Search / melody cooper

William, Randwick, 1975/2008

Purchased 2022

I am Kerryn

The Chameleon IV, 2015

Carl Cooper, 1945-1946

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Bequest of Alan Boxer 2014

Taylor Cooper, 2021

Purchased with funds provided by the Annual Appeal for Contemporary Australian Photography 2022

The Australian Tom Thumb (John David Armstrong), c. 1880

Purchased 2014

Admiral Earl Howe, n.d.

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

Sydney (Sir Daniel Cooper), 1882

Gift of Mr Ronald Walker 2001

Dan (Sir Daniel Cooper), 1890s

Gift of Ronald A Walker 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

D.A.S. Campbell (David Alexander Stewart Campbell), 1963

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dr Mary Newlinds and Sheena Simpson in memory of their father, D.A.S. Campbell, 2014

Drawn in

Draw while listening to Bella Groove as they play a mix of lively, groovy tunes.

Mysterious eyes

Boyd’s self-portrait at age 25 is joined by his equally emotive portraits of those around him.

Presence and Absence

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

John Williams, 2000 (printed 2022)

Purchased 2022

Of Burke, Wills ... and wills

Infatuation and (ill-fated) exploration

Start Your Engines...

The bronze sculpture by Julie Edgar reflects through both the material and representation the determined and straight-forward nature of Brabham. 

Jack Brabham, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2005

Recognition

Originally conceived as an anthropological record, Percy Leason’s powerful 1934 portraits of Victorian Aboriginal people are today considered to be a highlight of 20th century Australian portraiture

2022 Annual Appeal

In 2022 the Annual Appeal was focussed on Mayatjara by Robert Fielding, a series of 24 photographs of Elders of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara community.

Dave Graney, 1996

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2002

Portrait Gallery benefits from generous Boxer bequest

Canberran and modernist art collector Alan Boxer has generously bequeathed two works by artists Arthur Boyd and Jenny Sages to the National Portrait Gallery.

Nick Cave and Rowland S. Howard (of The Birthday Party), 1983

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2002

2014-15 Acquisition Fund

Kristin Headlam's portrait of Chris Wallace-Crabbe was acquired with the support of the Circle of Friends in 2014.

Jack Brabham, 1967 (printed 2012)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

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.

Annual Appeal

Robert O'Hara Burke, c. 1860

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

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

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.

Glossy - Faces Magazines Now

Magazines are the portrait galleries of the 90s... Glossy is about magazines. The exhibition presents the work of eight photographers, Australian by birth or long-term residency, who are producing portraits for publication in magazines around the world.

2021 Annual Appeal

In 2021 the Annual Appeal was focussed on Peter Brew-Bevan's portraits of athletes Turia Pitt, Leisel Jones OAM and Ellie Cole OAM.

2023 Annual Appeal

In 2023 the Annual Appeal was focussed on a work by one of Australia's best loved and most successful portrait painters, Judy Cassab AO CBE, depicting model, entrepreneur and deportment icon, June Dally-Watkins OAM.

The 2023 National Photographic Portrait Prize

Shea Kirk’s portrait of friend and fellow-artist Emma Armstrong-Porter has won the 2023 National Photographic Portrait Prize.

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 animating signature

Joanna Gilmore delights in the affecting drawings of Mathew Lynn.

Cooey! An Australian Song

"Coo-ey, Coo-ey, Coo-ey, Coo-ey—Love has caught the strain, Coo-ey, Coo-ey, Coo-ey, Coo-ey—it whispers back again." The “Australian lady” who composed these fruity lyrics was none other than Desda— Jane Davies, sometime Messiter (née Price) of Leddicott, Lavender Bay.

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.

Boyd to man

Christopher Chapman looks at influences and insight in the formative years of Arthur Boyd.

Dance like everyone’s watching

Penelope Grist’s spirits soar with Lisa Tomasetti’s Dancers in the Streets series.

Foundation Members

Chairman Sid Myer AM, Hayley Baillie, Tim Bednall, Jillian Broadbent AC, Patrick Corrigan AM, Marilyn Darling AC, Tim Fairfax AC, Penny Fowler AM, John Liangis, Dr Helen Nugent AC and Nigel Satterley AM.

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.

Material culture

The Rajah Quilt’s narrative promptings are as intriguing as the textile is intricate.

Heartfelt

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

The life of Bryant

Tenille Hands explores a portrait prize gifted to the National Screen and Sound Archive.

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).

More cash than dash

Joanna Gilmour describes how colonial portraitists found the perfect market among social status seeking Sydneysiders.

Through blue eyes

Works by Arthur Boyd and Sidney Nolan bring the desert, the misty seashore and the hot Monaro plains to exhibition Open Air: Portraits in the landscape.

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.

Some prime ministers

Sarah Engledow explores the history of the prime ministers and artists featured in the exhibition.