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Philip Gidley King (1758-1808), naval officer and governor, joined the navy in late 1770 and served in the East Indies and American waters.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009
Purchased 2010
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Patricia Tryon Macdonald 2005
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Philip Hunter (1958-2017), painter, studied art in Melbourne before holding his first solo exhibition there in 1982.
1 portrait in the collection
Former Australian diplomat and public servant Philip Flood AO (b. 1935) gained a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) degree at the University of Sydney before joining the Australian Government's Department of External Affairs in 1958.
1 portrait in the collection
During 46 years as a journalist, Philip Williams (b. 1957) covered the world’s biggest news events.
1 portrait in the collection
Isobel Parker Philip introduces artist Thom Roberts, whose distinctive portraits of people, buildings and personified trains define the world as he experiences it.
Gift of Philip and Carole Flood 2021
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2006
Gift of Rick Amor and Meg Williams in memory of Althea 'Bid' Williams 2020. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Gift of the artist 2019
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999
Amanda King is a Sydney-based visual artist and producer and director of film documentaries.
1 portrait in the collection
Martin King, an artist who specialises in making works on paper, was born in 1957 in Melbourne.
1 portrait in the collection
Inge King AO (1915–2016), sculptor, was at the forefront of the development of non-figurative sculpture in Australia and remained one of Australia’s outstanding sculptors into her 80s – a time in her life in which she continued to develop innovative work.
1 portrait in the collection
Bernard King (1934–2002), chef and television personality, grew up on a farm at Maleny in Queensland and appeared in his first talent quest at the age of eight.
1 portrait in the collection
William Francis King (1807-1873), aka 'The Flying Pieman', accomplished a series of bizarre athletic feats during the 1840s.
1 portrait in the collection
George Frederick Ernest Albert, The Duke of Cornwall and York and later King George V (1865-1936), was the son of Edward VII, the man for whom the Edwardian era was named.
4 portraits in the collection
Recorded 1965
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
James King (c. 1750-1784), naval officer, was born in Lancashire and educated at Clitheroe Grammar School before entering the navy in 1762.
1 portrait in the collection
Phillip Parker King RN (1791–1856) has been described as the first Australian-born person to succeed in the world outside the colonies.
1 portrait in the collection
Born: 1957, Gympie, QLD
Works: Brisbane
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010
Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2003
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015
Gift of the family of FW Macpherson 2010
Purchased 2018
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015
Gift of the artist 2023. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Purchased 2000
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Robert Oatley AO 2007
Purchased 2008
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009
King Edward Terrace was named in honour of King Edward VII (1841-1910)
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012
Gift of the artist 2010. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
The series 'David Moore: From Face to Face' was acquired as a gift of the artist and with financial assistance from Timothy Fairfax AC and L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2001
The king and the showgirl
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001
Gift of Dr Robert Edwards AO 1999. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Purchased 2021
While visiting the National Portrait Gallery I noticed the absence of paintings of journalists.
The National Portrait Gallery is deeply saddened by the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning monarch in British history. Throughout her 70-year reign, Her Majesty represented graciousness, humanity and stability during times of enormous social change.
Purchased 2019
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother (1900–2002) was born the Honourable Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon.
2 portraits in the collection
Purchased 2002
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with the assistance of funds provided by Janet Whiting AM, Philip Lukies and Antonia Syme 2016
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012
Purchased 2019
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (1926–2022) was the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York, who subsequently became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
4 portraits in the collection
Purchased 2010
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Philip Bacon AM 2012
We’re on King Edward Terrace in front of the High Court and next to the National Gallery of Australia. We are open every day of the year from 10am to 5pm, except 25 December.
Thomas Clark, teacher and painter, arrived in Victoria from England in about 1852, having been anatomical draftsman at King's College London and headmaster of the Birmingham School of Design.
1 portrait in the collection
More photographs by Bob King, Stuart Spence, 'pling, Tony Mott, and Wendy McDougall.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015
Gift of Richard King 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
On this day eight hundred years ago at Runnymede near Windsor, King John signed Magna Carta.
The draftsman and engraver William Evans reproduced many of Sir William Beechey’s portraits including that of King George..
3 portraits in the collection
Bungaree (c. 1775–1830), voyager, navigator and diplomat, was among the most significant Sydney-area Indigenous leaders of the early colonial period.
3 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard King 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
William John Wills (1834-1861) came to Victoria with his brother in early 1853.
3 portraits in the collection
Robert O'Hara Burke (1821-1861), explorer, came to Australia in 1853 and joined the Victorian police force.
4 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard King 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard King 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard King 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard King 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
William Griffith (c. 1808-1870) emigrated to Australia around 1840 and moved to Parramatta with his wife, Susan, whom he had married ten days after landing in Sydney.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Jozef Vissel 2015
Alan Davies' and Peter Stanbury's The Mechanical Eye in Australia lists Sydney photographer John Davis (life dates unknown) as having a carte-de visite studio on King Street, and as working from addresses on Pitt and George Streets between 1870 and 1873..
1 portrait in the collection
Balang T.E. Lewis (1958–2018), a Murrungun man, was an actor, singer, songwriter and cultural leader.
2 portraits in the collection
John Gollings made his first photographs and received darkroom tuition at age eleven; he later studied Arts/Architecture at Melbourne University, supporting himself through architectural and wedding photography.
