Paul Newton (b. 1961), is a Sydney-based portrait painter noted for his ability to capture likeness and sensibility.
6 portraits in the collection
An interview with Paul Newton, the creator of the portrait of rugby legend David Campese.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001
Katherine Russell examines the art of Australian artist Paul Newton, referencing the portraiture of John Singer Sargent.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2007
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds provided by Westpac Group and Optus 2018
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2003
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2016
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2013
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Bert Newton AM MBE (b. 1938) is one of Australia's longest-serving and best-known television personalities.
1 portrait in the collection
Helmut Newton was born and grew up in Berlin, which he fled in 1938 to escape persecution as a Jew.
1 portrait in the collection
Olivia Newton-John AO OBE (b. 1948) came to Australia as a five-year-old with her father, Brin Newton John, who had worked on the Enigma project at Bletchley, and her mother, Irene Born, who was the daughter of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Max Born.
1 portrait in the collection
Gael Newton delves into the life and art of renowned Australian photographer, Max Dupain.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2006
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Janice McIllree 2007
Gael Newton looks at Australian photography, film and the sixties through the novel lens of Mark Strizic.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2017
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.
Paul Kelly (b. 1955), singer, songwriter and producer, grew up in Adelaide and first performed in Hobart in 1974.
4 portraits in the collection
Paul Gosney, a Sydney-based photographer has worked for eighteen years photographing people, lifestyle, food, still life, interiors and architecture.
1 portrait in the collection
Paul Boston (b. 1952), an abstract artist, graduated from art school in Melbourne in 1972.
1 portrait in the collection
Paul Worstead (b. 1950) is a conceptual artist, poster maker, T-shirt and fabric designer.
10 portraits in the collection
Paul Haefliger (1914-1982) trained in Sydney and then in London with Bernard Meninsky and Mark Gertler.
1 portrait in the collection
Paul Montford came to Australia from England in 1921, attracted by the light, which he believed to be conducive to monumental sculpture.
2 portraits in the collection
Paul Fitzgerald AM, a Melbourne-based artist, made his career as a professional portraitist.
4 portraits in the collection
Paul Beadle (1917-1992), sculptor, was born in England and studied at the Cambridge Art School and the Central School of Arts and Crafts during the 1930s.
1 portrait in the collection
Paul Partos (1943-2002) came to Australia with his family in 1949, spending six months in a Perth orphanage before being reunited with his parents for their move to Melbourne.
1 portrait in the collection
Paul Taylor (1957-1992), critic and curator, graduated from Monash Univeristy in 1979.
1 portrait in the collection
Paul Capsis (b. 1964), performer, was raised by his mother and grandmother in the inner-Sydney suburb of Surry Hills.
1 portrait in the collection
Paul Gaimard (1796-1858), naturalist and naval surgeon, joined the French navy after distinguishing himself at the naval medical school at Toulon.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2004
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Wayne Williams 2015
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Rex Dupain 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds provided by Patrick Corrigan AM 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds provided by Patrick Corrigan AM 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds provided by Ian Darling 2013
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008
Major General Paul Cullen AC CBE DSO and BAR ED (Rtd) (1909–2007) was a soldier, banker, welfare executive and grazier.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Rick Amor and Meg Williams 2015
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2017
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2004
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by the Circle of Friends 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Bruno Grollo 1999
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Hilton Nicholas AM OBE 2010
Dr Anne Sanders previews the works in the new focus exhibition Paul Kelly and The Portraits.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mercy Health and Aged Care 2006
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of The Australian Industry Group 2012
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Australian Securities Exchange 2012
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Coles Myer Ltd 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of HOTA (Home of the Arts), Gold Coast 2019 with the encouragement of Patrick Corrigan AM
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Brew-Bevan 2012
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Ann Korner, Nicholas Korner, Anthony Korner and Harriet Bingham 2015
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with donated funds 2006
The story behind the creation of the portrait of singer-songwriter Paul Kelly by the artist Jon Campbell.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the New South Wales Jewish War Memorial 2002
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Lily Kahan 2017
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Dr Christopher Chapman discusses the portrait of Australian composer Paul Grabowsky by photographer Martin Philbey.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018
Portrait launch of Major-General Paul Cullen AC CBE DSO and Bar ED (Rtd) and George Judah Cohen.
Commissioned with funds provided by Westpac Group and Optus 2018
Finalist, DPA 2016
This learning resource package is designed for educators of secondary students as a companion to the National Portrait Gallery exhibition Paul Kelly & The Portraits.
