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.
Jessica Smith looks at the 'fetching' portrait of Tasmania's first Anglican Bishop, Francis Russell Nixon by George Richmond
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.
This issue features Jenny Sages, Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, Brook Andrew's portrait of Marcia Langton, Nicholas Harding, Lola Montez, Mick Molloy and more.
Lauren Dalla examines the life of Australian painter Roy de Maistre and his portrait by Jean Shepeard.
Michael Desmond explores the portraiture of Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud.
Mark Haworth-Booth explains why Bill Brandt is one of the most important British photographers of the Twentieth Century.
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.
Robin Sellick captured a rare moment of quietude from the late conservation star Steve Irwin.
Deborah Hill talks figures with character, as the National Portrait Gallery touring exhibitions program welcomes its millionth visitor.
US artist Cayce Zavaglia reveals human duality in her striking embroidered portraiture.
Artist David M Thomas lists some of the ideas and influences behind his video portraits.
The Glossy 2 exhibition highlights the integral role magazine photography plays in illustrating and shaping our contemporary culture.
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.
Jane Raffan investigates auction sales of self portraits nationally and internationally.
Joanna Gilmour on Tom Durkin playing with Melbourne's manhood.
Henry Mundy's portraits flesh out notions of propriety and good taste in a convict colony.
Sandra Bruce gazes on love and the portrait through Australian Love Stories’ multi-faceted prism.
Tenille Hands explores a portrait prize gifted to the National Screen and Sound Archive.
An exhibition devoted to Hans Holbein's English commissions shows the portraitist bringing across the Channel new technical developments in art - with a dazzling facility.
Michael Desmond reveals the origins of composite portraits and their evolution in the pursuit of the ideal.
Ah Xian's porcelain portrait of paediatrician Dr. John Yu reflects Yu's heritage and interests.
Gael Newton delves into the life and art of renowned Australian photographer, Max Dupain.
Bess Norriss Tait created miniature watercolour portraits full of character and life.
Michael Desmond examines the career of the eighteenth-century suspected poisoner and portrait artist Thomas Griffiths Wainewright.
Barry York charts the course from childhood request to autographed celebrity portrait anthology.
John Singer Sargent: a painter at the vanguard of contemporary movements in music, literature and theatre.
'Artist and actors, advancing spasmodically, find their rhythm together' writes Sarah Engledow.
Dempsey’s People curator David Hansen chronicles a research tale replete with serendipity, adventure and Tasmanian tigers.
Jude Rae contemplates the portrait commission.
Penny Grist on motivation, method and melancholy in the portraiture of Darren McDonald.
An exploration of national identity in the Canadian context drawn from the symposium Face to Face at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2004.
A focus on Indigenous-European relationships underpins Facing New Worlds. By Kate Fullagar.
Johanna McMahon revels in history and mystery in pursuit of a suite of unknown portrait subjects.
Grace Carroll on the gendered world of the Wentworths.
Sarah Engledow on Messrs Dobell and MacMahon and the art of friendship.
Frank Hurley's celebrated images document the heroism and minutiae of Australian exploration in Antarctica.
Sarah Engledow lauds the very civil service of Dame Helen Blaxland.
Penelope Grist speaks to Robert McFarlane about shooting for the stars.
Dr. Sarah Engledow discusses a collection of drawings and prints by the Victorian artist Rick Amor acquired in 2005.
Tom Fryer surveys the twentieth-century architectural project, and finds representation and the portrait were integral elements.
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 profiles the life and times of the shutter sisters May and Mina Moore.
Traudi Allen discovers sensitivity, humour and fine draughtsmanship in the portraiture of John Perceval.
The art of Australia’s colonial women painters affords us an invaluable, alternative perspective on the nascent nation-building project.
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.
Judith Pugh reflects on Clifton Pugh's approach to portrait making.
How seven portraits within Bare reveal in a public portrait parts of the body and elements of life usually located in the private sphere.
Angus Trumble reflects on the force of nature that was Helena Rubinstein.
Sarah Engledow ponders the divergent legacies of Messrs Kendall and Lawson.
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.
