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Gift of the artist 2004
Marilyn Kong is a Worimi doctor who grew up in Port Stephens, New South Wales.
1 portrait in the collection
Marlene Kong is a Worimi doctor who grew up in Port Stephens, New South Wales.
1 portrait in the collection
Kelvin Kong AM is a Worimi doctor who grew up in Port Stephens, New South Wales.
1 portrait in the collection
Lowe Kong Meng (1831–1888), merchant, was born and grew up in the British colony of Penang and came to Melbourne in 1853.
1 portrait in the collection
Purchased 2019
Purchased 2016
Purchased 2015
Marilyn Darling AC (b. 1943), a Founding Patron of the National Portrait Gallery, was Chair of the Board of the Gallery from 2000 until 2008.
2 portraits in the collection
Marilyn Rowe AM OBE (b. 1946), former prima ballerina, was the first graduate of The Australian Ballet School to become its director.
2 portraits in the collection
Marilyn Darling talks about the creation of her portrait, and the photographic process.
Gift of the family of Graham Thorley in his memory and in tribute to Marilyn Rowe 2010
Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2010
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2017
Portraits of philanthropists in the collection honour their contributions to Australia and acknowledge their support of the National Portrait Gallery.
Gift of Francis Reiss 2009
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.
Sarah Engledow writes about Gordon and Marilyn Darling and their support for the National Portrait Gallery throughout its evolution.
Gordon and Marilyn Darling talk about the origins of the National Portrait Gallery and some of their favourite portraits.
Shane Dye (b. 1966), jockey, was born in Matamata, New Zealand, and served his apprenticeship in New Zealand before coming to Australia in 1985.
2 portraits in the collection
Olivier Krischer in conversation with photographer Wei Leng Tay.
Gift of the artist 2019. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2008
Anne Boyd AM (b. 1946), composer and teacher, was born in Sydney and studied composition with Peter Sculthorpe at the University of Sydney before earning a PhD at the University of York.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2001
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC, Allan Myers AC KC and Maria Myers AC 2022
In 1988 philanthropists Gordon and Marilyn Darling decided to make an Australian portrait gallery a reality, overseeing the development of the 1992 touring exhibition Uncommon Australians.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Born in Hong Kong, Naarm/Melbourne-based artist Kate Beynon builds from the cultural legacy of her familial ancestry and experience to envision hybrid personas, identities, worlds and mythologies.
Former NPG Director, Andrew Sayers celebrates the support given to the Gallery by Gordon and Marilyn Darling.
The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges and thanks all its supporters.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2001
Nicholas Whitlam is a banker and company director. He has over thirty years experience in all aspects of banking and finance; in recent years he has been active in major corporate re-organizations and reconstructions, in Australia and overseas, and has served as an adviser to Deutsche Bank AG.
1 portrait in the collection
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.
From letting loose in the lounge room to enthralling audiences on stage, this exhibition captures the experience of lives lived through dance.
Michelle Garnaut AO studied at Monash University before travelling widely in the early 1980s, returning to Melbourne to complete catering qualifications at William Angliss College.
1 portrait in the collection
A vibrant expression of Chinese culture and reflection on contemporary portraiture, drawn from the Uli Sigg collection.
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.
David Combe (b.1943) became interested in politics at Adelaide University and was motivated to join the ALP in 1962, partly through his friendship with Don Dunstan.
1 portrait in the collection
Basil Philip Bressler, who died in 2000, was a surveyor with an amateur interest in art and music.
Lauren Dalla examines the life of Basil Bressler, the art patron responsible for one of the NPG's most important bequests.
Melbourne Cantonese restaurateur Gilbert Lau (b. 1943) is renowned as the consummate host of the Flower Drum - for remembering your last visit, who you were with and what you ate.
1 portrait in the collection
Karin Catt grew up in Newcastle, where she began taking photographs of touring bands while a schoolgirl, and also in London and Hong Kong.
9 portraits in the collection
Photographer Kate Gollings embarked in the late 1990s on a project to take a 'national snapshot', photographing 100 people who had made a distinctive contribution to Australian society and culture.
11 portraits in the collection
Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2007
Dr Jill Orr (born 1952) is a Melbourne-born contemporary artist, whose performance-based practice has continued to interrogate the environmental concerns since the 1970s.
1 portrait in the collection
George Moore (1923-2008), champion jockey, was born in Mackay, Qld and was apprenticed in Brisbane in 1938.