Paul Kelly & The Portraits presents a multifaceted image of the performer over the course of his career.
Henry Fox Talbot (1920-1999), photographer, was born Henry Tichauer. The son of a middle-class Jewish family, he changed his name after fleeing Germany and being 'volunteered' out of England on the Dunera.
2 portraits in the collection
Join the host of River Cottage Australia for a special meal and conversation
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Graham Kennedy AO (1934-2005), entertainer, began his career in Melbourne radio in 1949.
2 portraits in the collection
This issue features convict portraitists, Janet Dawson, Paul Grabowsky, Nam Le, the Present Tense exhibition and more.
This issue features Paul Kelly, Rineke Dijkstra, John Brack, the National Photographic Portrait Prize and more.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
The National Photographic Portrait Prize 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.
Paul Cézanne, Bill Henson and Simone Young, Australian cinema’s iconic women, and Feminist portraits by Kate Just.
This issue of Portrait Magazine features Nancy Wake, Jon Campbell's portrait of Paul Kelly, George Selth Coppin, Henri Cartier-Bresson and more.
Esther Erlich, a Melbourne-based painter, has been exhibiting since the early 1980s, often with the Libby Edwards Galleries in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane and the Barry Newton Gallery in Adelaide.
3 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Paul and Wendy Greenhalgh 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
National Portrait Gallery and the St Vincent de Paul Society are asking Canberrans to pick up their knitting needles and crochet hooks to create warm winter scarves to assist people in need.
Ian Darling AO is an award winning documentary filmmaker. He has made two films about adventurer and explorer Jon Muir; Alone Across Australia and Suzy & The Simple Man.
1 portrait in the collection
This display celebrates 100 years of the Historic Memorials Collection and its role in commissioning portraits of parliamentary and judicial figures in Australia.
Leaders, painters, friends
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012
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
Bryan Westwood (1930-2000) was a painter and printmaker who twice won the Archibald Prize, for his portrait of artist and critic Elwyn Lynn (1989) and of the then Prime Minister, Paul Keating (1992).
10 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010
Celebrate the people, places and sounds of Australian pub rock and its enduring impact on our nation’s identity.
Peter Allen (1944-1992) was born Peter Allen Woolnough in Tenterfield, NSW.
1 portrait in the collection
My Favourite Australian is a project developed in collaboration with ABC TV and the people of Australia.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003
The National Portrait Gallery has unveiled twenty new portrait commissions of Australian leaders and individualists as part of its twentieth birthday celebrations in a new exhibition, 20/20: Celebrating twenty years with twenty new portrait commissions.
Portraits of philanthropists in the collection honour their contributions to Australia and acknowledge their support of the National Portrait Gallery.
Peteris Ciemitis was born in Western Australia in 1959, the son of Latvian refugees.
1 portrait in the collection
Ruby Hunter (1955-2010), singer/songwriter, was a Ngarrindjeri/ Kukatha/ Pitjantjatjara woman from South Australia.
1 portrait in the collection
Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kosciuszko (1746–1817) is a national hero in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and the United States.
1 portrait in the collection
Norman C Deck (1882-1980), photographer and dentist, joined the Photographic Society of New South Wales at the age of about fourteen, becoming its youngest-ever member.
1 portrait in the collection
Janice Wakely, fashion model and photographer, began her modelling career in Melbourne in 1954, having graduated from Sydney's Mannequin Academy in 1952.
4 portraits in the collection
Kylie Minogue, one of Australia's most famous cultural exports is now the subject of her own exhibition.
Celebrates the centenary of the first national art collection, the Historic Memorials Collection, housed at Australia's Parliament House.
The winner of our Art Handlers' Award receives $1000 and free return transport for their photograph, courtesy of International Art Services.
Lee Kernaghan (b.1964) is a country music singer and songwriter. Born in Victoria, son of travelling country music artist and impresario Ray Kernaghan, Lee Kernaghan grew up in the Riverina area of New South Wales.
1 portrait in the collection
Explore an Indian treasure trove, photography by Robert McFarlane and Nan Goldin, Michael Taylor's expressionist paintings, the Great War portraits, and more!
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of BHP Billiton 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Delve into the lives, loves and labour of the world’s most prominent portrait galleries in this international conversation series.
Free.
Jon Campbell (b. 1961) came to Australia from Northern Ireland as a three-year-old.
