Robin Smith grew up in rural New Zealand, and studied arts and fine arts at Canterbury University before beginning to write and illustrate adventure and natural history stories.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2004
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2007
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2019
Robin Sellick (b. 1967), photographer, is well known for his distinctive portraits of Australian actors, musicians, politicians and athletes.
17 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2019
Purchased 2021
An interview with photographer Robin Sellick about his portrait of golfing champion Adam Scott.
Robin Gerard Penleigh Boyd (1919-1971), was born and educated in Melbourne, and a member of the famous Australian family of artists and writers.
1 portrait in the collection
Recorded 1962
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2004
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2004
Gift of the artist 2004
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2006
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2006
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2006
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2006
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2006
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2006
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2004
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2006
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Sir Roderick Carnegie 2003
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2000
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Robin Sellick captured a rare moment of quietude from the late conservation star Steve Irwin.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2000
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2000
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2000
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2000
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2000
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2000
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2000
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2000
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2000
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2000
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2000
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2000
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005
Robin Sellick's portraits of Australian sportspeople include Harry Kewell, Adam Scott, Shane Warne, Mark Webber and John Newcombe.
Joshua Smith studied sculpture with Rayner Hoff and took classes in drawing and painting at Julian Ashton's Sydney Art School.
5 portraits in the collection
Benjamin ‘Ben’ Roberts-Smith VC MG (b. 1978), is a former Australian Army soldier, and Victoria Cross recipient.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Eric Smith 2019
Dick Smith (b. 1944), businessman, aviator, film-maker and explorer, developed interests in radio and the bush as a boy.
2 portraits in the collection
Eric Smith (1919-2017), painter, was born in Brunswick, Melbourne, and trained in commercial art at the Brunswick Technical College before serving in the army during World War 2.
6 portraits in the collection
Julian Smith, surgeon and photographer, came to Australia with his family from England at the age of three.
2 portraits in the collection
Tommy Smith (1916-1998), racehorse trainer, was born at Jembaicumbene near Braidwood, NSW.
2 portraits in the collection
David Smith, painter, draughtsman, printmaker and teacher, was born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, where he attended the Technical School and the Lowestoft and Norwich Schools of Art.
1 portrait in the collection
Bernard Smith (1916-2011) was one of Australia's most important twentieth-century art historians and an influential cultural commentator.
2 portraits in the collection
Sydney Ure Smith, publisher, was responsible for the establishment of Art in Australia in 1916-1942 and the journals The Home and Australian National Journal.
1 portrait in the collection
Sir Gerard Smith (1839-1920), governor, was educated at Eton before purchasing a commission as an ensign and lieutenant in the Scots Fusilier Regiment of Foot Guards, with whom he served in Canada in 1863-1864.
1 portrait in the collection
Heide Smith took up photography as a young girl in Germany in 1948, when her uncle gave her a Zeiss Ikon camera.
3 portraits in the collection
Shirley 'Mum Shirl' Smith AO OBE (1921–1998), humanitarian, was a Wiradjuri woman.
1 portrait in the collection
Recorded 1965
Recorded 1962
Recorded 1975
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the late May Ralph 2019
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2019
Peter Purves Smith (1912–1949), artist, went to Geelong Grammar with his lifelong friend Russell Drysdale.
2 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999
Sir Charles Kingsford Smith MC AFC (1897- last seen 1935) and Captain Charles Ulm (1898-last seen 1934) together founded Australian National Airlines.
3 portraits in the collection
John Firth-Smith (b. 1943) is a Sydney abstract painter. In the early 1960s he won a number of 'young artist' prizes for his paintings of yachts on Sydney Harbour, but by 1968 his work was becoming increasingly abstract, featuring large fields of opaque colour.
2 portraits in the collection
Grace Cossington Smith OBE (1892–1984) was a pioneer of modernist art in Australia.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003
Stephen Murray-Smith (1922-1988), writer and editor, was educated at Geelong Grammar and the University of Melbourne before serving in New Guinea during World War 2.