1 portrait in the collection
Adam Knott (b. 1966) began taking photographs for local newspapers as a schoolboy in St George, South Sydney.
7 portraits in the collection
Purchased 2005
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.
Juan Ford received a Master of Art, by research, from RMIT University in 2001. His many commissions include the National Gallery of Victoria’s interactive work You, me and the flock for Melbourne Now 2013/2014 and a project for Hotel de Immigrantes, a project in Manifesta 9, the European Biennale in 2012.
Born in Melbourne in 1977, Michael Peck has a Bachelor of Fine Art (honours) (Painting) from Monash University. He has exhibited as a solo artist since 1998, when he won the National Gallery of Victoria’s Trustees Award.
Purchased 2021
Based in Naarm/Melbourne, Sally Smart is known nationally and internationally for her large-scale cut-out assemblages, collages, textile works and puppetry.
Purchased 2021
Purchased 2021
Janet Vernon AM, dancer, met her life and professional partner, Graeme Murphy, at the Australian Ballet School.
1 portrait in the collection
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC 2013
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC 2013
Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2023
Born in Melbourne, Natasha Bieniek began her formal artistic training at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2002. Bieniek’s When the music’s over (2006) won the Nino Sanciolo Art Prize, a painting scholarship to study at the Accademia d’Arte in Florence, where she learnt the ancient technique of egg tempera.
Collection: National Portriat Gallery
Gift of the artist 2011
Sam Jinks developed a talent for drawing and constructing his ideas alongside his father, a Melbourne cabinetmaker.
2 portraits in the collection
The newly-established National Portrait Gallery Foundation met for its inaugural meeting last Friday 15 May in Canberra.
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2005
L. Gordon Darling AC CMG (1921-2015), former company director, was the Founding Patron of the National Portrait Gallery.
2 portraits in the collection
Gift of the artist 2004
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2013
Drawn from some of the many donations made to the Gallery's collection, the exhibition Portraits for Posterity pays homage both to the remarkable (and varied) group of Australians who are portrayed in the portraits and the generosity of the many donors who have presented them to the Gallery.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2001
Hong Fu was born in China in 1946 and held his first solo exhibition at the National Art Gallery, Beijing, in 1988.
1 portrait in the collection
Naomi Watts (b. 1968), actress, was born in England and came to Australia from Wales at the age of fourteen.
1 portrait in the collection
Robert Oatley talks about the repatriation of the John Webber portrait of Captain James Cook.
The story behind the commissioning of the tapesty portrait of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch.
Gift of the artist 2021
Ross Wilson (b. 1947), musician and producer, started playing in bands as a schoolboy, fronting the Pink Finks and the Party Machine in the late 1960s.
3 portraits in the collection
Gift of the artist 2004
Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2004
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2001
Douglas Kirkland, photographer, was born in Canada and started his career on small newspapers there.
1 portrait in the collection
Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2014
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005
Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2009
A new painting by Jiawei Shen captures the vision and resolve of the Gallery's founder, L. Gordon Darling AC CMG.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2001
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC, Tim Fairfax AC and the Sid and Fiona Myer Family Foundation 2015
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2001
Will Huxley grew up in the suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, and Garrett Huxley was raised on the Gold Coast, Queensland.
3 portraits in the collection
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC and the Sid and Fiona Myer Family Foundation 2021
A magnanimous portrait of Helena Rubinstein has been acquired for the National Portrait Gallery’s collection.
Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2018
Gift of the artist 2003. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Tracey Holmes (b. 1966), sports broadcaster and journalist, has covered twelve Olympic Games and was the first woman to host an Australian national sports program, Grandstand.
1 portrait in the collection
Michael Peck, artist and academic, was born in Melbourne in 1977; he was awarded a Bachelor of Fine Art (honours) (Painting) from Monash University and has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions since 1998.
1 portrait in the collection
Gift of the artist 2006
Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2002
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2001
Garrett Huxley (b. 1973) was born in Melbourne and raised on the Gold Coast.
3 portraits in the collection
Will Huxley (b. 1982) was born in Bath, England, emigrating with his family at the age of seven to grow up in the suburbs of Perth.
3 portraits in the collection
Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2018
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2001
Stan Grant (b. 1963), a proud Wiradjuri man born in Griffith, New South Wales, grew up wanting to be a journalist.