2 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Paul and Wendy Greenhalgh 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Margaret Olley Art Trust 2002
Bruce Pollard (b. 1936), gallerist, established the Pinocotheca Gallery in a St Kilda mansion in 1967, and relocated it to an old hat factory in Richmond in 1970.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Claudia Hyles, Dr Christiane Lawin-Bruessel, Gwenda Matthews, Gael Newton, Anne O'Hehir, Susan Smith and Dominic Thomas in memory of our friend, Robyn Beeche 2016
Born in 1983 of Irish and Aboriginal descent, award winning singer-songwriter Daniel Leo Sultan grew up in Melbourne and moved with his family to Yuendumu in the Tanami Desert and Cairns, following his father who worked as a lawyer for the Aboriginal Legal Service.
1 portrait in the collection
Jacqueline Mitelman was born in Scotland, but apart from a few years in France she has lived in Melbourne all her life.
20 portraits in the collection
Winner, MDPA 2013
Yami Lester OAM (1941–2017) was born at Walyatjata in the north of South Australia.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of David Naseby 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of David Naseby 2001
Featuring works by Australian and New Zealand photographers from the late 1970s up to the present day Reveries focuses on images made in the presence of or consciousness of death.
Norman McBeath, Edinburgh-based photographer and printmaker, has fifty portraits in the National Portrait Galleries of London and Edinburgh.
2 portraits in the collection
Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), acknowledged as one of the world's great portraitists, was master of portraits in the 'Grand Manner', replete with moral and heroic symbolism.
3 portraits in the collection
Lyndon Dadswell CMG (1908-1986) studied at the Julian Ashton School before working with Rayner Hoff from 1926 to 1929 and Paul Montford from 1929 to 1935.
3 portraits in the collection
Jimmy Little AO (1937–2012), singer, made his recording debut in 1956.
3 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2004
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Alana Landsberry and Bauer Media Australia 2019
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.
Animated is the National Portrait Gallery's first online exhibition.
The Darling Prize is a new annual prize for Australian portrait painters, painting Australian sitters. The winner receives a cash prize of $75,000.
Australian photographer Karin Catt has photographed world leaders, a host of rock stars and Oscar-winning compatriots Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, and Cate Blanchett.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009
Jean Bellette (1908-1991), painter, studied in her native Hobart before moving to Sydney to train with Julian Ashton.
1 portrait in the collection
Sir Asher Joel (1912-1998), public relations entrepreneur and state politician, started out as a copyboy at Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.
1 portrait in the collection
Clyde Cameron (1913-2008), Labor politician and historian, worked as a shearer and union organizer before serving as a Member for Hindmarsh between 1949 and 1980.
1 portrait in the collection
Australia has become recognised for the range and talent of its musicians, composers, conductors and celebrities in general associated with the music industry
Tony Shaw (b. 1953), rugby union footballer, made his debut for Queensland in 1973 and went on to play 112 games for his state team.
1 portrait in the collection
Penelope Grist speaks to Robert McFarlane about shooting for the stars.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2010
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
While the blues-inspired hard guitar riffs of Australian pub rock were shaping tastes, a number of artists were developing music primed for success on the international stage.
Norman Gunston (1973-1993) was a fictional television character, conceived by writer Wendy Skelcher and developed by actor Garry McDonald.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001
Don Watson (b. 1949), writer, is an authority on aspects of Australian history, culture, politics and language.
1 portrait in the collection
Willow Legge studied sculpture at Chelsea School of Art from 1951 to 1956 under Willi Soukop and Bernard Meadows.
1 portrait in the collection
Portraits from The Movement is the first comprehensive survey of photographs from the Juno Gemes archive, which has supported the Aboriginal struggle for justice in Australia from 1978 to the present day.
Bryan Brown AM (b. 1947), actor and producer, worked as an insurance salesman before doing theatre in Australia and London.
2 portraits in the collection
During his long and distinguished career Max Dupain took thousands of photographs of people
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dr Andrew Lu OAM 2013
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
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.
Peter Hudson (b. 1950), is a landscape and portrait painter who lives and works in Maleny, Queensland.
5 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Paul and Wendy Greenhalgh 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Cast 1999 from terracotta donated by Paul and Wendy Greenhalgh 1999
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Lily Kahan 2017
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Janet Holmes à Court AC (b. 1943), businesswoman and philanthropist, graduated in science and worked as a teacher before marrying young Perth lawyer Robert Holmes à Court in 1966.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2004
Courtesy of Kev Carmody, Song Cycles Pty Ltd.
Therese Desmond (1902–1961), radio and stage actress, was born Mary Long in London and came to Australia as a teenaged orphan at the end of World War 1.