3 portraits in the collection
Gift of Richard King 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Sir John Longstaff, born in Clunes, Victoria, studied at the NGV school from 1883 to 1887 and thenceforth at Corman's in Paris.
1 portrait in the collection
Willow Legge (b. 1934) is a British artist who studied sculpture at Chelsea School of Art from 1951 to 1956 under Willi Soukop and Bernard Meadows.
1 portrait in the collection
Gift of Douglas Stewart Fine Books 2013
The Hon. Susan Crennan AC KC (b. 1945) is a leading barrister and former High Court judge.
1 portrait in the collection
Purchased 1999
Purchased 2010
Maria Kozic (b. 1957), painter and sculptor, and Philip Brophy (b. 1959), film director, composer, performer and curator, collaborated in the avant-garde performance/happening group ??? (spoken as tsk tsk tsk) and other projects between 1977 and the mid-1980s.
1 portrait in the collection
Celebrate the people, places and sounds of Australian pub rock and its enduring impact on our nation’s identity.
Road closures for the Canberra Marathon will block vehicle access to our building and carpark on Sunday 13 April until 3:00pm.
Nicholas Harding (1956–2022) was one of Australia's most highly regarded artists, known for his portraits and drawings, and his light-filled, vigorously painted images of the bush and the coast.
5 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2010
Maria Kozic (b. 1957), painter and sculptor, and Philip Brophy (b. 1959), film director, composer, performer and curator, collaborated in the avant-garde performance/happening group ??? (spoken as tsk tsk tsk) and other projects between 1977 and the mid-1980s.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2010
Adelaide of Saxe-Coburg Meiningen (1792–1849) was the consort of King William IV of England.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2010
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2010
Mickey Johnson (1834-1906) was an Indigenous leader in the Illawarra district of New South Wales during the second half of the nineteenth century.
1 portrait in the collection
Basil Philip Bressler, who died in 2000, was a surveyor with an amateur interest in art and music.
Johann Zoffany, painter of portraits and conversation pieces, grew up in the court of the Prince von Thurn und Taxis in Germany, where his father was employed.
1 portrait in the collection
This exhibition goes behind-the-scenes and into the spotlight with professional photographers and the stars of Australian television, music and comedy. Whether negotiating the logistics of a big publicity shoot or quietly capturing moments on set during filming, the photographers' stories are intriguing and compelling.
The exhibition will feature some of the most significant portraits in the artist’s career to date, from early major works such as his painting of HM Queen Mary of Denmark through to his most recent.
Elvis at 21 is a photographic exhibition capturing Elvis’ rise to fame in the year 1956, before security and money built walls between him and his fans.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001
Parking is available in our underground car park every day of the week. Fees apply.
Purchased 2021
Jimmy Wululu (1936-2005) was a Gupapuyngu (Yolgnu) painter and sculptor.
1 portrait in the collection
George Frederick Ernest Albert, The Duke of Cornwall and York and later King George V (1865-1936), was the son of Edward VII, the man for whom the Edwardian era was named.
3 portraits in the collection
William Lanne (1834-1869), also known as King Billy or William Laney, is said to have been Truganini's third partner.
3 portraits in the collection
The National Photographic Portrait Prize 2024 celebrates established and emerging artistic talent from across the country.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Margaret Olley Art Trust 2002
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.
Philip Gudthaykudthay (b. 1935) Liyagalawumirr (Yolgnu) bark painter, worked as a young man as a stockman, fencer and crocodile hunter around Milingimbi and Ramingining.
1 portrait in the collection
William Dampier (1651-1715), seafarer and writer, had spent a good deal of time at sea as a buccaneer and merchant sailor before he spent three months in 1688 around King Sound (northern Western Australia) on the Cygnet.
1 portrait in the collection
Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2007
David Jones (1793-1873), merchant, began his retail career in Pembrokeshire and London before emigrating to Sydney via Hobart.
1 portrait in the collection
Karla Dickens (b. 1967), Wiradjuri artist, graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from the National Art School in Sydney in 2000 and has since built a diverse practice across the mediums of painting, photography, mixed media and installation.
2 portraits in the collection
George A Highland (1874-1954), theatrical producer, grew up in England, where, as a choirboy, he came to the attention of Arthur Sullivan.
1 portrait in the collection
Find out more from each of the artists reinterpreting and reimagining elements of Australian history.
Richard Fitzgerald (1772-1840), convict, public servant and settler, spent four years of his seven-year sentence imprisoned (probably on a floating 'hulk') at Portsmouth before arriving in Sydney in 1791, along with his private assets.
1 portrait in the collection
The Rev. Fred Nile MLC (b. 1934) Leader of the Christian Democratic Party was born and raised in King's Cross, Sydney.
1 portrait in the collection
From 2015 to 2017 the Acquisition Fund was focussed on Reg Richardson AM by Mitch Cairns, a finalist in the Archibald Prize 2014, and a great example of minimalist portraiture.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Philip Bacon AM 2001
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Gift of Philip Bacon AM 2012. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Victor Greenhalgh (1900-1983) was a sculptor and teacher who greatly influenced tertiary art education; he was one of the first Victorian sculptors to adopt a modern style.
