow on Messrs Dobell and MacMahon and the art of friendship.
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
This article examines the portraits gifted to the National Portrait Gallery by Fairfax Holdings in 2003.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
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.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
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.
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
Seventeen of Australia’s thirty prime ministers to date are represented in the contrasting sizes, moods and mediums of these portraits.
Percy Leason, artist, illustrator and cartoonist, grew up in Victoria's Wimmera region and trained in the rudiments of art in Nhill.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
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.
Diana O’Neil on Noel Counihan’s vivid 1971 portrait of Alan Marshall.
A newly acquired work by Stella Bowen adds to the National Portrait Gallery's growing collection of important Australian self-portraits.
A National Portrait Gallery, London exhibition redefines portraiture, shifting the focus towards a new perspective on Pop Art.
The Chairman, Board, Director and all the Staff of the National Portrait Gallery mourn the loss of our Founding Patron, who died peacefully in Melbourne this morning. He was 94.
The world of Thea Proctor was the National Portrait Gallery's second exhibition to follow the life of a single person, following Rarely Everage: The lives of Barry Humphries.
Dr Sarah Engledow traces the significant links between Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo and Evelyn Chapman through their portraits.
Joanna Gilmour explores the extraordinary life of Australian female aviator Nancy Bird Walton AO OBE
Drawn from the Gallery's collection, the exhibition Face the Music explores the remarkable talents and achievements of Australian musicians, composers, conductors and celebrities associated with the music industry.
Magda Keaney talks with Montalbetti+Campbell about their photographic portrait of Australian astronaut Andy Thomas.
Michael Desmond looks at the history of the Vanity Fair magazine in conjunction with the exhibition Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008
Dr Christopher Chapman, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2009 Prize.
An interview with the photographer.
The National Portrait Gallery today announced finalists for the inaugural Darling Portrait Prize, a national new $75,000 prize for Australian portrait painting, and released selected images from the final prize pool for the popular National Photography Portrait Prize.
Christopher Chapman highlights the inaugural hang of the new National Portrait Gallery building which opened in December 2008.
The oil portrait of Sir Frank Packer KBE by Judy Cassab was gifted to the National Portrait Gallery in 2006.
The National Portrait Gallery is pleased to announce its winter exhibition is So Fine: Contemporary women artists make Australian history. It will open to the public from 29 June 2018.
Peter Jeffrey trips the hound nostalgic.
Ten women artists explore the possibilities of portraiture as a contemporary art form; and reinterpret and reimagine Australian history in the Portrait Gallery’s new exhibition So Fine: Contemporary women artists make Australian history.
Johanna McMahon revels in history and mystery in pursuit of a suite of unknown portrait subjects.
Bess Norriss Tait created miniature watercolour portraits full of character and life.
Andrew Sayers outlines the highlights of the National Portrait Gallery's display of portrait sculpture.
Joanna Gilmour on Tom Durkin playing with Melbourne's manhood.
Joanna Gilmour examines the prolific output of Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin, and discovers the risk of taking a portrait at face value.
Christopher Chapman delights in the intimacy of Robert Mapplethorpe's photography
Sarah Engledow previews the beguiling summer exhibition, Idle hours.
Sarah Engledow is seduced by the portraits and the connections between the artists and their subjects in the exhibition Impressions: Painting light and life.
Emanuel Solomon gave shelter to the Sisters of St Joseph upon the excommunication of St Mary MacKillop.
In their own words lead researcher Louise Maher on the novel project that lets the Gallery’s portraits speak for themselves.
Inga Walton on the brief but brilliant life of Hugh Ramsay.
The London-born son of an American painter, Augustus Earle ended up in Australia by accident in January 1825.
Scott Redford discusses his dynamic portrait commission of motorcycling champion and 2008 Young Australian of the Year Casey Stoner.
Joanna Gilmour presents John Kay’s portraits of a more infamous side of Edinburgh.
Dr. Sarah Engledow tells the story of Australia's first Federal statistician, Sir George Knibbs.
Aviation carried women’s roles in society to greater heights – fashion followed suit.
Chris O'Doherty, also known as Reg Mombassa, is best-known for his Mambo imagery but he also paints a lot of self portraits.
Andrew Sayers discusses the real cost of George Lambert's Self portrait with gladioli 1922.
Pamela Gerrish Nunn explores New Zealand’s premium award for portraiture.
Whether the result of misadventure or misdemeanour, many accomplished artists were transported to Australia where they ultimately left a positive mark on the history of art in this country.
Sarah Engledow chronicles Rick Amor's work and accomplishments in this extensive essay in conjunction with the exhibition Rick Amor: 21 Portraits.
Jerrold Nathan's portrait of Jessie Street shows the elegant side of a many-faceted lady.
Charting a path from cockatiel to finch, Annette Twyman explores her family portraits and stories.
Michael Wardell samples the fare in the University of Queensland National Self-portrait Prize.
Joanna Gilmour discovers that the beards of the ill-fated explorers Burke and Wills were as epic as their expedition to traverse Australia from south to north.
Christopher Chapman absorbs the gentle touch of Don Bachardy’s portraiture.
Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2014 Prize.
The complex connections between four creative Australians; Patrick White, Sidney Nolan, Robert Helpmann and Peter Sculthorpe.
Aircraft designer, pilot and entrepreneur, Sir Lawrence Wackett rejoins friends and colleagues on the walls of the National Portrait Gallery.
Vanity Fair Editor David Friend describes how the rebirth of the magazine sated our desire for access into the lives of celebrities and set the standard for the new era of portrait photography.
Penny Grist, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2016 Prize.
A toast to the acquisition of an unconventional new portrait of former Prime Minister, Stanley Melbourne Bruce.
Long after the portraitist became indifferent to her, and died, a beguiling portrait hung over its subject.
Dr Christopher Chapman NPG Curator of Inner Worlds explains the development of an exhibition that spans from Surrealism to contemporary art.
Judith Pugh reflects on Clifton Pugh's approach to portrait making.
Dr. Sarah Engledow discovers the amazing life of Ms. Hilda Spong, little remembered star of the stage, who was captured in a portrait by Tom Roberts.
Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2017 Prize.
One half of the team that was Eltham Films left scarcely a trace in the written historical record, but survives in a vivid portrait.
Dr Anne Sanders NPG Curatorial Researcher investigated the lives of the pioneering psychologists whose portraits are featured in Inner Worlds.
Curator, Penny Grist, reveals how this exhibition came to be
Sarah Engledow writes about Gordon and Marilyn Darling and their support for the National Portrait Gallery throughout its evolution.
Sarah Engledow explores the history of the prime ministers and artists featured in the exhibition.