1 portrait in the collection
Josonia Palaitis trained as an art teacher in Sydney in the early 1970s, and experimented with diverse painting styles before settling into the photorealist mode for which she became best known.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Reg, Lesley, Glen and Paul Thoms 2011
Vanity Fair Portraits traces the birth and evolution of photographic portraiture through the archives of Vanity Fair magazine.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Lily Kahan 2017
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Louis Kahan (1905-2002) was born in Vienna, Austria to Jewish parents.
63 portraits in the collection
John Clarke (1948-2017), satirist and humourist, moved to Australia in the 1970s from New Zealand, where he had begun performing in university revues and was named Entertainer of the Year in 1976.
3 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011
The Australian public was invited in 2008 to vote for their favourite Australian. After the votes were tallied an exhibition of the top-ten Popular Australians and the top-twenty unsung heroes was displayed at the National Portrait Gallery.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Ruth and Peter McMullin 2013
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011
Bob Ellis (1942-2016) was a journalist, columnist, screenwriter, film director and playwright.
3 portraits in the collection
Hélène Kirsova (1910-1962), dancer, was born Ellen Wittrup Hansen in Copenhagen.
4 portraits in the collection
Sir William Deane AC KBE QC (b. 1931), High Court judge, was governor-general of Australia from early 1996 to mid-2001.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Madeleine Howell 2013
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Paul and James Bryans 2015
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011
Carol Jerrems (1949–1980) was born and grew up in suburban Melbourne and studied art and design under Paul Cox at the Prahran Technical School between 1967 and 1970.
9 portraits in the collection
Robert Hannaford (b. 1944), a largely self-taught artist, grew up on his family farm before working as political cartoonist for the Adelaide Advertiser from 1964 to 1967.
6 portraits in the collection
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.
Dorothy Porter (1954-2008), poet and writer, grew up in Sydney and the Blue Mountains, graduated from the University of Sydney in 1975 and taught creative writing at the University of Technology, Sydney.
1 portrait in the collection
This unique exhibition will give an insight into the private lives, pursuits and work of all the Nobel laureates associated with Australia
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds from the Patrick Corrigan Portrait Commission Series 2018
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2006
Dr Mandawuy Yunupingu (1956–2013), singer songwriter, was the lead singer of Australia's pre-eminent Aboriginal band, Yothu Yindi.
2 portraits in the collection
Geoff Dyer (1947-2020) was renowned landscape and portrait painter whose practice depicted Tasmania and its people.
1 portrait in the collection
Bob Ellis (1942–2016) was a journalist, columnist, screenwriter, film director, playwright, speechwriter and critic.
Gary Heery, photographer, was born in Sydney, where he studied sociology and psychology at the University of New South Wales.
1 portrait in the collection
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.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Geoffrey Tozer 2012
Tony Adam (b. 1938) model, grazier and farmhand, grew up in Melbourne and attended Melbourne Grammar school, but left when he was sixteen.He went to work on Angledool and Llanillo stations in outback New South Wales and Queensland.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2006
Celebrate the Gallery’s 20th birthday summer with Electric! Portraits that pop! The collection exhibition features a mix of bright, bold and colourful paintings, prints and photographs, and buoyant video portraits.
George Hurrell, born in Kentucky, began his working life studying painting at the Art Institute of Chicago.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds donated by BHP Billiton Limited, Rio Tinto Aboriginal Fund, Newmont Australia Limited, Reconciliation Australia, Hon Paul Keating and Hon Fred Chaney 2006
Geoffrey Tozer (1954-2009), pianist, achieved national fame as a child prodigy in the 1960s.
1 portrait in the collection
An annual event, the National Youth Self Portrait Prize seeks to encourage young people to embrace self portraiture and its expressive possibilities.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Lady Primrose Potter 2006
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Sarah Engledow on a foundational gallery figure who was quick on the draw.
Ellen Kent examines the portrait of Vincent Lingiari and Prime Minister Gough Whitlam taken by photographer Mervyn Bishop.
Seventeen of Australia’s thirty prime ministers to date are represented in the contrasting sizes, moods and mediums of these portraits.
First Ladies profiles women who have achieved noteworthy firsts over the past 100 years.
National Gallery of Australia curator Jane Kinsman discusses the portraiture of Henri Matisse.
Thousand mile stare provides a unique portrait of people of rural Australia
Michael Desmond, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2007 Prize.
Michael Desmond profiles a handful of the entrants in first National Photographic Portrait Prize and notes emerging themes and categories.