5 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2004
Noel 'Digger' McGrowdie (1920-1961), jockey, was born in Brisbane and educated at a Christian Brothers School in Toowoomba before being apprenticed in Brisbane at the age of fourteen.
1 portrait in the collection
Charles Turner (1773-1851), engraver, was born in Oxfordshire and moved to London at the end of the 1780s.
2 portraits in the collection
Maps and public transport information for your visit.
Sydney-based painter Ralph Heimans AM (b. 1970) is one of the world's foremost contemporary portraitists, having created a body of work that has expanded and redefined the possibilities of what is sometimes perceived as an inflexibly traditional genre.
19 portraits in the collection
Graham Kennedy AO (1934-2005), entertainer, began his career in Melbourne radio in 1949.
2 portraits in the collection
Sir William Beechey, portrait painter and pupil of Johann Zoffany, was greatly influenced by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
1 portrait in the collection
Former NPG Director, Andrew Sayers celebrates the support given to the Gallery by Gordon and Marilyn Darling.
Purchased 2005
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Daniel Solander (1733-1782), naturalist, was a student of Carl Linnaeus, the Swede who devised and systemised the classification of plants and animals used today.
3 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard King 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Coral Browne (1913-1991) was an Australian actress who left for England in 1934.
1 portrait in the collection
John Tindale was born in Warwickshire in 1809 and came to Sydney in 1820 to join his father, a convict who had been transported to NSW in 1812 and who received a free pardon in 1816.
1 portrait in the collection
National Portrait Gallery Director Bree Pickering leads the executive team.
Julian Kingma (b. 1968), photographer, began his career in 1988 as a cadet for the Herald newspaper in Melbourne, and later worked for the Sunday Age as Head Features Photographer.
11 portraits in the collection
Yousuf Karsh - the most famous portrait photographer in the world - has photographed the statesmen, artists, literary and scientific figures who have defined the 20th century and shaped our lives, In this, his 90th year, the National Portrait Gallery is thrilled to present an exhibition of Karsh's photography of 20th century figures.
Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2007
Purchased 2005
Sarah Engledow steps up to the footlights and applauds the storyline behind Nicholas Harding's portraits of actor John Bell.
Dr Christopher Chapman looks at the life of Wurundjeri elder William Barak through the portrait painted by Victor de Pury in 1899.
Barbering manuals of the turn of the century might describe this style as a ‘Van Dyck’, named after the Dutch painter Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641) who is known to have adopted this look.
Richard von Marientreu was born in Poland and attended military academies in Cracow and Vienna before leaving for Prague, where he studied at the Academy of Painting.
2 portraits in the collection
Daryl Braithwaite (b. 1949) finished an apprenticeship as a fitter and turner in 1969, and joined Sherbet shortly afterward.
3 portraits in the collection
Gift of the artist 2001
Gift of the artist 2001
Transport Canberra bus routes run from the various city centres past the Gallery on a regular basis.
Purchased 2018
Walter Preston, engraver and convict, came to New South Wales aboard the Guildford in 1812.
1 portrait in the collection
Peter Brock (1945-2006), a professional racing driver from 1972 to 1997, was undoubtedly Australia's best known and most popular motor sports personality.
1 portrait in the collection
Miranda Otto (b. 1967), actress, is the daughter of the prominent Australian actor Barry Otto.
3 portraits in the collection
Carol Jerrems: Portraits is a major exhibition of one of Australia’s most influential photographers. Jerrems’ intimate portraits of friends, lovers and artistic peers transcend the purely personal and have come to shape Australian visual culture.
Maurice O'Shea (1897-1956) is remembered as a key figure in the formation of the modern Australian wine industry.
1 portrait in the collection
Rick and Thelma Carey comprise Australian country music's most famous double act, Rick and Thel.
1 portrait in the collection
Glenn Murcutt AO (b. 1936), architect, received the world's highest architectural honour when he was awarded the Pritzker Prize in April 2002.
4 portraits in the collection
Sir Robert Helpmann CBE (1909–1986) was a dancer, actor and choreographer.
3 portraits in the collection
As the first National Portrait Gallery travelling exhibition, The reflecting eye: portraits of Australian visual artists represents an important milestone in the history of Australia's National Portrait Gallery.
Gift of Richard King 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Purchased 2004
Cressida Campbell AM (b. 1960), artist, has worked for decades in a studio at her home in Bronte, Sydney.
2 portraits in the collection
Ern McQuillan (Senior) (1905-1988), boxing trainer, was born in Newtown, Sydney, and worked there all his life.
1 portrait in the collection
The photographers reveal the technical side of their work and reflect on changes in their profession. Now everyone has a camera in their pocket, is everyone a photographer? What is it like to sustain a career as a photographer in the entertainment industry? How do you work with celebrity subjects, negotiate the complex logistics of big shoots, and create captivating portraits under pressure?
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
Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool (1729–1808), statesman, was educated at Oxford and entered parliament in 1761.
1 portrait in the collection
Purchased 2003
The eight photographers represent diverse styles, specialities and career paths. Abigail Varney, Peter Brew-Bevan, Martin Philbey, John Tsiavis, Michelle Day, Julian Kingma, and Giovanni Lovisetto.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard King 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC and with the assistance of Philip Bacon Galleries 2000
Purchased 2005
The exhibition Flash: Australian Athletes in Focus offers various interpretations of sporting men and women by five Australian photographers.