1 portrait in the collection
Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2000
Purchased 2006
Leonard Ian Roach (1925-2003), founding chairman of the Australian Stock Exchange, initiated the amalgamation of six stock exchanges, one in each State capital, into an Australian Stock Exchange in the mid-1980s.
1 portrait in the collection
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC and with the assistance of Philip Bacon Galleries 2000
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2011
Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2008
Sir Edward John Lees Hallstrom (1886–1970) manufacturer, philanthropist and zoo trustee, grew up with his eight siblings in Waterloo, Sydney, after the family left the failed family farm in Coonamble, New South Wales.
3 portraits in the collection
Francis Gardiner (Christie) (1830-c. 1903), bushranger, came to New South Wales with his family as a child.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2001
Ellyse Perry (b.1990) has represented Australia in both cricket and soccer, making her the only current dual international in Australian women’s sport.
2 portraits in the collection
My Favourite Australian is a project developed in collaboration with ABC TV and the people of Australia.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Australian Securities Exchange 2012
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Experience the artistic clout of Brook Andrew’s portraits of Marcia Langton AM and Anthony Mundine.
Born: 1965, Sydney
Works: Sydney
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.
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
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of David Combe 1998
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Dame Margaret Scott AC DBE (1922-2019) ballerina and teacher, was scarred by her education in a Johannesburg convent boarding school and left her home on a Swaziland farm in 1939.
1 portrait in the collection
Gift of L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC 1998. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Purchased with the assistance of funds provided by the Mundango Charitable Trust and Claudia Hyles 2006
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Eric McIllree (1914-1973) was the founder, chairman and managing director of the Australian arm of Avis Rent-A-Car, and for twelve years the owner and developer of Dunk Island.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
In February 2003 the National Portrait Gallery Circle of Friends brought Sir Robert Strong to Australia to present a series of lectures entitled The Artists & The Banquet- A History of Dining, which focused on the links between gardens and table decoration from the Renaissance to the Victorian Era.
Karen Quinlan AM took up her appointment as Director of the National Portrait Gallery in December 2018. Karen commenced her curatorial career in 1994 at National Gallery of Victoria before becoming Curator of Bendigo Art Gallery in 1996, and the Director of Bendigo Art Gallery from 2000 until 2018. Karen was a Professor of Practice and previously Director of the La Trobe Art Institute La Trobe University, a former Trustee of the State Library of Victoria, Board Member and former Chair of the Public Galleries Association of Victoria.
The life and achievements of Sir Edward Holden, who is represented in the portrait collection by a bust created by Leslie Bowles.
Brook Andrew, Marcia Langton and Anthony Mundine.
In this exhibition Sydney based photographer Peter Brew-Bevan brings together an intimate collection of works that highlight his passion for the genre of portraiture over the last 10 years
Explore the beauty and symbolism of flowers in this weird and wonderful floral extravaganza that showcases more than 50 portraits from the collection, new acquisitions and selected loans.
Portraits from the Sigg collection, from 1979 to the present including painting, sculpture, photography, video and installation.
This unique exhibition will give an insight into the private lives, pursuits and work of all the Nobel laureates associated with Australia
Exhibited simultaneously at the two locations, Go Figure! is drawn from the Sigg Collection, the largest and most significant collection of contemporary Chinese art anywhere in the world.
Chairman Sid Myer AM, Hayley Baillie, Tim Bednall, Jillian Broadbent AC, Patrick Corrigan AM, Marilyn Darling AC, Tim Fairfax AC, Sam Meers AO, John Liangis, Dr Helen Nugent AC and Nigel Satterley AM.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC 2013
Patrick Corrigan AM (b. 1932), businessman, art collector and arts patron, was born in Hanghow (Hankou) in China.
3 portraits in the collection
Dorothy Gordon (Jenner) OBE, ‘Andrea’ (1891-1985), actress, dressmaker, stuntwoman, journalist, radio broadcaster and charity fundraiser, grew up on a property near Narrabri and attended boarding school in Sydney before gaining a part as a chorus girl in Girl in a Train in Melbourne in 1912.
2 portraits in the collection
Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2004
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2013
The considered matching of artist to subject has produced an amazing collection of unique and original works in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery
The exhibition Portraits for Posterity celebrates gifts to the Gallery, of purchases made with donated funds, and testifies to the generosity and community spirit of Australians.
