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Dr Christopher Chapman

After almost 12 years, Dr Christopher Chapman departed as Senior Curator in 2019.

Mum, 2011

Melanie and sighthounds, 2016

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019

The exhibition is selected from a national field of entries, reflecting the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.

Three ways to look at a photograph

Dr Christopher Chapman, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2019 Prize.

NPPP 2010 exhibition essay

Dr Christopher Chapman, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2010 Prize.

Coming into being

Dr Christopher Chapman, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2018 Prize.

NPPP 2009 exhibition essay

Dr Christopher Chapman, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2009 Prize.

Swimming every day

Dr Christopher Chapman, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2015 Prize.

City boys

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

Apollo's breath

Christopher Chapman delights in the intimacy of Robert Mapplethorpe's photography

Boyd to man

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

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018

The exhibition is selected from a national field of entries, reflecting the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.

The boy, the bed and the gun

Christopher Chapman contemplates the provocative performance art of Chris Burden. 

Hot Scots

James Holloway describes the first portraits you encounter when entering the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Swimming every day

National Photographic Portrait Prize judge Christopher Chapman connects this year’s entries to iconic contemporary american photographers.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2010

The National Photographic Portrait Prize is an annual event intended to promote the very best in contemporary photographic portraiture by both professional and aspiring Australian photographers.

All that fall

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

Icons

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

Kate Murphy

Kate Murphy's video installation shows the artist listening to predictions made by a clairvoyant.

Tough & Tender

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

Electric!

Celebrate the Gallery’s 20th birthday summer with Electric! Portraits that pop! The collection exhibition features a mix of bright, bold and colourful paintings, prints and photographs, and buoyant video portraits.

Behind your eyes, between your ears

As the subject changes the quality of their attention and mental focus, the portrait transforms, both appearance and sound.

Portraits + Architecture

This exhibition explores creative process and identity.

20/20

20/20 showcases the dynamic suite of new portraits commissioned to celebrate the National Portrait Gallery’s 20th year. Leaders and individualists invited by the Gallery were matched with unique artists to create distinctive contemporary portraits.

Collection: Icons

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

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.

Express Yourself

This exhibition celebrates Australians whose unique life experiences symbolise social and cultural forces. Uncompromising individuality defines them. The portraits are drawn from the National Portrait Gallery’s collection of contemporary photography and drawing.

Collection: Icons

The second instalment of a display featuring bold contemporary portraits drawn from the collection. For the Gallery’s 20th birthday this display brings together a group contemporary photographic portraits of inspiring women and men.

Inner Worlds and psychoanalysis

Inner Worlds evokes a broad view of psychology as a discipline. However, the specific interests of the practitioners whose portraits are included in the exhibition incorporate specialist areas including psychoanalysis.

Way of the body

Christopher Chapman reveals the intersection of iconoclastic Japanese figures Yukio Mishima and Tamotsu Yato.

A.I.

Christopher Chapman ponders our digital identity and selfhood.

The mind's eye

Christopher Chapman takes a trip through the doors of perception, arriving at the junction of surrealism and psychoanalysis.

The art of Inner Worlds

Dr Christopher Chapman NPG Curator of Inner Worlds explains the development of an exhibition that spans from Surrealism to contemporary art.

Collier Schorr

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

Best buds

It’s important to have a best bud when you’re growing up. For many boys the transition from boyhood through adolescence is defined by wanting to fit in. 

Friends

Warwick Baker’s photos of his friends are intimate. They hold a stillness that allows their subjects to be at ease.

Nan Goldin

The photographs by Nan Goldin in Tough and tender are warm images of heartache and hope.

Joyful sadness

Rozalind Drummond’s photographs in the exhibition Tough and tender let us bring our imagination to the act of looking.

Chris Burden

In the video in Tough and tender Chris Burden narrates his performance artworks characterised by focused attention to mind over physical body.

About the exhibition

Faces of war

Lesley Harding, Curator, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne explores Albert Tucker’s experience of World War II, his interests in the intersection between psychology and creativity, and their influence on his portrait making.

Evie and Ruby at The Bend, Dec. 2019

Larry Clark

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

Pride

Barak, respected elder

Dr Christopher Chapman looks at the life of Wurundjeri elder William Barak through the portrait painted by Victor de Pury in 1899.

Drawing inspiration

Christopher Chapman absorbs the gentle touch of Don Bachardy’s portraiture.

