Search / jean benjamin-constant

Queen Victoria, 1901

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Ned, 2011

Michael, 2013

Woureddy [Wurati], an Aboriginal Chief of Van Diemen's Land, 1835

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Trucaninny [Trukanini], wife of Woureddy [Wurati], 1836

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Woureddy [Wurati], a wild native of Brune Island, 1835

Purchased with funds provided by The Ian Potter Foundation 2009

Truggernana [Trukanini], a native of southern part of V.D. Land, 1835

Purchased with funds provided by The Ian Potter Foundation 2009

Leanne Benjamin, 1999 (printed 2022)

Purchased 2022

Ngarrga Jawandaji Dancing for The Sandridge Band Performing Their Song Ngabaya (Spirit People) at the 2021 Malandarri Festival, Yanyuwa Country 2021

Black and white history

English artist Benjamin Duterrau took up the cause of the Indigenous peoples of Tasmania with his detailed and sympathetic renderings.

Wandangula Dancers & the Song People Perform Ngabaya (Spirit People) at the 2014 Malandarri Festival, Yanyuwa Country 2014

H.B.G Larkin, 1928

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Fugue in Yellow

Roger Benjamin explores the intriguing union of Lina Bryans and Alex Jelinek.

Sir Joseph Banks, c. 1788

Purchased 2010

The art of conciliation

Gareth Knapman explores the politics and opportunism behind the portraits of Tasmania’s Black War.

Jean Appleton

Recorded 1962

Jean Bellette

Recorded 1976

Jean Isherwood

Recorded 1972

Study for self portrait, c. 1965

Gift of Elisabeth Green 2023

Study for self portrait, c. 1965

Gift of Elisabeth Green 2023

Study for self portrait, c. 1965

Gift of Elisabeth Green 2023

Self portrait, 1965

Gift of the Estate of Nicolaas van der Waarden 2013

Study for self portrait, c. 1965

Gift of Laurie Curley OAM and Mrs Robyn Curley 2012

Roi de Mestre (Roy de Maistre), c. 1930

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2002

Ola Cohn, 1961

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2002

Jean Bellette, 1937

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Dame Jean Macnamara, c. 1930

Gift of Merran Samuel (nee Connor) 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Jean Campbell, 1950

Gift of an anonymous donor 2010

In good company

Jean Appleton’s 1965 self portrait makes a fine addition to the National Portrait Gallery’s collection writes Joanna Gilmour.

An Intimate Portrait of an Australian Artist in 1930

Lauren Dalla examines the life of Australian painter Roy de Maistre and his portrait by Jean Shepeard.

Chevalier d'Éon

Linda and Binni, 1984 (printed 2013)

Purchased 2013

La Pérouse, c. 1830s

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009

Edward John Eyre, 1865

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Jean Francois de Galaup de la Perouse, Commodore in the French Navy, 1798

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Ted and Gina Gregg 2012

Linda Burney MLA Canturbury and Rick Farley at home, Marrickville, 2003

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Caroline Chisholm, 1853

Purchased 2015

François Péron, c. 1805

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

La Perouse, from a miniature in the possession of La Perouse's niece at Alby, n.d.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Ted and Gina Gregg 2012

A Cimiez. Promenade matinale (Queen Victoria), 1897

Purchased 2015

Nlle. Holland Port Jackson: Sauvages des environs de Sydney: Nani, Taran, Abinghou, Broten, Timbere, 1825

Purchased 2015

Michael Riley's portraits

Linda Burney, Brenda Croft and Darrell Sibosado share memories of Michael Riley and his photographic practice.

La Perouse, 1830s

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Ted and Gina Gregg 2012

Portrait of Marjorie Cotton, 1969

Gift of Marjorie Cotton Isherwood 2002

Portrait of Dr Johann Reinhold Forster and his son George Forster, c. 1780

Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family, the Ian Potter Foundation and John Schaeffer AO 2009

Benjamin Horgan and Jake Scourfield

A girl and her boy

Dame Jean Macnamara

Learn about the Australian doctor and scientist who dedicated her life to the research and treatment of poliomyelitis. For Year 5 – 7 students.