Queen Elizabeth II is now the longest-reigning British sovereign
This 1910 portrait of Elizabeth Sarah (Lillie) Roberts by Tom Roberts was brought into the Gallery's collection with the assistance of the Acquisition Fund in 2013.
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
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003
Florrie Forde (1875–1940), singer and music hall performer, was born in Melbourne and was sixteen when she sang publicly for the first time, in Sydney, in late 1891.
9 portraits in the collection
Gift of Richard King 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Valentine Green, engraver, spent two years in a solicitor’s office in Evesham before abandoning the law and becoming a pupil of Robert Hancock, an engraver in Worcester.
1 portrait in the collection
Intimate Portraits is an exhibition of paintings, drawings and prints that explore the less public side of portraiture
Gift of Richard King 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard King 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Don Burrows AO MBE (1928-2020) is Australia’s best–known jazz musician.
2 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Penny Amberg and Andrew Bond 2001
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
George Moore (1923-2008), champion jockey, was born in Mackay, Qld and was apprenticed in Brisbane in 1938.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 1999
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
POL was a magazine that ran from 1969 to 1986
Purchased 2015
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2000
Purchased 2014
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
William Nicholas was born near London and is believed to have trained with English printmaker A.M Huffam.
2 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2000
John Bell AO OBE (b. 1940), actor and director, is one of Australia's best-known theatre personalities.
3 portraits in the collection
Purchased with funds provided by Patrick Corrigan 2000
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Ted and Gina Gregg 2012
L. Gordon Darling AC CMG (1921-2015), former company director, was the Founding Patron of the National Portrait Gallery.
2 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011
Judith O’Conal grew up in Sydney’s Rocks area and became interested in art as she repeatedly passed the plaque advertising the Julian Ashton School.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2004
Die-hard Elvis fans from Canberra and surrounding areas share their insights into the phenomenon that was Elvis Presley.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
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 Lady Bunting in honour of Sir John Bunting and the Menzies Foundation 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Victoria (1819–1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 until her death in 1901.
8 portraits in the collection
Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
John Keyse Sherwin, draughtsman and engraver, worked as a cutter of ships' bolts until 1769, when one of his drawings was awarded a silver medal at the Society of Arts.
1 portrait in the collection
Julia Matthews (1842-1876), actress and singer, came to Australia as a girl with her parents, and made her debut at Sydney's Royal Victoria Theatre in 1854, aged twelve.
1 portrait in the collection
Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2012
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Gina and Ted Gregg 2010
John Farnham (b.1949) has sustained a successful career in the Australian music industry for more than 40 years.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Robert Rooney (1937-2017), painter, conceptual artist and photographer, studied at Swinburne Technical college from 1954 to 1957.
17 portraits in the collection
Purchased 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard King 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Commissioned with funds provided by King & Wood Mallesons 2018
Commissioned with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by
Allanah Dopson & Nicholas Heyward 2009
Raimond Gaita (b. 1946) arrived in Australia in 1950 with his Romanian father and German mother, and was brought up largely by his father near Barninghup, Victoria.
1 portrait in the collection
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.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2006
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard King 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Wylie (c. 1824–unknown) is thought to have been born near King George’s Sound in south-west Western Australia, which would make him a Noongar man.
1 portrait in the collection
Purchased 2009
Lisa McCune (b. 1971) actor, made her stage debut at fifteen in a production of The Wizard of Oz in Perth.
1 portrait in the collection
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.
For Tom Roberts - Australia's best nineteenth-century portrait painter - neither a proto-national portrait gallery nor more popular collections of portrait heads, were sufficient public celebrations for the notables of Australian history
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010
Donald Friend (1915-1989), painter, writer and diarist, studied at the RAS and Dattilo-Rubbo’s school in Sydney before spending 1935 and 1936 at the Westminster School in London.
2 portraits in the collection
Chris Lilley, satirist and actor, was educated at Pymble Public School and Barker College before gaining his degree from Macquarie University.
1 portrait in the collection
Sir Sidney Kidman, pastoralist (1857-1935), is Australia's 'cattle king'.
2 portraits in the collection
This exhibition traces the creative output of nearly 50 years by one of Australia's landmark living photographers.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012
Hugo Weaving AO (b. 1960), actor, spent his childhood in England, Australia and South Africa before returning to live in Australia in 1976.
1 portrait in the collection
John Vickery (1906-1983), illustrator, designer and painter was the only Australian to be part of the New York School in 1960s which includes painters such as Jackson Pollock, Joan Mitchell and Willem de Kooning.
1 portrait in the collection
Purchased with funds provided by Robert Oatley AO 2007
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2010
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Michael Boddy (1934–2014), writer and actor, was born in England and educated at Cambridge before arriving in Australia as a 'ten quid migrant' in 1960.
2 portraits in the collection
Purchased 1998
Facing Memory: Headspace 4 provides us with valuable insights into the thoughts, creative processes and art-making practices of secondary students from Year 7 to Year 12 from sixty-two schools in the Australian Capital Territory, regional New South Wales and Victoria
Purchased 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Lily Kahan 2017
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2012
Commissioned with funds provided by King & Wood Mallesons 2018
Purchased 1999. Courtesy of the Corrigan family and Stuart Purves.