Village people

Christopher Chapman discusses Rod McNicol's photographic portrait series Newcomers to my village.

Life and time

Australian photographer Rod McNicol has consistently analysed the passing of time through the evidence of the photographic portrait. At once confronting and tender, McNicol’s portrait photographs are bold and intimate. 

Christopher Brennan, 1927

Purchased 2014

Bernard Fanning, 2003

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2006

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2015

The National Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition is selected from a national field of entries, reflecting the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2016

The National Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition is selected from a national field of entries, reflecting the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.

Richard Avedon People

American photographer Richard Avedon produced portrait photographs that defined the twentieth century. Developed in partnership with the Richard Avedon Foundation in New York, the first Australian exhibition of Avedon’s bold portraits reveals the glamour and drama of his iconic artistic work.

How to be a boy

Christopher Chapman profiles Chris Lilley, actor and creator of Angry Boys.

Surfer artist rockstar

Christopher Chapman talks with Scott Redford about his character Reinhardt Dammn.

The Avedon effect

Dr Christopher Chapman explores how we can understand Richard Avedon's photographs.  

The inner voice

Dr Christopher Chapman, curator of Inner Worlds: Portraits & Psychology looks at Albert Tucker's Heidelberg military hospital portraits.

Subtle emotion

Christopher Chapman considers photographer Rozalind Drummond's portrait of author Nam Le.

Mind and body

Christopher Chapman interviews photographer Nikki Toole about her bold and controlled portraits of skateboarders in the exhibition Skater.

Abstraction and figuration

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

Beauty and strength

Influential Indigenous Australian artist Michael Riley (1960 - 2004) created these portrait photographs between 1984 and 1990 - they stand as an intricately connected group portrait of the vibrant urban-based Indigenous arts community in Sydney's inner-west at a formative moment.

Ingvar Kenne

Swedish-born Australian photographer, Ingvar Kenne, captures both individuality and shared human experience in his ongoing portrait project Citizen.

Selfhood transcended

Anne Sanders and Christopher Chapman bring passionate characterisation to Express Yourself, the Portrait Gallery collection exhibition celebrating iconoclastic Australians.

Reflections

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.

Intense identity

Dr Chistopher Chapman discusses the portrait of Australian author Christos Tsiolkas taken by John Tsiavis.

Warwick Baker

The photographs in Tough and tender by Warwick Baker reveal intimate connections and moments of closeness. 

Form and reality

A photographic portrait by Kerry Dundas captures the contemplative mind of visionary painter Godfrey Miller.

Danger boy

I didn’t ever meet the American artist Chris Burden but about 20 years ago I wrote to him. I was after the loan of some photographic prints of his most famous performance: he had arranged for a friend to fire a bullet so it would graze his arm.

Rozalind Drummond

The photographs in Tough & tender by Rozalind Drummond evoke individual freedom and personal reflection. 

Powerful energy

Dr Christopher Chapman explores the symbolism in the portrait commission of Marcia Langton by Brook Andrew.

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch

An interview with Victorian Tapestry Workshop artists Sue Walker and Christopher Pyett.

Golden boy

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

Feel the music

Dr Christopher Chapman discusses the portrait of Australian composer Paul Grabowsky by photographer Martin Philbey.

A non-material and non-physical portrait

Inner Worlds features the recently commissioned portrait of world-renowned philosopher of consciousness David Chalmers by Melbourne-based artist Nick Mourtzakis.

Inner Worlds

Portraits of Australia’s pioneering psychologists and artworks by artists fascinated by the subconscious mind.

Being Cate

A moving portrait of Cate Blanchett unfolds as an inspired pairing of medium and subject.

Two painters

Chris Chapman explains how Matthys Gerber bridges the gap between abstraction and portraiture.

Speed demon

Scott Redford discusses his dynamic portrait commission of motorcycling champion and 2008 Young Australian of the Year Casey Stoner.

The champs

Two lively portrait photographs reflect the agility of their subjects: world champion Australian sportsmen Lionel Rose and Anthony Mundine.

Dissections

This display sets two impressive portraits from the collection into direct dialogue: Sam Jinks’ sculptural self portrait and Nick Mourtzakis’ painted portrait of David Chalmers, along with related maquette and sketches.Together they explore physical and psychological manifestations of the strata of self-hood.

Support Crew

Portraits of philanthropists in the collection honour their contributions to Australia and acknowledge their support of the National Portrait Gallery.