Portrait 47

This issue features Michael Riley, TextaQueen, Thea Proctor, Jean Appleton, In the flesh, digital identity and more.

Portrait 32

This issue features Vanity Fair, Nancy Bird Walton, William Barak, Sidney Kidman, Benjamin Duterrau's portraits of the Indigenous peoples of Tasmania, and more.

Margaret Robertson, c. 1863

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Malcolm Robertson in memory of William Thomas Robertson 2018
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Ruby, 2008

Barry, 2006

Old Parts, 2013

Maria Dowling and her children Leura, Bessie, Selina, Jane, Jack, Ben and Joe Dowling [Selina Dowling, Jane Dowling, Maria Jane Dowling (née Ware), John Ware Dowling, Joseph Dowling, Benjamin Dowling, Elizabeth (Bessie) Dowling, Leura Dowling], c. 1859

Gift of Malcolm Robertson in memory of William Thomas Robertson 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Trukanini, 1866 (printed 1890s)

Purchased 2011

Father and son, 2010

Tom at the drain

Cecil Beaton

Accomplished illustrator, painter, writer and diarist, set designer and one of the most distinguished photographers of the twentieth century, Cecil Beaton is renowned for his portraits of well known faces from the worlds of fashion, literature, and film.

Cary Fukunaga and Jamie Bell, 2010

My Two Sides, 2016

Shaun: Warda Kadak, Becoming

Portrait 67

William Yang on his autobiographical self portraits, David Parker's 1970s and 80s Melbourne music photographs, seven-time NPPP finalist Chris Budgeon, and Benjamin Warlngundu Ellis.

JAMIE BIANCA in the style of Grace Kelly

Inside: Tiggy

The Quarry

Blek Bala MJ, 2017

Finalist, DPA 2017
Single channel HD digital video

Elizabeth, 2019

Body Emulsion Detachment, 2016

Finalist, DPA 2016

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.

Sir Macfarlane Burnet, late 1960s

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1998

Sir Macfarlane Burnet, late 1970s

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1998

Bill Brandt

From Brandt's early work that documents fixed social contrasts of pre-World War II life in Britain to his later experimentation with a surreal style, this exhibition spans 50 years of Brandt's far reaching career in an extensive assemblage of 155 vintage gelatin silver prints from the Bill Brandt Archive in London.

Frances Perry, c. 1863

Purchased 2012

Wally (Wouter) De Backer, 2013 (printed 2014)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

This airport’s gone to the dogs

Right-hound man

Joey Chan

Feeling a bit emotional. Took this portrait and it was the last photo I took of her.

Kylie

Kylie Minogue, one of Australia's most famous cultural exports is now the subject of her own exhibition.

Charles Perry, c. 1863

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Ned Kelly the Bushranger (from The Australasian Sketcher, 7 August 1880), 1880

Purchased 2002

Our only concern is the void, 2013

Winner, MDPA 2013

Joseph Banks Esq, 1774

Purchased 2008

The choices of a modern woman

When opposites attract

Paul Haefliger, 1974

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

American dream leads to tragic end

Young love lost, treasured

William Wilberforce

Portrait Paintings by Matthew Perceval

From 1967 until 1981 Matthew Perceval lived and painted in France and during those years produced a large body of portrait paintings.

Sir Macfarlane Burnet, 1968

Purchased with funds provided by Sir Roderick Carnegie 2003

Us being ourselves

Penelope Grist talks to photographer Benjamin Warlngundu Ellis about capturing moments, telling stories and keeping Culture strong.