Commissioned with the assistance of funds provided by Janet Whiting AM, Philip Lukies and Antonia Syme 2016
Recorded 2017
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012
Edward 'Ned' Trickett (1851- 916), sculler and hotelier, was the best sculler in New South Wales by 1875.
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.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2017
In 2006 the National Portrait Gallery acquired a splendid portrait of Victoria's first governor, Lieutenant Governor Charles Joseph La Trobe by Thomas Woolner.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
George Rayner Hoff (1894-1937), sculptor, was born in England and trained at the Royal College of Art, London.
2 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2011
James Bartholomew (Bart) Cummings OAM (1927-2015) was Australia's most successful thoroughbred racehorse trainer.
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
Purchased 2011
Gift of Susanna de Vienne, Sarah Wood and David Lloyd Jones 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Gift of Susanna de Vienne, Sarah Wood and David Lloyd Jones 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Gift of Richard Elliott 2016. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard King 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
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.
Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Bob Ellis (1942-2016) was a journalist, columnist, screenwriter, film director and playwright.
3 portraits in the collection
Purchased 2003
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.
Gift of the artist 2004
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Lawrence Daws 2012
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Adapted from A Tribute to William Dobell an exhibition presented by the Australian National University's Drill Hall Gallery in association with the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation, The National Gallery of Australia, and the Australian War Memorial. Dobell is of course, celebrated for his achievements in portraiture, winning the Archibald prize (1943, 1948 and 1959), the Wynne Prize (1948), and representing Australia at the 1954 Venice Biennale. Curator Mary Eagle concludes her essay in the catalogue of the exhibition thus, "Overall I see a dissonance in Dobell’s art and life
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.
Gift of the Cornelius family 2019
An annual event, the National Youth Self Portrait Prize seeks to encourage young people to embrace self portraiture and its expressive possibilities.
Joanna Gilmour looks beyond the ivory face of select portrait miniatures to reveal their sitters’ true grit.
Sir William Deane AC KBE KC (b. 1931), High Court judge, was governor-general of Australia from early 1996 to mid-2001.
1 portrait in the collection
Purchased 2006
David Wenham AM (b. 1965), actor, studied drama at the Nepean College of Advanced Education (now the University of Western Sydney), graduating with a BA in Performing Arts in 1987.
1 portrait in the collection
Julian Rossi Ashton CBE (1851-1942), art teacher, artist and critic, trained in art in London and at the Académie Julian in Paris before coming to Australia to work on the Illustrated Australian News in 1878.
4 portraits in the collection
Lauren Dalla examines the life of Basil Bressler, the art patron responsible for one of the NPG's most important bequests.
May Emmeline Wirth (1894–1978), circus performer, was once described as the ‘greatest lady bareback rider of all time’.
1 portrait in the collection
Nothing quite prepares the first-time visitor to Cambodia for the scale and grandeur of the monuments of the ancient Khmer civilisation of Angkor.
Leigh Bowery (1961-1994), London-based designer and nightclub performer, was born in the Melbourne suburb of Sunshine, and attended school in Melbourne before briefly studying fashion design at RMIT.
2 portraits in the collection
Peter Elliott AM (1927–2014) was an obstetrician, gynaecologist and gynaecological oncologist as well as a significant art collector and patron.
6 portraits in the collection
Neil Murray (b. 1956), singer/songwriter, grew up in country Victoria, studied art and became a teacher.
2 portraits in the collection
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.
Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001
Sir Ferdinand Jakob Heinrich von Mueller KCMG (1825–1896), botanist, trained in pharmacy and botany in his native Germany before emigrating to Adelaide in 1847.
1 portrait in the collection
Henry Searle (1886–1889), a sculler known as the ‘Clarence River Comet’, took up rowing as a boy as a means of getting himself and his siblings to and from school.
1 portrait in the collection
Purchased 2015
To complement the exhibition Australians and the Nobel Prize, Jennifer Gason gives us a sense of the proceedings that occur during the award ceremony.
Annie May Moore (1881-1931) was born in New Zealand and studied at the Elam School of Art and Design in Auckland.
5 portraits in the collection
The Australian Tapestry Workshop (formerly the Victorian Tapestry Workshop) was established in 1976, following two years of planning and research on the part of its founding patrons, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch and Lady Joyce Delacombe.
2 portraits in the collection
Jenny Howard née Daisy Blowes (1902-1996), stage performer, made her name in her native England as ‘the poor man’s Gracie Fields’, recording covers of Fields’s songs for a cut-price label and impersonating the star onstage.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001
The Swiss Studios opened in King Street, Sydney in early 1898, operating from a building described as a 'pleasing reminder of one of those delightful old Swiss chalets, which one always associates with Alpine travel.' The elaborate establishment boasted a first-floor reception room, 'beautifully decorated and luxuriously furnished', 'tastefully arranged dressing rooms, one for ladies and the other for gentlemen', and a 'lofty, cool and well-lit gallery' where 'the best artists in the photographic line' were at work.
1 portrait in the collection
Stella Cornelius AO OBE (1919–2010), businesswoman and peace activist, was born to Jewish parents in Sydney and grew up moving around New South Wales as her father, a draper and tailor, found work during the Depression.