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 California Video at the J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles demonstrated how video artists expand the boundaries of portraiture.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Robert Dessaix 2000
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
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.
Barry York charts the course from childhood request to autographed celebrity portrait anthology.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Andrea Goldsmith 2011
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
An interview with the photographer.
Martin Philbey’s portrait of Dan Sultan.
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.
Rock’s raw potency made it the ideal medium for fomenting protest. The 1970s, 80s and onwards saw calls for social and environmental justice ring out through song.
Rosalie Kunoth Monks AM (1937-), indigenous welfare campaigner and elder and former actress and nun, was born at Utopia Cattle Station in the Northern Territory, the daughter of Allan Kunoth and his wife Ruby, a woman of the Ngarla people, Anmatjere tribe.
1 portrait in the collection
The Australian of the Year Awards have often provoked controversy about who is selected and whether their achievements are remarkable.
Rennie Ellis: Aussies All is a celebration of the life and work of the late Australian photographer Rennie Ellis.
Comments from our judges and information about entering the 2017 Prize.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Gillian Appleton (McClelland) 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
This exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of self-portraits in Australia, from the colonial period to the present
Commissioned with funds from the Patrick Corrigan Portrait Commission Series 2018
Over the last five years the National Portrait Gallery has developed a collection of portrait photographs that reflects both the strength and diversity of Australian achievement as well as the talents of our photographers.
This article examines the portraits gifted to the National Portrait Gallery by Fairfax Holdings in 2003.
John Elderfield lauds the portraiture of Paul Cézanne, the artist described by both Matisse and Picasso as ‘the father of us all’.
Australian photographer Karin Catt has shot across the spectrum of celebrity, her subjects including rock stars, world leaders and actors.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Wayne Williams 2015
Tim Storrier describes the influences on the development of his artistic style.
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.
Michael Desmond discusses Irving Penn's photographic portrait of Nicole Kidman.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2011
Edward Riou (1762-1801), naval officer, began his career with the Royal Navy at the age of twelve.
2 portraits in the collection
Anne Sanders imbibes Tony Bilson’s gastronomic revolution.
An exhibition that celebrates the people, places and sounds of Australian pub rock and its enduring impact on the nation’s identity, opens at the National Portrait Gallery on 5 September, 2020.
Robert James Lee (Bob) Hawke (1929-2019) moved with his family from South Australia to Perth in 1939.
9 portraits in the collection
As Bryan Westwood’s portrait of Brian Dunlop hangs adjacent to Brian Dunlop’s portrait of the philanthropist Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE, we see the artist of one work as the subject of the other.
Christopher Chapman describes the art and life of Australian artist Richard Larter.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018
Lauren Dalla examines the life of Australian painter Roy de Maistre and his portrait by Jean Shepeard.
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.
The National Portrait Gallery, has welcomed the newest portrait commission of Emeritus Professor Derek Denton AC by Evert Ploeg.
Michael Desmond profiles the Australian songwriter and performer Neil Murray and his contribution to Australian music.
Commissioned with funds provided by Maliganis Edwards Johnson and Alan Dodge AM 2018
Michelle Fracaro examines the life of World War II nurse Margaret Anderson, whose portrait by Napier Waller is in the NPG collection.
The exhibition Depth of Field displays a selection of portrait photographs that reflect the strength and diversity of Australian achievement.
Penelope Grist charts an immersive path through Stuart Spence’s photography.
Michael Desmond looks at the history of the Vanity Fair magazine in conjunction with the exhibition Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008
The story behind George Lambert's Self-portrait with Gladioli.
The current exhibition of portraits at the National Gallery of Ireland Print Gallery investigates just how paper-thin ideas of likeness are.
Anne Sanders finds connections in Inner Worlds between Hungarian expatriates and the development of psychoanalysis in Australia.
Penny Grist, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2016 Prize.
Vanity Fair Editor David Friend describes how the rebirth of the magazine sated our desire for access into the lives of celebrities and set the standard for the new era of portrait photography.
Biographies of participants in the Writing lives, revealing lives forum.
Lecture by Sandy Nairne, Director, National Portrait Gallery, London, given at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra on 28 April 2006.
Barrie Cassidy pays textured tribute to the inimitable Bob Hawke.
Exploring the photographs of Martin Schoeller, Michael Desmond delves into the uneasy pact that exists between celebrity and the camera.