Lewis Morley, 2003

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003

John Mawurndjul, 1986

Purchased 2005

Portrait of Mrs Tom Roberts, 1910

Purchased with the assistance of funds provided by the Circle of Friends 2013

Andrew Steiner, 2020 (printed 2021)

Gift of the artist 2021

Ron Castan AM QC, 1995

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2001

Hugh Jackman, 2020

Commissioned with funds provided by the Sid and Fiona Myer Family Foundation and Paul Dainty AM and Donna Dainty 2020

Nude self portrait, 1977

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Professor John Mulvaney, 1984

Gift of John and Jean Mulvaney 2000

Yellow portrait (portrait of Alex Jelinek), 1955

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Paul and James Bryans 2015. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Betty Churcher, 1994

Gift of the artist 2021

Sir Oswald Brierly, c. 1870

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Chrissy Grishin, c. 1996 (printed 2012)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Claudia Hyles 2012

Troppo Architects

The studios of Troppo Architects are located away from Australia’s major urban centres.

Chester Porter QC, 1997

Gift of Jean Porter and family 2021. Donated through the Australia Government’s Cultural Gifts Program.

Lieutenant Colonel Kathleen A. L. Best, 1943-1944

Purchased 2019

Elizabeth, 2019

Gift of the artist 2020

Kylie Minogue 1, 2018 (printed 2020)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2020

Kylie Minogue 2, 2018 (printed 2020)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2020

Self portrait in reflection, 1973

Gift of the artist 2003. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Julian Ashton Life Class, 1920

Purchased 2015

Animated

Animated is the National Portrait Gallery's first online exhibition.

Alienation

Segregated from their fellow humans in cellophane prisons, reference points are removed, so it is not certain whether these naked figures could be unwrapped, are about to be subsumed, or will forever be suspended in a plastic stasis.

Beach scene

Photographer Andrew Maccoll tells the story behind his portrait of dual world champion pro surfer Mick Fanning.

Indecent exposure

'Diving Venus' and 'the perfect woman' are two of the numerous descriptions applied to Annette Kellerman, who achieved international fame during the early decades of the twentieth century.

Journey into Headspace...

The theme for the National Portrait Gallery's eighth exhibition of student portraiture was The Journey.

Sir William Dargie

As a tribute to Sir William Dargie's singular contribution to Australian art and cultural institutions, and on the occasion of his birthday, The Australian War Memorial, Parliament House and the National Portrait Gallery will mount exhibitions of his work between May and October

Stevie Wright, 1975 (printed 2011)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Elegance in exile

Elegance in exile is an exhibition surveying the work of Richard Read senior, Thomas Bock, Thomas Griffiths Wainewright and Charles Rodius: four artists who, though exiled to Australia as convicts, created many of the most significant and elegant portraits of the colonial period.

Studio

Studio: Australian Painters Photographed by R

Richard Henry Horne, mid 1860s

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

National Portrait Gallery Director announced

The National Portrait Gallery welcomes Angus Trumble

Observation point

Nicholas Harding describes his enduring fascination with drawing and painting people.

The Saints, 1978 (printed 2018)

Purchased with funds provided by Wayne Williams 2018

Ingres in Paris

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres was one of the greatest portrait painters in history.

William Baker Ashton, First Governor of Adelaide Gaol, c. 1849

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Neil Armfield, 2010

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2010

Sir Macfarlane Burnet, 1960-1961

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999

The Reverend Ralph Sutton, 1935

Gift of Reverend Ralph Sutton's daughters Arlene Howes and Megan Newman in memory of Ralph Sutton and in tribute to his wife Dorothy Sutton 2011

Graeme Murphy, n.d.

Gift of the Estate of Stuart Campbell 2012

So Fine

This exhibition features new works from ten women artists reinterpreting and reimagining elements of Australian history, enriching the contemporary narrative around Australia’s history and biography, reflecting the tradition of storytelling in our country.

