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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

Search / eleanor thornton

Eleanor Wingate

Biography

Eleanor Wingate (née Rouse, 1813–1898) was the second youngest daughter of colonial public servant and landowner Richard Rouse (1774–1852) and his wife Elizabeth (née Adams, 1772–1849), who’d come to Sydney as free settlers in 1801.

1 portrait in the collection

Eleanor Dark AO

Biography

Eleanor Dark AO (1901-1985), writer, was born and educated in Sydney but moved to the Blue Mountains to live after her marriage in 1922.

1 portrait in the collection

Eleanor Dark

In their own words

Recorded 1960 or 1961

Eleanor Dark, c. 1935 (printed 1940)

Max Dupain OBE

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Eleanor Constance Gude

Biography

Eleanor Constance 'Nornie' Gude (1915–2002) was born in Ballarat and was fifteen when she was accepted to study painting at the Ballarat Technical Art School.

1 portrait in the collection

Eleanor Wingate (née Rouse), c. 1850

an unknown artist

Portrait, hand coloured photograph

Gift of Pamela Glasson 2009
Collected by Leila Haigh (nee Rouse)

John Sumner, 1984

Eleanor Constance Gude

Portrait, watercolour on paper

Gift of Professor David Phillips 2023

Sigrid Thornton AO

Biography

Sigrid Thornton AO (b. 1959), actor, has been a household name since her performance in the box-office hit The Man from Snowy River in 1981.

1 portrait in the collection

Harold Thornton

Biography

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

2 portraits in the collection

Warwick Thornton

Biography

Warwick Thornton (b. 1970) is a Kaytetye man, writer, director and cinematographer.

2 portraits in the collection

Sun shower

Adrian Thornton

Image

Harold Thornton, 1977 (printed 2018)

Gary Ede

Portrait, inkjet print on paper

Purchased 2018

Dr Brown and Green Old Time Waltz, 1983

Harold Thornton

Portrait, oil on canvas

Gift of the Estate of Harold Thornton 2009

Sigrid Thornton, 2000

Andrew Sibley

Portrait, pencil on paper

Purchased 2010

Warwick Thornton, 2019 (printed 2022)

Susan Stitt ACS

Portrait, inkjet print on paper

Gift of the artist 2022

Bob Brown

In defence of the 'leech ridden ditch'

Portrait story

Bob Brown discusses the events that occurred during the Franklin River campaign as depicted in his portrait by Harold 'The Kangaroo' Thornton.

Paul Kelly, 2013

Warwick Thornton

Portrait, single channel moving image, colour, sound, 8 minutes 54 seconds

Commissioned with funds provided by Ian Darling 2013

Where the wild things are

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2009

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

John Connell, c. 1830

Richard Read Jnr

Portrait, watercolour on paper laid on cardboard

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

Rowan McNamara, 2008

by Mark Rogers

Image

Portrait 34

December 2009 - February 2010

Magazine

This issue features Australian cricketers, surfing legend Isabel Letham, Christos Tsiolkas, Bob Brown's portrait by Harold 'The Kangaroo' Thornton, James Angus, virtual portraits and more.

Alexander Maurice Ramsay, 1978

Robert Hannaford AM

Portrait, oil on composition board

Gift of Janet, Andrew, Kathryn and Eleanor Ramsay, daughters and son of Alexander Maurice Ramsay and Amy Jane Ramsay 2010. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Opening of the First Legislative Council of Victoria by Governor Charles Joseph LaTrobe at St Patrick's Hall, Bourke Street West, Melbourne November 13th 1851

Magna Carta

About Face article

On this day eight hundred years ago at Runnymede near Windsor, King John signed Magna Carta.

Nell Gwyn

Simon Verelst

Image

Wayne Blair

Biography

Wayne Blair (b. 1971), director, actor and writer, became interested in acting and dance while a high school student in Rockhampton in the 1980s.

1 portrait in the collection

William John Pickett Bedford

Biography

William John Pickett Bedford (1805–1869) was the eldest of three children of Anglican clergyman, William Bedford (1781–1852), and his wife, Eleanor, and came to Van Diemen’s Land with his family in 1823 following the appointment of his father to a chaplaincy in the colony.

1 portrait in the collection

Reverend William Bedford junior, c. 1846

Thomas Griffiths Wainewright

Portrait, watercolour on paper

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

Paul Kelly and The Portraits

Previous exhibition, 2013

Aspects of singer songwriter Paul Kelly’s performance persona are communicated by portraits selected from a range of artists and leading music photographers in this focus exhibition.