Shop Talk

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

Portrait of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, 2000

Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2000

Mr and Mrs Horace Keats in the "Christopher Brennan Cycle", 1945

Gift of Anne and Brennan Keats 2009

Pin-ups

Christopher Chapman describes the art and life of Australian artist Richard Larter.

Thinking about architecture and portraiture

Dr Christopher Chapman describes the experimental exhibition Portraits + Architecture

blood/memory: Brenda & Christopher I (Gurindji/Malngin/Mudburra; Mara/Ngarrindjeri/Ritharrngu; Anglo-Australian/Chinese/German/Irish/Scottish) 2021, 2022 (printed 2023)

Purchased 2023

blood/memory: Brenda & Christopher I (Gurindji/Malngin/Mudburra; Mara/Ngarrindjeri/Ritharrngu; Anglo-Australian/Chinese/German/Irish/Scottish) 2021

Christopher Bassi

Known for his representational painting, Meriam and Yupungathi man Christopher Bassi, based in Meanjin/Brisbane, addresses issues surrounding cultural identity, alternative genealogies and colonial legacies.

Macquarie video interview

MDPA judge, Dr Christopher Chapman, Senior Curator, National Portrait Gallery.

Exhibition essays

Featuring contributions from Pat Jalland, Raimond Gaita, Lee Grant, Christopher Chapman, and Anne Sanders.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2015

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

Tough & Tender Media Release

Photographs from internationally acclaimed artists Robert Mapplethorpe, Larry Clark, Nan Goldin, Collier Schorr and Chris Burden along with contemporary Australian artists, Rozalind Drummond and Warwick Baker will call the National Portrait Gallery home during our extraordinary winter exhibition Tough and Tender.

Artists and Collectives

Arts Project Australia, Yarrenyty Arltere Artists, ‘stArts with D’ Performance Ensemble, Abdul Abdullah, Alison Alder, Amrita Hepi, Atong Atem, Christopher Bassi, Kate Beynon, Mia Boe, Baby Guerrilla, Tarryn Gill, Julie Gough, Naomi Hobson, Deborah Kelly, Fiona McMonagle, Angelica Mesiti, Dylan Mooney, Nell, Sally Smart, Vipoo Srivilasa, Latai Taumoepeau and Kaylene Whiskey.

Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award 2015

An annual event to extend traditional notions of portraiture and foster emerging artists with an interest in contemporary technology.

Arthur Boyd’s Mysterious Eyes

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

All that fall

Focusing on the wide-ranging themes of loss and absence, All that fall: Sacrifice, life and loss in the First World War creates a moving portrait of mourning and sacrifice as experienced on the Australian home front during the First World War.

Digital Portraiture Award iD2012

The inaugural iD Digital Portraiture Award is an annual event intended to extend traditional notions of portraiture and reflects the National Portrait Gallery’s commitment to fostering emerging artists between the ages of 18 and 30 years old with an interest in contemporary technology.

Winners announced: Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award 2015

The winners of the Macquarie Digital Portraiture Awards will be announced tomorrow morning at 10.00am at the National Portrait Gallery.

Portrait 56

Browse the history of the National Photographic Portrait Prize, Cayce Zavaglia's embroidered portraiture, and modern wedding photography!

Feather voted the people’s favourite

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

doppelgänger

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

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018

Images for media use will be available from 8 March 2018.

15 minutes of frame

Delve into the lives, loves and labour of the world’s most prominent portrait galleries in this international conversation series.

Winner announced for National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019

From an outstanding field of more than 3,000 entries, culminating in a shortlist of 39 exceptional finalists, the Winner and Highly Commended entries for this year’s National Photographic Portrait Prize have been named.

Interiors

Christopher Chapman previews the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2009.

Finalists announced for National Photographic Portrait Prize

The National Portrait Gallery would like to congratulate the forty finalists for the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019.

Richard Avedon People media information

Press releases and images downloads for media.

Centenary of ANZAC

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

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch

The story behind the commissioning of the tapesty portrait of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch.

"Poet of the Hawkesbury" Robert Adamson, 2012

Gift of the artist 2013. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Fay Zwicky, c. 1981 (printed 2018)

Purchased 2018

Glamour vs grunge

Christopher Chapman examines the battle of glamour vs. grunge which played out in the fashion and advertising of the 1990s.

I am mine

Dr Christopher Chapman, curator and judge of the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2009 contextualises the themes of the exhibition.