Australia and the Nobel Prize

This unique exhibition will give an insight into the private lives, pursuits and work of all the Nobel laureates associated with Australia

Arthur Boyd Portraits

This is the first in a series of National Portrait Gallery exhibitions to survey the portraits painted by artists who are not thought of, primarily, as portrait painters

Ned Kelly death mask, date unknown

Collection: National Portrait Gallery Study Collection, Canberra
Gift of John Molony 2018

William Robertson and Martha Mary Robertson, 1863

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Malcolm Robertson in memory of William Thomas Robertson 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

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.

Observation point

Laith McGregor's fascination with the human form stems from an imaginary childhood friend.

A.I.

Christopher Chapman ponders our digital identity and selfhood.

Charles Summers, late 1860s

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

The medallion

In recent years I have become fascinated by the so-called Sydney Cove Medallion (1789), a work of art that bridges the 10,000-mile gap between the newly established penal settlement at Port Jackson and the beating heart of Enlightenment England.

The Delltones, 1964 (printed 2019)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2019

Sir Henry Barkly, c. 1863

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Myles Nelson

It was definitely a candid encounter as was the expression on the face. It was constructed insofar as the image was deliberately taken from a distance so as to minimize intrusion and to magnify the effect of the image.

Nicola Dickson

Born: 1959, Southport, QLD
Works: Canberra

First Ladies

First Ladies profiles women who have achieved noteworthy firsts over the past 100 years.

Lady Barkly, 1863

Purchased 2014

Charles Blondin, 1874

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Judy Cassab

The artist's diary profiles six decades of Cassab's work, from the early portrait commissions of the 1950s to later paintings that have helped confirm her eminent place in the canon of Australian portraiture.

The National Photographic Portrait Prize: 2021 Living Memory

Director Karen Quinlan AM announces significant changes for 2021, including a larger, longer exhibition, themed to reflect our experience of events that have occurred in this historic year.

Of plague and portraits

Corinna Cullen on the symbolic power of pandemic-related imagery over the ages.

Pushpamala N

Pushpamala N. was born in 1956 in Bangalore. Her early training was in sculpture, but as her practice progressed she brought an early enthusiasm for narrative figuration into her photographic work.

Form and reality

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

International issue

Michael Desmond looks at the history of the Vanity Fair magazine in conjunction with the exhibition Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008

Mark Strizic

This exhibition traces the creative output of nearly 50 years by one of Australia's landmark living photographers.

Reflections on a Hologram

Sam Bowker examines Paula Dawson's Mirror, Mirror - a holographic portrait of Graeme Murphy.

Duty bound

Joanna Gilmour explores the life of colonial women Lady Ellen Stirling, Eliza Darling, Lady Eliza Arthur, Elizabeth Macquarie and Lady Jane Franklin.

Sideshow Alley

Death masks, post-mortem drawings and other spooky and disquieting portraits... Come and see how portraits of infamous Australians were used in the 19th century.

The boy, the bed and the gun

Christopher Chapman contemplates the provocative performance art of Chris Burden. 

Portrait of a Modernist

The National Portrait Gallery acquired the self-portrait by Grace Cossington Smith in 2003.

Clifton Pugh

This exhibition offers a comprehensive display of Clifton Pugh's portraits revealing his development and growth from tonal paintings to a unique style that was in demand from politicians, artists, academics and Australian personalities.

Masters of Fare

Masters of fare: chefs, winemakers, providores celebrates men and women who have championed the unique culinary characteristics and produce of Australia, enriching our lives with new ideas and new flavours over the past forty years.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022

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.

Australian visit in Denmark

In April 2006 the National Portrait Gallery showcased Australian portraits at the Fredenksborg Castle in Denmark. 

Nicholas Harding

Nicholas Harding: 28 portraits features paintings of Robert Drewe, John Bell and Hugo Weaving alongside gorgeously coloured recent oil portraits, delicate gouaches and bold ink and charcoal drawings.

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.

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.

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.