1 portrait in the collection
The Hon. Chief Justice Susan Kiefel AC (b. 1954) became Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia in 2017 and is the first woman to have held the role.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003
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
Judy Davis (b. 1955), actor, director and two-time Oscar nominee, has won many acting accolades, including eight AACTA awards, three Emmy awards, two BAFTAs and two Golden Globes.
3 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003
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.
This exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of self-portraits in Australia, from the colonial period to the present
William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806) was Tory prime minister of Great Britain from 1783 to 1801, and of United Kingdom from 1804 to 1806.
1 portrait in the collection
Wendy Sharpe undertook art studies in Sydney between 1978 and 1984 and held her first solo exhibition at the Nicholson Street Gallery in 1985.
3 portraits in the collection
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
Animated is the National Portrait Gallery's first online exhibition.
This year (in March) we will celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the formal establishment of the National Portrait Gallery. In the life of institutions, twenty years is not a long time.
Sir Douglas Frank Hewson Packer KBE (1906-1974), media proprietor, grew up in Sydney and became a cadet journalist on the Daily Guardian, owned by his father RC Packer, in 1923.
2 portraits in the collection
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
Louis-Claude Desaulses de Freycinet (1779–1842), hydrographer and cartographer, sailed with Nicolas Baudin on the Expédition aux terres australes, a journey of discovery, commissioned by Napoléon, to the unknown southern coast of New Holland.
1 portrait in the collection
Sir Sidney Kidman (1857-1935) is inscribed in Australian legend as the ‘Cattle King’.
June Mendoza AO OBE (1924–2024) was born into a musical family in Melbourne and started sketching portraits while touring with her mother, a composer and pianist.
1 portrait in the collection
Jenny Sages (b. 1933), artist, was born to Russian Jewish parents in Shanghai and came to Australia with her family in 1948.
34 portraits in the collection
Robert Neill arrived in Van Diemen’s Land from Edinburgh in 1820 with his free-settler parents and two siblings.
1 portrait in the collection
Purchased 2011
Gift of the family of Aimée Viola Horsley, daughter of J.C. Williamson 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Find a contact at the National Portrait Gallery.
The Darling Portrait Prize is a biennial national prize for Australian portrait painting honouring the legacy of Mr L Gordon Darling AC CMG.
RM (Reginald Murray) Williams AO CBE (1908-2003), saddlery, boot and clothing manufacturer, miner and author, moved to Adelaide from his birthplace near the Flinders Rangers when he was 10.
1 portrait in the collection
In 2020 the Annual Appeal was focussed on Sally Robinson's remarkable portrait of author Tim Winton.
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.
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.
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.
With contributions from Julia Gillard, Fiona Gruber, and Dr Karl James, the National Portrait Gallery’s 50th edition of Portrait has something for everyone.
Vanity Fair Portraits traces the birth and evolution of photographic portraiture through the archives of Vanity Fair magazine.
James T Donovan (1861–1922), journalist, Catholic historian and amateur singer, was born into an Irish Catholic family in Sydney and grew up in Womerah Avenue, Darlinghurst.
1 portrait in the collection
Barrister and philanthropist Malcolm James McCusker AC CVO KC was born in Subiaco, Western Australia in 1938.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Leslie Walford AM 2013
The Australian of the Year Awards have often provoked controversy about who is selected and whether their achievements are remarkable.
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.
Introduction The National Portrait Gallery’s photographic exhibition Flash: Australian Athletes in Focus explores various interpretations of Australian sporting men and women.
The first solo exhibition for this multidisciplinary, contemporary Australian artist, The Immersive World of Thom Roberts opens at the National Portrait Gallery on 12 April.
Emile Sherman (b. 1972), film producer, graduated from the University of New South Wales before beginning his career with a documentary about his great-great-uncle Chatzkel, a Lithuanian Jew who lived through both world wars and the Bolshevik revolution.
3 portraits in the collection
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.
Although perceived to be a recent phenomenon, the 'Aussie invasion' of Hollywood can actually be traced as far back as the early 1900s
Projecting the splendour of the empire, and the resolve of its subjects, the bust of William Birdwood keeps a stiff upper lip in the National Portrait Gallery.
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 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.
Elizabeth Roberts (1812–1833) was the daughter of Warwickshire-born William Roberts (1754–1819) and his wife, Jane (née Longhurst, c.
1 portrait in the collection
Tony Curran ponders whether our phones can change the course of painting.
Images for media use will be available from 8 March 2018.
Sir Edgar Barton ‘EB’ Coles (1899-1981) was the longest-serving chief executive of the Coles retail group.
2 portraits in the collection
Purchased 2017
Open Air is an exhibition of portraits of Australians in environments of particular significance to them.
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.
Seventeen of Australia’s thirty prime ministers to date are represented in the contrasting sizes, moods and mediums of these portraits.
Eighteenth century men differed from those of the preceding centuries in their preference for beardlessness.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Malcolm Robertson in memory of William Thomas Robertson 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
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.
James McCabe provides proof that hanging wasn’t necessarily a fate reserved for the perpetrators of murder and other deeds of darkest hue.
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
Access support for a general visit to the Gallery.
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 National Portrait Gallery recently announced the finalists for the Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award 2013.
Once central to military strategy and venerated in patriotic households, Lord Kitchener is now largely forgotten.
The National Portrait Gallery would like to congratulate the forty finalists for the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019.
