Sarah Hill introduces the portrait busts of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Captain Charles Ulm by Enid Fleming.
Eric Smith describes the agony and finally the ecstasy of winning the 1982 Archibald Prize with the portrait of Peter Sculthorpe.
Jessica Smith looks at the 'fetching' portrait of Tasmania's first Anglican Bishop, Francis Russell Nixon by George Richmond
The National Portrait Gallery acquired the self-portrait by Grace Cossington Smith in 2003.
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.
Close contemporaries, Thea Proctor, Margaret Preston and Grace Cossington Smith were frequently sources of inspiration and irritation to each other.
Stephen Phillips talks to neurosurgeon Charlie Teo about his practice, perspectives and the anatomy of hope.
Aimee Board chats to emerging photographer Charles Dennington.
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.
Dr. Sarah Engledow explores the context surrounding Charles Blackman's portrait of Judith Wright, Jack McKinney and their daughter Meredith.
In 2006 the National Portrait Gallery acquired a splendid portrait of Victoria's first governor, Lieutenant Governor Charles Joseph La Trobe by Thomas Woolner.
Charles Haddon Chambers the Australian-born playboy playwright settled permanently in London in 1880 but never lost his Australian stance when satirising the English.
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.
Sarah Engledow is seduced by the portraits and the connections between the artists and their subjects in the exhibition Impressions: Painting light and life.
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.
Sir William Dargie, painter and eight times winner of the Archibald Prize for portraiture, died in Melbourne on July 26, 2003, aged 91.
This article examines the portraits gifted to the National Portrait Gallery by Fairfax Holdings in 2003.
Joanna Gilmour explores the extraordinary life of Australian female aviator Nancy Bird Walton AO OBE
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.
This issue of Portrait Magazine features Grace Cossington Smith, the Fairfax portrait gift and Lewis Morley's photographs.
Andrew Sayers outlines the highlights of the National Portrait Gallery's display of portrait sculpture.
This issue features Cindy Sherman, Tim Storrier, Brett Whiteley and Patrick White, contemporary Chinese portraiture, Charles Blackman and more.
Tamsin Hong recounts the tale of Marion Smith, the only known Australian Indigenous servicewoman of World War One.
Christopher Chapman highlights the inaugural hang of the new National Portrait Gallery building which opened in December 2008.
Marian Anderson, emerging photographer Charles Dennington, piscatorial portraits, and the poignant path of photographer Polixeni Papapetrou and more.
Magda Keaney talks with Montalbetti+Campbell about their photographic portrait of Australian astronaut Andy Thomas.
Johanna McMahon revels in history and mystery in pursuit of a suite of unknown portrait subjects.
Explore an Indian treasure trove, photography by Robert McFarlane and Nan Goldin, Michael Taylor's expressionist paintings, the Great War portraits, and more!
The exhibition Flash: Australian Athletes in Focus offers various interpretations of sporting men and women by five Australian photographers.
Aviation carried women’s roles in society to greater heights – fashion followed suit.
The story behind George Lambert's Self-portrait with Gladioli.
In 2000, Barbara Blackman donated a portrait of her close friends - poet Judith Wright, her husband Jack McKinney and their daughter Meredith - painted by Charles Blackman.
Former NPG Director, Andrew Sayers describes the 1922 Self-portrait with Gladioli by George Lambert.
Rod McNicol's method and motivation, 19th century Indigenous peoples, Barrie Cassidy on Bob Hawke, five generations of the Kang family from Korea and more.
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.
Gideon Haigh discusses portraits of Australian cricketers from the early 20th century
In March 2003 Magda Keaney travelled to London to join the photography section of the Victoria & Albert Museum for three months.
A National Portrait Gallery, London exhibition redefines portraiture, shifting the focus towards a new perspective on Pop Art.
Gael Newton delves into the life and art of renowned Australian photographer, Max Dupain.
Grace Carroll on the gendered world of the Wentworths.
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.
Charting a path from cockatiel to finch, Annette Twyman explores her family portraits and stories.
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.
Pamela Gerrish Nunn explores New Zealand’s premium award for portraiture.
Jean Appleton’s 1965 self portrait makes a fine addition to the National Portrait Gallery’s collection writes Joanna Gilmour.