To Look Within

This exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of self-portraits in Australia, from the colonial period to the present

Canadian identities

An exploration of national identity in the Canadian context drawn from the symposium Face to Face at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2004.

Australian of the Year

The Australian of the Year Awards have often provoked controversy about who is selected and whether their achievements are remarkable.

The cost of living luxuriously

In 1904, the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia purchased as a gift for her sister, Queen Alexandra, a fan composed of two-color gold, guilloché enamel, mother-of-pearl, blond tortoiseshell, gold sequins, silk, cabochon rubies, and rose diamonds from the House of Fabergé in Saint Petersburg.

Queen Victoria

Last Sunday I had the privilege of appearing at the Canberra Writers’ Festival in conversation with Julia Baird. The subject of our session was Julia’s recent biography, Victoria the Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman who Ruled an Empire.

Australian Visit

The exhibition will include works of art from the NPG Canberra's permanent collection with some inward loans and aims to highlight the achievements of notable Australians.

The first nurse

Tamsin Hong recounts the tale of Marion Smith, the only known Australian Indigenous servicewoman of World War One.

Why do painted portraits still matter?

Lecture by Sandy Nairne, Director, National Portrait Gallery, London, given at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra on 28 April 2006.

My dream job

Artist David M Thomas lists some of the ideas and influences behind his video portraits.

Painters' paradise

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

The God-shaped hole

Exploring the photographs of Martin Schoeller, Michael Desmond delves into the uneasy pact that exists between celebrity and the camera.

The last word

David Hansen’s tribute to his close friend, prince of words and former National Portrait Gallery director, the late Angus Trumble.

Where the wild things are

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

A portrait of the artist by the artist

Rowan McGinness asks: when is a self portrait not a self portrait?

Subtle emotion

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

Tejal Shah

Born in 1979, Tejal Shah grew up in Chhattisgarh, central India, moving to Bombay in 1995.

History

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

Unbuttoning uniforms

Sharon Peoples contemplates costumes and the construction of identity.

In the flesh

An exhibition of humanness in ten themes by Penelope Grist.

School portraits

Inga Walton sheds light on a portraiture collection usually only seen by students and teachers at Melbourne University.

Moving in creative circles

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.

A new perspective

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.

Look who's coming to dinner

Michael Wardell’s personal insight into Jacques van der Merwe’s New Arrivals.

Everything, everyqueer, all at once

Bradley Vincent considers Samuel Hodge’s use of the archive to create a queer vernacular of portraiture.

The transparent mask

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

The Philosophy of Teapots and Ducks

Cartoonist Michael Leunig's insights into the human condition and current affairs have become famous Australia-wide.

Sea legged frogs

Joanna Gilmour describes some of the stories of the individuals and incidents that define French exploration of Australia and the Pacific.

Portrait Donors

NPPP 2016 exhibition essay

Penny Grist, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2016 Prize.

Vanity fair

Ashleigh Wadman rediscovers the Australian characters represented with a kindly touch by the British portrait artist Leslie Ward for the society magazine Vanity Fair.

The world of Thea Proctor

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.

Technical terminology

Michael Desmond introduces some of the ideas behind the exhibition Present Tense: An imagined grammar of portraiture in the digital age.

Poise and Carats

I keep going back to Cartier: The Exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia next door, and, within the exhibition, to Princess Marie Louise’s diamond, pearl and sapphire Indian tiara (1923), surely one of the most superb head ornaments ever conceived.

Alwin Reamillo

Alwin Reamillo was born in Manila, Philippines in 1964. He studied painting at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts, and began his career as a visual art teacher at the Philippine High School for the Arts.

Waterloo and Mrs. Moore

Beyond the centenary of the ANZAC landings at Gallipoli, a number of other notable anniversaries converge this year. Waterloo deserves a little focussed consideration, for in the decades following 1815 numerous Waterloo and Peninsular War veterans came to Australia.

The Lawrence lustre

Angus Trumble salutes the glorious portraiture of Sir Thomas Lawrence.