Presented by Sir Roy Strong and the late Dr Julia Trevelyan Oman in memory of their friendship with Gordon Darling and Marilyn Darling 2006
Rick Amor, noblest yet most unaffected of contemporary Australian portraitists, is also a painter of enigmatic, ominous landscapes, seascapes and cityscapes that haunt the viewer like dreams, dimly-recalled.
A photographic portrait by Kerry Dundas captures the contemplative mind of visionary painter Godfrey Miller.
The Australian of the Year Awards have often provoked controversy about who is selected and whether their achievements are remarkable.
Although perceived to be a recent phenomenon, the 'Aussie invasion' of Hollywood can actually be traced as far back as the early 1900s
The Board of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia is delighted to announce the appointment of Ms Karen Quinlan as its incoming Director.
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.
The photographs from Matthew Sleeth's tour of duty series look more like advertisements than images of war.
Artist Tessa Jones recalls creating her portrait of Daddy Cool and Mondo Rock singer and music producer, Ross Wilson.
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.
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.
This sample of 56 photographs takes in some of the smallest photographs we own and some of the largest, some of the earliest and some of the most recent, as well as multiple photographic processes from daguerreotypes to digital media.
First Ladies profiles women who have achieved noteworthy firsts over the past 100 years.
Sarah Engledow plays wingman to Leila Jeffreys.
We were in Gaza shooting a documentary and we had heard about the orphanages and wanted to visit and document some of the children who had lost parents during the wars in Gaza.
How the National Portrait Gallery and its unique collection came to be
The National Portrait Gallery today announced finalists for the inaugural Darling Portrait Prize, a national new $75,000 prize for Australian portrait painting, and released selected images from the final prize pool for the popular National Photography Portrait Prize.
The oil portrait of Sir Frank Packer KBE by Judy Cassab was gifted to the National Portrait Gallery in 2006.
The Chairman, Board, Director and staff mourn the loss of the National Portrait Gallery's inaugural director.
Phoebe Lupton profiles artist Kate Beynon, whose contemplative self portrait features in Archie 100: A Century of the Archibald Prize.
Exploring the photographs of Martin Schoeller, Michael Desmond delves into the uneasy pact that exists between celebrity and the camera.
Jose Legaspi was born in 1959 in Manila. He achieved degrees in zoology and biology before turning to fine arts in the mid-1980s.
Inga Walton sheds light on a portraiture collection usually only seen by students and teachers at Melbourne University.
Ah Xian's porcelain portrait of paediatrician Dr. John Yu reflects Yu's heritage and interests.
Michael Desmond reveals the origins of composite portraits and their evolution in the pursuit of the ideal.
The National Portrait Gallery's acquisition of the portrait of Edward John Eyre by pioneering English photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.
Joanna Gilmour explores the life of Chinese-Australian businessman and philanthropist Quong Tart.
Dr Helen Nugent AO, Chairman, National Portrait Gallery at the opening of 20/20: Celebrating twenty years with twenty new portrait commissions.
The life and art of Australian artist Jenny Sages is on display in the exhibition Paths to Portraiture.
The exhibition Australians in Hollywood celebrated the achievements of Australians in the highly competitive American film industry.
Claire Roberts interviews Swiss art collector Uli Sigg.
Stephen Zagala discusses Richard Avedon’s work from an Australian perspective.
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.
Penelope Grist speaks to Robert McFarlane about shooting for the stars.
Glynis Jones on the Powerhouse’s retrospective of one of Australia’s foremost fashion reportage and social photographers.
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).
Dr Sarah Engledow puts four gifts to the National Portrait Gallery’s Collection in context.
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.
Dr. Sarah Engledow discovers the amazing life of Ms. Hilda Spong, little remembered star of the stage, who was captured in a portrait by Tom Roberts.
Penelope Grist reminisces about the halcyon days of a print icon, before the infusion of the internet’s shades of grey.
Angus Trumble reflects on the force of nature that was Helena Rubinstein.
Sarah Engledow casts a judicious eye over portraits in the Victorian Bar’s Peter O’Callaghan QC Portrait Gallery.
Joanna Gilmour reflects on merging collections and challenging traditional assumptions around portraiture in WHO ARE YOU.
Sarah Engledow explores the history of the prime ministers and artists featured in the exhibition.
This is my last Trumbology before, in a little more than a week from now, I pass to my successor Karen Quinlan the precious baton of the Directorship of the National Portrait Gallery.