1 portrait in the collection
John Raphael Smith worked in various drapery establishments and painted miniatures before turning to engraving in London.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Eve 2013
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003
Born: 1957, Gympie, QLD
Works: Brisbane
Recorded 1961
Recorded 1965
Purchased 2002
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2017
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned in 2018 with funds raised through the 2020 project
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1998
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of an anonymous donor 2002
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Eric Smith 2019
Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
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
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Bequest of Richard Divall AO OBE 2017
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2007
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2004
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Henry Vernon Crock AO in memory of David Smith 2007
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2007
Eric Smith describes the agony and finally the ecstasy of winning the 1982 Archibald Prize with the portrait of Peter Sculthorpe.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Jessica Smith looks at the 'fetching' portrait of Tasmania's first Anglican Bishop, Francis Russell Nixon by George Richmond
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Sydney Airports Corporation 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Lyn Williams AM 2011
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Heide Smith 2012
Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
The National Portrait Gallery acquired the self-portrait by Grace Cossington Smith in 2003.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Eric Smith 2019
Bequest of Lady Maisie Drysdale 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2019
The name of Florence Broadhurst, one of Australia’s most significant wallpaper and textile designers, is now firmly cemented in the canon of Australian art and design.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010
Close contemporaries, Thea Proctor, Margaret Preston and Grace Cossington Smith were frequently sources of inspiration and irritation to each other.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Susanna de Vienne, Sarah Wood and David Lloyd Jones 2009.
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Michael Desmond discusses Fred Williams' portraits of friends, artist Clifton Pugh, David Aspden and writer Stephen Murray-Smith, and the stylistic connections between his portraits and landscapes.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Sydney Airports Corporation 2001
Sarah Hill introduces the portrait busts of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Captain Charles Ulm by Enid Fleming.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John Sandefur 2019
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Susanna de Vienne, Sarah Wood and David Lloyd Jones 2009
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Bequest of Lady Maisie Drysdale 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2004
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Robin Eley studied Fine Arts at Westmont College, USA and began his career as a professional illustrator. Eley was a finalist in the Eutick Memorial Still Life Prize in 2010 and his work was Highly Commended in the Doug Moran Portrait Prize in 2010 and 2011.
Commissioned in 2018 with funds raised through the 2020 project
Frank McIlwraith was the London representative for the Australian periodical Smith's Weekly in the late 1930s.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Robin MacQueen 2007
The exhibition features work from Jan Nelson, Natasha Bieniek, Patricia Piccinini, Juan Ford, Petrina Hicks, Ron Mueck, Yanni Floros, Sam Jinks, Michael Peck and Robin Eley.
The exhibition Flash: Australian Athletes in Focus offers various interpretations of sporting men and women by five Australian photographers.
Lady Maisie Drysdale (1915–2001), children's librarian and artists' muse, developed an interest in art as a child, and attended both the University of Melbourne and George Bell's art school.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003
This issue of Portrait Magazine features Grace Cossington Smith, the Fairfax portrait gift and Lewis Morley's photographs.
Francis Lymburner (1916-1972) was a Queensland-born artist who was educated at Brisbane Grammar and took art classes at Brisbane Technical College.
2 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Sydney Airports Corporation 2001
Finalist, MDPA 2014
George Moore (1923-2008), champion jockey, was born in Mackay, Qld and was apprenticed in Brisbane in 1938.
1 portrait in the collection
Charles is my wingman
Segregated from their fellow humans in cellophane prisons, reference points are removed, so it is not certain whether these naked figures could be unwrapped, are about to be subsumed, or will forever be suspended in a plastic stasis.
Les Darcy (1895-1917), boxer, was one of Australia's earliest sporting heroes.
3 portraits in the collection
David Warren graduated from RMIT in 1964, after which he taught for some twenty years at the Prahran School of Art, RMIT and Ballarat CAE.
1 portrait in the collection
George Finey, one of Australia's best-known cartoonists, was born in Auckland and was selling drawings to local newspapers by the time he was 14.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010
Alec Murray was a photographer whose Alec Murray's Album: Personalities of Australia was published by Sydney Ure Smith in about 1948.
1 portrait in the collection
Little is known of John Chapman, who engraved fine allegorical subjects after the designs of J Smith and Richard Corbould and worked closely with Thomas Macklin on his Shakespeare series.
2 portraits in the collection
Harry Hudson (1907-1974) was a Melbourne-based painter. His work was included in a number of group exhibitions at the Bridget McDonnell Gallery, Carlton in the 1980s along with those of such notable artists as Roland Wakelin, Grace Cossington-Smith and James Gleeson.
1 portrait in the collection
Known as the 'Kings of Disco', The Bee Gees have sold over 120 million records worldwide and are among the highest-selling musical artists in history.