Aircraft designer, pilot and entrepreneur, Sir Lawrence Wackett rejoins friends and colleagues on the walls of the National Portrait Gallery.
Sarah Engledow on Messrs Dobell and MacMahon and the art of friendship.
A toast to the acquisition of an unconventional new portrait of former Prime Minister, Stanley Melbourne Bruce.
Diana O’Neil on Noel Counihan’s vivid 1971 portrait of Alan Marshall.
Sir Sidney Kidman (1857-1935) is inscribed in Australian legend as the ‘Cattle King’.
A newly acquired work by Stella Bowen adds to the National Portrait Gallery's growing collection of important Australian self-portraits.
Barbara Blackman reflects on her experiences as a life model.
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.
Family affections are preserved in a fine selection of intimate portraits.
Joanna Gilmour revels in accidental artist Charles Rodius’ nineteenth century renderings of Indigenous peoples.
Tenille Hands explores a portrait prize gifted to the National Screen and Sound Archive.
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.
Joanna Gilmour reveals love’s more intense manifestations in the tale of Lord Kenelm and Venetia Digby.
Naomi Cass, Director of the Centre of Contemporary Photography, in conversation with Anne Zahalka.
The London-born son of an American painter, Augustus Earle ended up in Australia by accident in January 1825.
The oil portrait of Sir Frank Packer KBE by Judy Cassab was gifted to the National Portrait Gallery in 2006.
Jerrold Nathan's portrait of Jessie Street shows the elegant side of a many-faceted lady.
Peter Jeffrey trips the hound nostalgic.
Deborah Hill talks figures with character, as the National Portrait Gallery touring exhibitions program welcomes its millionth visitor.
The National Portrait Gallery acquired a beguiling silhouette group portrait by Samuel Metford, an English artist who spent periods of his working life in America.
Select extracts from Mirka Mora's autobiography, Wicked but Virtuous, provide rich accompaniment to recent Gallery acquisitions.
Michael Desmond discusses the portrait of Senator Neville Bonner by Robert Campbell Jnr.
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.
The first collaborative commission has arrived. It's a self portrait, it's ceramic and it's from Hermannsburg.
Michael Desmond explores what makes a portrait subject significant.
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres was one of the greatest portrait painters in history.
Joanna Gilmour explores the life and times of one of Melbourne's early socialites, Jessie Eyre Williams.
Angus Trumble treats the gallery’s collection with a dab hand.
Joanna Gilmour on Tom Durkin playing with Melbourne's manhood.
Sarah Engledow on a foundational gallery figure who was quick on the draw.
Christopher Chapman delights in the intimacy of Robert Mapplethorpe's photography
Anne Sanders and Christopher Chapman bring passionate characterisation to Express Yourself, the Portrait Gallery collection exhibition celebrating iconoclastic Australians.
Mark Strizic's work crosses a broad spectrum of photographic fields including urban, industrial, commercial, and architectural photography.
Sarah Engledow previews the beguiling summer exhibition, Idle hours.
Penelope Grist speaks to Robert McFarlane about shooting for the stars.
Emanuel Solomon gave shelter to the Sisters of St Joseph upon the excommunication of St Mary MacKillop.
Christopher Chapman considers photographer Rozalind Drummond's portrait of author Nam Le.
The Portrait Gallery's paintings of two poets, Les Murray and Peter Porter, demonstrate two very different artists' responses to the challenge of representing more than usually sensitive and imaginative men.
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.
Joanna Gilmour explores the 1790 portrait of William Bligh by Robert Dodd.
Karl James gives short shrift to doubts about the profile of General Sir John Monash.
Michael Desmond reveals the origins of composite portraits and their evolution in the pursuit of the ideal.
Michael Riley’s early portraits by Amanda Rowell.
The National Portrait Gallery's acquisition of the portrait of Edward John Eyre by pioneering English photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.
The death of a gentlewoman is shrouded in mystery, a well-liked governor finds love after sorrow, and two upright men become entangled in the historical record.
Scott Redford discusses his dynamic portrait commission of motorcycling champion and 2008 Young Australian of the Year Casey Stoner.
Joanna Gilmour describes how colonial portraitists found the perfect market among social status seeking Sydneysiders.
Joanna Gilmour presents John Kay’s portraits of a more infamous side of Edinburgh.