Money and swat

Andrew Sayers discusses the real cost of George Lambert's Self portrait with gladioli 1922.

Everybody, look serious

Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2014 Prize.

Painting them gently

Penny Grist on motivation, method and melancholy in the portraiture of Darren McDonald.

Thinking about architecture and portraiture

Dr Christopher Chapman describes the experimental exhibition Portraits + Architecture

Past present

Krysia Kitch celebrates Oodgeroo Noonuccal.

Fits of delicacy and despair

Henry Mundy's portraits flesh out notions of propriety and good taste in a convict colony.

Self-effacing

Michael Wardell samples the fare in the University of Queensland National Self-portrait Prize.

Eating the seasons

Anne Sanders imbibes Tony Bilson’s gastronomic revolution.

Reflections on portraiture

An extract from the 2004 Nuala O'Flaaherty Memorial Lecture at the Queen Victoria Musuem and Art Gallery in Launceston in which Andrew Sayers reflects on the unique qualities of a portrait gallery.

Embrace your inner nerd

The southern winter has arrived. For people in the northern hemisphere (the majority of humanity) the idea of snow and ice, freezing mist and fog in June, potentially continuing through to August and beyond, encapsulates the topsy-turvidom of our southern continent.

The mind's eye

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

Heartfelt

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

In a good paddock

Celebrating a new painted portrait of Joseph Banks, Sarah Engledow spins a yarn of the naturalist, the first kangaroo in France and Don, a Spanish ram.

Cultural kaleidoscope

The complex connections between four creative Australians; Patrick White, Sidney Nolan, Robert Helpmann and Peter Sculthorpe.

Robyn Sweaney

Robyn's parents had two terriers, Wuff and Snuff. In spite of Snuff’s ominous name and a couple of close shaves – once, he jumped out of a moving car, and another time, on a long road trip, he was accidentally left behind at a petrol station – he outlived Wuff.

A potpourri of portraits

Archie 100 curator (and detective) Natalie Wilson’s nationwide search for Archibald portraits unearthed the fascinating stories behind some long-lost treasures.

To the end of the earth

The portrait of Dr. Johann Reinhold Forster and his son George Forster from 1780, is one of the oldest in the NPG's collection.

The incomparable Beaton

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).

Lucy Culliton

Most well-regarded pictures of chickens show them dead. A reliable way to tell if a chicken in a painting is dead is to check if it’s hanging upside down, because unlike, say, cockatoos, chickens don’t practise inversion for enjoyment in life.

The family scene

Traudi Allen discovers sensitivity, humour and fine draughtsmanship in the portraiture of John Perceval.

Unknown drawer

Dempsey’s People curator David Hansen chronicles a research tale replete with serendipity, adventure and Tasmanian tigers.

The real Thea

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

Demimonde liaisons

Jane Raffan feasts on modernity’s entrée in the Belle Époque theatre of the demimonde.

The Royal she

Traversing paint and pixels, Inga Walton examines portraits of select women in Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits.

A feast of friends

John Singer Sargent: a painter at the vanguard of contemporary movements in music, literature and theatre.

Portraiture in a Bleak House

It may seem an odd thing to do at one’s leisure on a beautiful tropical island, but I spent much of my midwinter break a few weeks ago re-reading Bleak House.

Study in scarlet

Angus Trumble reflects on the force of nature that was Helena Rubinstein.

The personal and the historical

Where do we draw a line between the personal and the historical? Although she died in Melbourne in 1975, when I was not quite eleven years old, I have the vividest memories of my maternal grandmother Helen Borthwick.

Petal to the mettle

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

Anangu landscape learning

Angus' initial perception of Uluru shifts, as he comes to see it as central to the entire order of Anangu life.

The Bare story

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

Uncommon Australians

Sarah Engledow writes about Gordon and Marilyn Darling and their support for the National Portrait Gallery throughout its evolution.

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.