1 portrait in the collection
Barry Walsh (b. 1951) is a painter, photographer and printmaker who has studied in Italy and France and has exhibited since the early '80s in Europe as well as Australia.
1 portrait in the collection
In the flesh is an enthralling and immersive experience of contemporary art that confronts the concept of humanness and the experiences of consciousness and emotion. Featuring ten Australian artists including Jan Nelson, Patricia Piccinini, Ron Mueck and Michael Peck, the exhibition explores themes of intimacy, empathy, transience, transition, vulnerability, alienation, restlessness, reflection, mortality and acceptance.
Press releases and image downloads for media.
Gwen Pratt FRAS (b.1917) is a traditional painter and portraitist in oil, watercolour and pastel.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Tamsin Hong recounts the tale of Marion Smith, the only known Australian Indigenous servicewoman of World War One.
Childhood sweethearts
Errol Flynn (1909-1959), actor, was born in Hobart, where his father was a biology lecturer, and spent his childhood in Tasmania, England and Sydney.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005
Enid Fleming was a pupil of Rayner Hoff's at the East Sydney Technical College at the time these works were made (Hoff and several of his other students were working on the Anzac Memorial at the time).
2 portraits in the collection
Find out more from each of the artists reinterpreting and reimagining elements of Australian history.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Gift of the artist 1999. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
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.
Danelle Bergstrom (b. 1957) was born in Sydney. She studied art and art education at the Julian Ashton school (1974-1979) and at Alexander Mackie CAE.
2 portraits in the collection
To celebrate Peter Sculthorpe's 80th birthday, the National Portrait Gallery has created a feature exhibition of portraits and associated biographic material drawn from the National Portrait Gallery and the composer’s personal collection.
Joy Hester (1920-1960) was the only female member of the Angry Penguin movement, which included artists Tucker, Sydney Nolan and Arthur Boyd.
1 portrait in the collection
Anne Boyd AM (b. 1946), composer and teacher, was born in Sydney and studied composition with Peter Sculthorpe at the University of Sydney before earning a PhD at the University of York.
1 portrait in the collection
Sean Godsell (b. 1960) a Melbourne-based architect, is known internationally for his distinctive residential architecture.
1 portrait 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
Charles Ulm (1898-1934) began work as a clerk in a stockbroking office after he left school, but enlisted under a false identity in the 1st Battalion of the AIF just before his 16th birthday.
2 portraits in the collection
Barry Gibb (b. 1946) and twins Robin (b. 1949) and Maurice Gibb (1949-2003), were the brothers comprising the band The Bee Gees.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Barbara Tucker 2004
Roland Wakelin was born in New Zealand and studied at the RAS school in Sydney under Dattilo Rubbo from 1912 to 1914.
1 portrait in the collection
Robin Nevin AO (b. 1942), actor, director and theatre administrator, is the artistic director and chief executive officer of the Sydney Theatre Company.
1 portrait in the collection
Introduction The National Portrait Gallery’s photographic exhibition Flash: Australian Athletes in Focus explores various interpretations of Australian sporting men and women.
Sister Mary Brady OP (1922-2014), born in Tamworth, is a self-taught painter, though she did receive critiques from Joshua Smith and Norman Carter.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Elle Macpherson (b. 1964) is an entrepreneur, model, actor and television host.
1 portrait in the collection
William Edwin 'Wep' Pidgeon, cartoonist, illustrator and painter was born in Paddington and studied art at the JS Watkins School and East Sydney Technical College.
2 portraits in the collection
Irish-born James Horan (b. 1976) is an editorial and advertising photographer whose many clients include banks, hotel chains, medical supply companies, museums and charities such as The Salvos and The Smith Family.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Hera Roberts (1892-1969) was a painter, illustrator, designer, commercial artist and milliner.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013
Sir Roy Grounds (1905-1981) was one of Australia's leading modernist architects.
2 portraits in the collection
Sir William Dobell (1899-1970), painter, was apprenticed to an architect and studied art in Sydney before leaving Australia for Europe in 1929.
9 portraits in the collection
Mark Strizic (1928-2012) was born in Berlin and migrated to Australia via Croatia in 1950.
12 portraits in the collection
Adrian Feint (1894-1971) studied at the Sydney Art School with Julian Ashton after having served in the AIF in France and Belgium in World War I, during which he was praised for gallantry.