As a convict Thomas Bock was required to sketch executed murders for science; as a free man, fashionable society portraits.
Martin Sharp fulfils the Pop art idiom of merging art and life.
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.
Michael Desmond examines the career of the eighteenth-century suspected poisoner and portrait artist Thomas Griffiths Wainewright.
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.
One half of the team that was Eltham Films left scarcely a trace in the written historical record, but survives in a vivid portrait.
The exhibition Australians in Hollywood celebrated the achievements of Australians in the highly competitive American film industry.
The tragic tale of Tom Wills, the ‘inventor’ of Australian Rules Football.
Michael Wardell samples the fare in the University of Queensland National Self-portrait Prize.
George Selth Coppin (1819-1906) comedian, impresario and entrepreneur, was a driving force of the early Australian theatre.
Joanna Gilmour explores the life of a colonial portrait artist, writer and rogue Thomas Griffiths Wainewright.
Angus Trumble reveals the complex technical mastery behind a striking recent acquisition, Henry Bone’s enamel portrait of William Manning.
Robyn Sweaney's quiet Violet obsession.
An exploration of national identity in the Canadian context drawn from the symposium Face to Face at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2004.
Christopher Chapman absorbs the gentle touch of Don Bachardy’s portraiture.
Inga Walton traces the poignant path of photographer Polixeni Papapetrou, revealed in the NGV’s summer retrospective.
Dr Christopher Chapman describes the experimental exhibition Portraits + Architecture
The Rajah Quilt’s narrative promptings are as intriguing as the textile is intricate.
Frank Hurley's celebrated images document the heroism and minutiae of Australian exploration in Antarctica.
Anne Sanders imbibes Tony Bilson’s gastronomic revolution.
Sarah Engledow picks some favourites from a decade of the National Photographic Portrait Prize.
The complex connections between four creative Australians; Patrick White, Sidney Nolan, Robert Helpmann and Peter Sculthorpe.
Fiona Gruber investigates the work of Australian painter Kristin Headlam.
Sarah Engledow bristles at the biographers’ neglect of Kitchener’s antipodean intervention.
Diana O’Neil samples the tartan treats on offer in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
Sandra Bruce gazes on love and the portrait through Australian Love Stories’ multi-faceted prism.
Jo Gilmour uncovers endearing authenticity in the art of a twice-transported Tasmanian.
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.
The portrait of Dr. Johann Reinhold Forster and his son George Forster from 1780, is one of the oldest in the NPG's collection.
Dr. Sarah Engledow discusses a collection of drawings and prints by the Victorian artist Rick Amor acquired in 2005.
Australian character on the market by Jane Raffan.
Long after the portraitist became indifferent to her, and died, a beguiling portrait hung over its subject.
Dr Sarah Engledow examines a number of figures in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery who were pioneers or substantial supporters of the seminal Australian environmental campaigns of the early 1970s and 1980s.
Judith Pugh reflects on Clifton Pugh's approach to portrait making.
Alexandra Roginski gets a feel for phrenology’s fundamentals.
To accompany the exhibition Cecil Beaton: Portraits, held at the NPG in 2005, this article is drawn from Hugo Vickers's authorised biography, Cecil Beaton (1985).
Joanna Gilmour describes some of the stories of the individuals and incidents that define French exploration of Australia and the Pacific.
Joanna Gilmour accounts for Australia’s deliciously ghoulish nineteenth century criminal portraiture.
Athol Shmith’s photographs contributed to the emergence of a new vision of Australian womanhood.
The art of Australia’s colonial women painters affords us an invaluable, alternative perspective on the nascent nation-building project.
Jane Raffan feasts on modernity’s entrée in the Belle Époque theatre of the demimonde.
Traversing paint and pixels, Inga Walton examines portraits of select women in Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits.
Joanna Gilmour looks beyond the ivory face of select portrait miniatures to reveal their sitters’ true grit.
John Singer Sargent: a painter at the vanguard of contemporary movements in music, literature and theatre.
Sarah Engledow ponders the divergent legacies of Messrs Kendall and Lawson.
Shipmates for years, James Cook and Joseph Banks each kept a journal but neither man shed light on their relationship.
Sarah Engledow lauds the very civil service of Dame Helen Blaxland.