The black and white portrait of an elderly woman with sidelong glance and irreverent, contemplative smile has taken out the people’s choice award in this year’s National Photographic Portrait Prize.
Press releases and images downloads for media.
Paul Kelly & The Portraits presents a multifaceted image of the performer over the course of his career.
Let’s take a look at the National Photographic Portrait Prize for 2024!
Purchased 2018
Robert Oatley's continuing benefaction has helped the National Portrait Gallery acquire works that add another layer to the story of Captain Cook.
Angus Trumble explores the creative manifestations of radiance.
Rupert Charles Wulsten Bunny (1864–1947) was one of the most celebrated Australian expatriate artists of his generation, achieving a degree of success in Paris in the 1890s and early 1900s that was unmatched by his peers.
3 portraits in the collection
The long life and few words of a vice-regal cockatoo
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Joanna Gilmour revels in accidental artist Charles Rodius’ nineteenth century renderings of Indigenous peoples.
A photographic portrait by Kerry Dundas captures the contemplative mind of visionary painter Godfrey Miller.
The Head of Registration is essential to the culture of collaboration that underpins the Gallery’s success. Reporting to the Director, Curatorial and Collection, the Head of Registration oversees the management of the NPG collection and registration requirements relating to the exhibition program.
When did notions of very fine and very like become separate qualities of a portrait? And what happens to 'very like' in the age of photographic portraiture?
Djon Mundine OAM brings poignant memory and context to Martin van der Wal’s 1986 portrait photographs of storied Aboriginal artists.
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.
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.
Kim Sajet reflects on two portraits with a power that extends beyond gallery walls.
Kwon Hyeeun introduces Korean portraits of Kang Sehwang, and five generations of the Kang family.
The caricaturist and engraver James Gillray's biting satires about Sir Joseph Banks.
Purchased 2018
Inga Walton traces the poignant path of photographer Polixeni Papapetrou, revealed in the NGV’s summer retrospective.
Susi Muddiman delights in Michael Zavros’ stunning portrait of the honourable Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO.
When soulmates Janet Dawson and Michael Boddy moved from Sydney to a property, Boddy was clear about why: ‘Our marriage is one long conversation - we moved to the bush so we could talk to each other without so many interruptions.’
Over the years the young Nicholas Harding got his hands on various mice and guinea pigs, but they served mainly to illustrate the concept of mortality.
Exploring the photographs of Martin Schoeller, Michael Desmond delves into the uneasy pact that exists between celebrity and the camera.
Access support for a visiting the Gallery before the general 10:00am opening time.
Sarah Engledow casts a judicious eye over portraits in the Victorian Bar’s Peter O’Callaghan QC Portrait Gallery.
In March 2024, the National Portrait Gallery will launch a major exhibition of the work of Ralph Heimans AM, the Australian artist who’s painted some of the world’s most recognisable people.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018
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.
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.
Alison Weir explores the National Portrait Gallery, London and the BP Portrait Award to find what makes a good painted portrait - past and present.
The Portrait Gallery's paintings of two poets, Les Murray and Peter Porter, demonstrate two very different artists' responses to the challenge of representing more than usually sensitive and imaginative men.
Angus Trumble salutes the glorious portraiture of Sir Thomas Lawrence.
Kurdish-Iranian writer and filmmaker Behrouz Boochani on his portrait by Hoda Afshar, recently acquired by the National Portrait Gallery.
The National Portrait Gallery is pleased to announce its winter exhibition is So Fine: Contemporary women artists make Australian history. It will open to the public from 29 June 2018.
John Zubrzycki lauds the characters of the Australian escapology trade.
Angus Trumble reveals the complex technical mastery behind a striking recent acquisition, Henry Bone’s enamel portrait of William Manning.
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).
I have been reading systematically through the ads in the earliest issues of the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, such a rich vein of information about certain aspects of daily life in Regency Sydney.
Joanna Gilmore delights in the affecting drawings of Mathew Lynn.
Last week ABC Television came to interview me about selfie sticks. The story was prompted by the announcement that the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has lately prohibited the use of these inside their galleries. So far as I am aware we have not yet encountered the phenomenon, but no doubt we will before too long.
Ten women artists explore the possibilities of portraiture as a contemporary art form; and reinterpret and reimagine Australian history in the Portrait Gallery’s new exhibition So Fine: Contemporary women artists make Australian history.
Andrew Sayers outlines the highlights of the National Portrait Gallery's display of portrait sculpture.
In the earliest stages of the Great War, the Royal Pavilion in Brighton was turned into a military hospital, and arrangements made there to accommodate the different dietary and other requirements of Hindu, Sikh and Muslim patients.
More than eighty treasures from the National Portrait Gallery London will travel to Canberra for a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from March 2022.
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.
Mark Strizic's work crosses a broad spectrum of photographic fields including urban, industrial, commercial, and architectural photography.
Representations of the inhabitants of the new world expose the complexities of the colonisers' intentions.
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.
Sarah Engledow looks at three decades of Nicholas Harding's portraiture.
Penelope Grist explores the interplay between medicine and portraiture in Vic McEwan’s Face to Face: The New Normal.
Christopher Chapman delights in the intimacy of Robert Mapplethorpe's photography
A toast to the acquisition of an unconventional new portrait of former Prime Minister, Stanley Melbourne Bruce.
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.
