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On the road again

Deborah Hill talks figures with character, as the National Portrait Gallery touring exhibitions program welcomes its millionth visitor.

Confide in Me

This article examines the photographic portraiture of Polly Borland.

Four from the 30s

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.

The Wonder Years

Sarah Hill introduces the portrait busts of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Captain Charles Ulm by Enid Fleming.

Brothers on farms

Malcolm Robertson tells the family history of one of Australia's earliest patrons of the arts, his Scottish born great great great grandfather, William Robertson.

A handful of sand

Ellen Kent examines the portrait of Vincent Lingiari and Prime Minister Gough Whitlam taken by photographer Mervyn Bishop.

Heartfelt

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

Dan the man

Martin Philbey’s portrait of Dan Sultan.

In a glance

Dr Sarah Engledow explores the portrait of Ninette Dutton by Bette Mifsud.

The importance of being bearded

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.

Seeing stars

Joanna Gilmour explores photographic depictions of Aboriginal sportsmen including Lionel Rose, Dave Sands, Jerry Jerome and Douglas Nicholls.

Form and reality

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

Crikey!

Robin Sellick captured a rare moment of quietude from the late conservation star Steve Irwin.

Progressive pictures

Athol Shmith’s photographs contributed to the emergence of a new vision of Australian womanhood.

Vintage Max

Gael Newton delves into the life and art of renowned Australian photographer, Max Dupain.

All there in black and white

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.

The activist A-list

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.

The Stories Beneath

I walk the line

Bruce Petty's animated self portrait captures a life's journey compressed into a few minutes.

Painters' paradise

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

Shadows of light

Mark Haworth-Booth explains why Bill Brandt is one of the most important British photographers of the Twentieth Century.

Risky business

John Zubrzycki lauds the characters of the Australian escapology trade.

Friends and Acquaintances

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

Depth of Field

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

Of jumpers and river gums, red

Diana O’Neil on Noel Counihan’s vivid 1971 portrait of Alan Marshall.

Living landscape

Gillian Raymond ponders landscapes as self-portraiture in Michael Taylor’s intimate expressionism.

The fat of the land

Sir Sidney Kidman (1857-1935) is inscribed in Australian legend as the ‘Cattle King’. 

Black tie or wombat: How formal should I go?

Michael Desmond discusses the portrait of Senator Neville Bonner by Robert Campbell Jnr.

Less than six degrees of separation

Anne Sanders finds connections in Inner Worlds between Hungarian expatriates and the development of psychoanalysis in Australia.

Picture this...

This edited version of a speech by Andrew Sayers examines some of the antecedents of the National Portrait Gallery and set out the ideas behind the modern Gallery and its collection.

The art of peace

Sean Davey captures the portrait of a nation renewed.

Eating the seasons

Anne Sanders imbibes Tony Bilson’s gastronomic revolution.

Natural born stiller

Penelope Grist speaks to Robert McFarlane about shooting for the stars.

The mind's eye

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

Mugshots

A toast to the acquisition of an unconventional new portrait of former Prime Minister, Stanley Melbourne Bruce.

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.

A sketch for some portraits

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

Thrown together

Shipmates for years, James Cook and Joseph Banks each kept a journal but neither man shed light on their relationship.

Petal to the mettle

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