The following on-line and physical exhibitions are planned to open at the National Portrait Gallery in coming months. For those who can’t travel at present, selected works from all exhibitions will be included online
Australia's tradition of sculpted portraits stretches back to the early decades of the nineteenth century and continues to sustain a group of dedicated sculptors.
Roger Benjamin explores the intriguing union of Lina Bryans and Alex Jelinek.
Dr Sarah Engledow puts four gifts to the National Portrait Gallery’s Collection in context.
Alison Weir explores the National Portrait Gallery, London and the BP Portrait Award to find what makes a good painted portrait - past and present.
Leslie Moran investigates the portraits of judges in the National Portrait Gallery's collection.
How the National Portrait Gallery and its unique collection came to be
John Elliott talks about his photographic portrait practice, including his iconic image of Slim Dusty arm-in-arm with Dame Edna Everage.
Joanna Gilmour revels in accidental artist Charles Rodius’ nineteenth century renderings of Indigenous peoples.
The Tate/SFMOMA exhibition Exposed examined the role of photography in voyeurism and how it challenges ideas of privacy and propriety.
Tegan McAuley looks at the evolution of video portraiture.
Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2017 Prize.
Sarah Engledow on Messrs Dobell and MacMahon and the art of friendship.
Select extracts from Mirka Mora's autobiography, Wicked but Virtuous, provide rich accompaniment to recent Gallery acquisitions.
Despite once expressing a limited interest in the self portrait, the idea of it has figured strongly in much of Tracey Moffatt's work and has done so in some of her most distinctive and compelling images.
Angus Trumble salutes the glorious portraiture of Sir Thomas Lawrence.
Joanna Gilmour profiles the life and times of the shutter sisters May and Mina Moore.
Chris O'Doherty, also known as Reg Mombassa, is best-known for his Mambo imagery but he also paints a lot of self portraits.
Marian Anderson’s glorious voice thrust her into stardom, and a more reluctant role as American civil rights pioneer.
At just 7.8 x 6.2 cm, the daguerreotype of Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and his wife Theresa is one of the smallest works in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.
Stephen Zagala discusses Richard Avedon’s work from an Australian perspective.
George Selth Coppin (1819-1906) comedian, impresario and entrepreneur, was a driving force of the early Australian theatre.
Dr Christopher Chapman describes the experimental exhibition Portraits + Architecture
Dr Sarah Engledow explores the lives of Sir George Grey and his wife Eliza, the subjects of a pair of wax medallions in the National Portrait Gallery's collection.
Penelope Grist reminisces about the halcyon days of a print icon, before the infusion of the internet’s shades of grey.
Krysia Kitch reviews black chronicles at the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Andrew Mayo talks to three of Australia’s most prominent and prolific music photographers — Martin Philbey, Kane Hibberd and Daniel Boud — about the challenges and inspiration behind their craft.
Sarah Engledow bristles at the biographers’ neglect of Kitchener’s antipodean intervention.
Christopher Chapman takes a trip through the doors of perception, arriving at the junction of surrealism and psychoanalysis.
Penelope Grist explores the United Nations stories in the Gallery’s collection.
Sarah Engledow explores the history of the prime ministers and artists featured in the exhibition.
John Zubrzycki lauds the characters of the Australian escapology trade.
Dr. Sarah Engledow discusses a collection of drawings and prints by the Victorian artist Rick Amor acquired in 2005.
Fiona aims to create a dangerous situation with a flood of water on the paper, forcing each work to the point where it can fail, and then rescuing it.
It’s a matter beyond dispute that in the entire history of Australian art, it’s Noel McKenna who’s painted the liveliest rendition of the head of a Chihuahua.
Tedi Bills talks to George Gittoes about canvassing conflict.
Sarah Engledow chronicles Rick Amor's work and accomplishments in this extensive essay in conjunction with the exhibition Rick Amor: 21 Portraits.
Dempsey’s People curator David Hansen chronicles a research tale replete with serendipity, adventure and Tasmanian tigers.
John Singer Sargent: a painter at the vanguard of contemporary movements in music, literature and theatre.
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.
Dr Anne Sanders NPG Curatorial Researcher investigated the lives of the pioneering psychologists whose portraits are featured in Inner Worlds.
Inner Worlds features the recently commissioned portrait of world-renowned philosopher of consciousness David Chalmers by Melbourne-based artist Nick Mourtzakis.
Sarah Engledow writes about Gordon and Marilyn Darling and their support for the National Portrait Gallery throughout its evolution.
Dr Christopher Chapman NPG Curator of Inner Worlds explains the development of an exhibition that spans from Surrealism to contemporary art.
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