Karsh

Faces of the Twentieth Century

Previous exhibition, 1998

Yousuf Karsh - the most famous portrait photographer in the world - has photographed the statesmen, artists, literary and scientific figures who have defined the 20th century and shaped our lives, In this, his 90th year, the National Portrait Gallery is thrilled to present an exhibition of Karsh's photography of 20th century figures.

Sir Sidney Kidman, 1932

Samuel Woolf

Portrait, charcoal heightened with white chalk on paper

Purchased 2009

Elle Macpherson

Biography

Elle Macpherson (b. 1964) is an entrepreneur, model, actor and television host.

1 portrait in the collection

Monochromatic Self-Portrait, 2000 by Genevieve Preston

Headspace 1

Previous exhibition, 2000

Headspace showcases portrait art produced by secondary students from Year 7 to Year 12 in Government, Catholic and Independent schools in Canberra and its surrounding regions extending to Wollongong, Deniliquin, Leeton, Crookwell, Bombala, Narooma and Albury

Decorative portrait – Len Lye, c.1925 by Rayner Hoff (1894-1937)

Presence and Absence

Portrait Sculpture in Australia

Previous exhibition, 2003

This exhibition focuses on exploring national and communal identity through sculptural production in Australia, from the early decades of settlement through to the present day

Kevin Gilbert

Biography

Kevin Gilbert (1933-1993), Indigenous activist, writer and artist, wrote the first play by an Aboriginal person to be publicly performed in Australia.

2 portraits in the collection

Edmund Jowett

Biography

Edmund Jowett (1858-1936), pastoralist, businessman and politician, was the son of a stuffmaker and learned the wool trade at his uncle's mill in Thornton, Yorkshire.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas Griffiths Wainewright

Biography

Thomas Griffiths Wainewright (1794-1847) is one of the most intriguing and talented figures in colonial Australian art.

4 portraits in the collection

Thomas Woolner

Biography

Thomas Woolner, sculptor, studied first with the brothers Henry and William Behnes, painter and sculptor respectively, and later at the Royal Academy, at which he was to become professor of sculpture in his fifties.

5 portraits in the collection

Paul Kelly and The Portraits media information

18 June 2013

Archived media releases 2013

Paul Kelly & The Portraits presents a multifaceted image of the performer over the course of his career.

The Cutmear sisters, Jane and Lucy, c. 1842

A man of superior attainments

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2013

Joanna Gilmour explores the life of a colonial portrait artist, writer and rogue Thomas Griffiths Wainewright.

Past directors

History

Directors of the National Portrait Gallery from 1998 to today.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2009

Previous exhibition, 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.

Portrait Donors

Listed by year

Honour board

Uncommon Australians

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

Previous exhibition, 2015

This exhibition showcases portraits acquired through the generosity of the National Portrait Gallery’s Founding Patrons, L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC.

Judy Davis and Sam Neill in ‘My Brilliant Career’, 1979 David Kynoch

Moving still

Magazine article by Anne O'Hehir, 2022

Anne O’Hehir on the seductive power of the film still to reflect and shape ourselves and our cultural landscape.

Moving pictures

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2008

The exhibition California Video at the J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles demonstrated how video artists expand the boundaries of portraiture.

Alexander Pearce
executed for murder
July 19th 1824

Public hanging

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2008

As a convict Thomas Bock was required to sketch executed murders for science; as a free man, fashionable society portraits.

The Rays, 1970
Raindance Corporation, Frank Gillette, Michael Shamberg, Paul Ryan

Post digital

Magazine article by Tegan Mcauley, 2015

Tegan McAuley looks at the evolution of video portraiture.

Marian Anderson, contralto, New York, June 30, 1955 Richard Avedon

The right note

Magazine article by Leslie Ureña, 2020

Marian Anderson’s glorious voice thrust her into stardom, and a more reluctant role as American civil rights pioneer.

Albert Jonas and John Xiniwe of The African Choir, 1891 London Stereoscopic Co.

Back in black

Magazine article by Krysia Kitch, 2017

Krysia Kitch reviews black chronicles at the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Illuminating history

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2023

Joanna Gilmour reflects on 25 years of collecting at the National Portrait Gallery.

History

About us

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

The Right Honourable Sir Ninian Stephen KGAK GCMG GCVO KBE QC, 2006 by Rick Amor

Prima facie

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2019

Sarah Engledow casts a judicious eye over portraits in the Victorian Bar’s Peter O’Callaghan QC Portrait Gallery.

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