Portrait 62

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019, the iconoclastic Japanese figures Yukio Mishima and Tamotsu Yato, Angélica Dass’ Humanæ project and more.

Michael Kelly, 1998

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

Peter Allen, 1980

Purchased 2003

Eleanor Dark, c. 1935 (printed 1940)

Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

A G Stephens, c. 1910 (printed later)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Last week to vote for your favourite portrait

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

Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award 2015 finalists announced

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

Grow the Portrait Gallery of Australia

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

In their own words

In their own words is an audio-guide with a difference. We let the portraits of these remarkable Australians speak for themselves.

Heartfelt

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

Glossy 2

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.

iD Digital Portraiture Award winner announced

The inaugural winner of the $10,000 iD Digital Portraiture Award was announced this morning at the National Portrait Gallery.

Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award 2014

Press releases for media.

More about the National Photographic Portrait Prize

Comments from our judges and information about entering the 2017 Prize.

Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award media information

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

Virtually human

Gillian Raymond describes the National Portrait Gallery's second virtual exhibition doppelgänger.

Sketch of Clifton Pugh painting John Perceval, 1985

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2016

Dissections: Layered portraits from the collection is now open

Dissections, showcases the hyper-realist sculptural self-portrait of artist Sam Jinks, Divide, alongside the painted portrait of philosopher David Chalmers by Nick Mourtzakis, which was commissioned by the Gallery in 2011.

Vivan Sundaram

Born in 1943 in Simla, Vivan Sundaram’s long career has given him opportunities to work in a range of mediums – painting, installation, assemblage, photography, digital media and film.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2023

The exhibition is selected from a national field of entries, reflecting the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.

Catholic clergymen from the Diocese of Adelaide, c. 1862

Purchased 2018

L. Gordon Darling AC CMG

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.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018 winner announced

Finalists have been eagerly awaiting the announcement of the Winner and Highly Commended for the National Photographic Portrait Prize since December. It is our pleasure to announce the Winner for 2018 is Lee Grant for her portrait titled Charlie and Highly Commended has been awarded to Filomena Rizzo for her portrait titled My Olivia.

Announcing... Portrait23: Identity

In this major new exhibition marking the National Portrait Gallery’s third decade, 23 Australian artists and collectives have been invited to create portraits without constraints or boundaries.

Uncommon Australians

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.

In the galleries

Christopher Chapman highlights the inaugural hang of the new National Portrait Gallery building which opened in December 2008.

Glossy too

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

NPPP 2011 exhibition essay

Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2011 Prize.

Snap decisions

NPPP judge Robert Cook provides irreverent insight into this year’s fare, and having to be a bit judgemental.

See through me

Penelope Grist and Rebecca Ray talk to the artists in Portrait23: Identity about transcending modes of portraiture.

Corporate Characters

A collection of thirty-seven caricatures by the artist Joe Greenberg capture the heroes and villians of Australian business in the 1980s.

The transparent mask

Cate Blanchett and the art of acting in Rosetzky’s digital portrait.

I'm not there

Talking heads

In their own words lead researcher Louise Maher on the novel project that lets the Gallery’s portraits speak for themselves.

The real Thea

Long after the portraitist became indifferent to her, and died, a beguiling portrait hung over its subject.

Snap chat

2019 National Photographic Portrait Prize judge Anne O’Hehir looks beneath the surface of this year’s entries.

The existential lens

Stephen Zagala discusses Richard Avedon’s work from an Australian perspective.

The jungle look

David Gist steps beyond the public relations veneer of Australia’s official Vietnam War portrait photographs.

20 20

Sarah Engledow picks some favourites from a decade of the National Photographic Portrait Prize.

Great Scots

Diana O’Neil samples the tartan treats on offer in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Less than six degrees of separation

Dr Anne Sanders NPG Curatorial Researcher investigated the lives of the pioneering psychologists whose portraits are featured in Inner Worlds.

Love my way

Inga Walton delves into the bohemian group of artists and writers who used each other as muses and transformed British culture.

20/20 launch speech

Dr Helen Nugent AO, Chairman, National Portrait Gallery at the opening of 20/20: Celebrating twenty years with twenty new portrait commissions.

Getting bare

How seven portraits within Bare reveal in a public portrait parts of the body and elements of life usually located in the private sphere.

Portrait Donors

The more things change...

Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2017 Prize.

The silent partner

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 Bare story

Curator, Penny Grist, reveals how this exhibition came to be