Michael Desmond explores the complex portrait of Dr Bob Brown by Harold 'The Kangaroo' Thornton.
Two professionals; Australian surfer Layne Beachley and photographer Petrina Hicks, combine their strengths to achieve a remarkable portrait.
Joanna Gilmour explores the fact and fictions surrounding the legendary life of Irish-born dancer Lola Montez.
Dr Sarah Engledow writes about the gift of two striking paintings by the Australian artist Ken Done AM.
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.
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.
Penelope Grist charts an immersive path through Stuart Spence’s photography.
Joanna Gilmour describes some of the stories of the individuals and incidents that define French exploration of Australia and the Pacific.
Joanna Gilmour describes how colonial portraitists found the perfect market among social status seeking Sydneysiders.
The first index I created was for my first book, and, to my astonishment, that was almost twenty-five years ago.
In their own words lead researcher Louise Maher on the novel project that lets the Gallery’s portraits speak for themselves.
Joanna Gilmour reveals love’s more intense manifestations in the tale of Lord Kenelm and Venetia Digby.
Dr Sarah Engledow writes about the larger-than-life Australian performance artist, Leigh Bowery.
Grace Carroll contemplates the curious case of Christian Waller.
Martin Sharp fulfils the Pop art idiom of merging art and life.
The biographical exhibition of Barry Humphries was the first display of its kind at the National Portrait Gallery.
Penelope Grist unpacks photographs by David Parker, who captured the phenomenal emergence of the 1970s and 80s Melbourne music scene.
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.
National Gallery of Australia curator Jane Kinsman discusses the portraiture of Henri Matisse.
Charting a path from cockatiel to finch, Annette Twyman explores her family portraits and stories.
Sarah Engledow bristles at the biographers’ neglect of Kitchener’s antipodean intervention.
Sarah Engledow describes the fall-out once Brett Whiteley stuck Patrick White’s list of his loves and hates onto his great portrait of the writer.
Joanna Gilmour explores the life of Chinese-Australian businessman and philanthropist Quong Tart.
Mette Skougaard and Thomas Lyngby bring eloquent context to Ralph Heimans’ portraits of Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark.
I spent much of my summer holiday at D’Omah, on the outskirts of Yogyakarta. Lotus and waterlilies sprout in extraordinary profusion in artful ponds amid palms and deep scarlet ginger flowers.
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.
Whether the result of misadventure or misdemeanour, many accomplished artists were transported to Australia where they ultimately left a positive mark on the history of art in this country.
Jane Raffan asks do clothes make the portrait, and can the same work with a new title fetch a better price?
Family affections are preserved in a fine selection of intimate portraits.
Karl James reflects on soldier portraiture during the Great War.
Joanna Gilmour takes us behind the scenes of some of Ralph Heimans’ best-known portraits of royalty, heads of state and cultural icons.
Krysia Kitch reviews black chronicles at the National Portrait Gallery, London.
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.
Inga Walton delves into the bohemian group of artists and writers who used each other as muses and transformed British culture.
Angus' initial perception of Uluru shifts, as he comes to see it as central to the entire order of Anangu life.
Traversing paint and pixels, Inga Walton examines portraits of select women in Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits.
Judith Pugh reflects on Clifton Pugh's approach to portrait making.
Keith Christiansen introduces the exhibition The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Preserving stories, subverting power and posing nude: Benjamin Law explores the potency and persuasiveness of portraiture.
Dr. Sarah Engledow discusses a collection of drawings and prints by the Victorian artist Rick Amor acquired in 2005.
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.
Sarah Engledow explores the history of the prime ministers and artists featured in the exhibition.
Dr Sarah Engledow examines a number of figures in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery who were pioneers or substantial supporters of the seminal Australian environmental campaigns of the early 1970s and 1980s.
Sir William Dobell painted the portraits of Sir Charles Lloyd Jones and Sir Hudson Fysh, who did much to promote the image of Australia in this country and abroad.
Dr Sarah Engledow puts four gifts to the National Portrait Gallery’s Collection in context.
The complex connections between four creative Australians; Patrick White, Sidney Nolan, Robert Helpmann and Peter Sculthorpe.
Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2017 Prize.
Sarah Engledow writes about Gordon and Marilyn Darling and their support for the National Portrait Gallery throughout its evolution.
Alexandra Roginski reveals a forceful feminist figure in the colonial period’s slippery science, phrenology.
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.
Penny Grist, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2016 Prize.
The London-born son of an American painter, Augustus Earle ended up in Australia by accident in January 1825.
How the National Portrait Gallery and its unique collection came to be
An exhibition of humanness in ten themes by Penelope Grist.
Dr Helen Nugent AO, Chairman, National Portrait Gallery at the opening of 20/20: Celebrating twenty years with twenty new portrait commissions.
Long after the portraitist became indifferent to her, and died, a beguiling portrait hung over its subject.
Dempsey’s People curator David Hansen chronicles a research tale replete with serendipity, adventure and Tasmanian tigers.
Sarah Engledow likes the manifold mediums of Nicholas Harding’s portraiture.
Shipmates for years, James Cook and Joseph Banks each kept a journal but neither man shed light on their relationship.
Sarah Engledow chronicles Rick Amor's work and accomplishments in this extensive essay in conjunction with the exhibition Rick Amor: 21 Portraits.