1 portrait in the collection
Arthur Horner was born in Malvern, Victoria, and attended Sydney High School and the National Art School.
1 portrait in the collection
Born in Sydney, Garry Shead studied at the National Art School in 1961-2.
3 portraits in the collection
Henry Bryan Hall grew up in England and began his trade as an apprentice to the engravers Benjamin Smith and Henry Meyer.
1 portrait in the collection
Colin Wills (1906–1965), journalist and author, was born in Toowoomba, Queensland and grew up in Sydney.
1 portrait in the collection
Purchased 2001
Basil Hetzel AC (1922-2017), medical scientist, came to South Australia as a three year old and was educated - like Nobel Prize winners William Lawrence Bragg, Howard Florey and Robin Warren - at St Peter's College and the University of Adelaide.
1 portrait in the collection
Gift of an anonymous donor 2001
Sir Colin Syme AK (1903-1986) was chairman of BHP from 1952 to1971. Born in Perth, he attended Scotch College in Claremont, the universities of Perth and Melbourne and the University of New South Wales before becoming a solicitor in the Melbourne firm of Hedderwick, Fookes and Alston in 1923.
1 portrait in the collection
Sir Russell Drysdale AC (1912-1981), painter, developed eye trouble in 1929, and had to leave boarding school for the first of many eye treatments which left him fearful of total blindness.
6 portraits in the collection
Russell Crowe (b. 1964), actor, was born in Wellington, New Zealand. He moved at the age of four to Australia, where his parents worked as caterers on TV and movie sets.
2 portraits in the collection
Mervyn Horton AM (1917-1983), editor, art writer and entrepreneur, founded the journal Art and Australia in 1963 and edited it until his death in 1983.
1 portrait in the collection
Thomas Purves (1909-1969), known as Tam, founded the Australian Galleries in Smith Street, Collingwood, Melbourne with his wife Anne in 1956.
1 portrait in the collection
Stella Bowen, painter and writer, grew up in Adelaide, where she studied with Margaret Preston.
1 portrait 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
Gift of Rex Dupain 2003. 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
Purchased 1999
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.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard King 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Stretton family 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
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.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds provided by Mrs Diana Ramsay AO 2008
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.
Roderick Shaw (1915-1992) is perhaps best known for his worker paintings of the social realist school, such as Cable Layers (in the Art Gallery of NSW).
2 portraits in the collection
Gift of Danina Anderson, daughter of Max Dupain 2017
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Philip Bacon AM 2001
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
Gai Waterhouse AO, thoroughbred racehorse trainer, is the daughter of legendary trainer Tommy Smith.
1 portrait in the collection
Roy de Maistre (Roi (Leroy) de Mestre) CBE (1894-1968), painter, studied music at the Sydney Conservatorium, but was also a student at the RAS School with Dattilo Rubbo and later the Sydney Art School with Julian Ashton.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2000
In 1988 philanthropists Gordon and Marilyn Darling decided to make an Australian portrait gallery a reality, overseeing the development of the 1992 touring exhibition Uncommon Australians.
Intimate Portraits is an exhibition of paintings, drawings and prints that explore the less public side of portraiture
Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2012
Jan Senbergs (b. 1939) came to Australia from Latvia in 1950. He studied at the Melbourne School of Printing and Graphic Arts, where he was influenced by Leonard French.
2 portraits in the collection
Brian Fitzpatrick (1905-1965) was educated at state schools in regional Victoria and Melbourne before gaining his BA from Melbourne University in 1925.
1 portrait 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 2010
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Australia has become recognised for the range and talent of its musicians, composers, conductors and celebrities in general associated with the music industry
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Gina and Ted Gregg 2010
Anthony Dattilo Rubbo (1870-1955) was born in Naples and received classical art training in Italy.
1 portrait in the collection
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 with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
During his long and distinguished career Max Dupain took thousands of photographs of people
Justin O'Brien (1917-1996) was one of the major Australian artists of his generation.
3 portraits in the collection
Drusilla Modjeska (b. 1946), writer, feminist and academic, was born in England and moved to Australia in 1971 after several years in Papua New Guinea.
1 portrait in the collection
Sir Charles Lloyd Jones (1878-1958), merchant and arts patron, grew up in Sydney, where he studied at Julian Ashton's art school in 1895.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds provided by Jim and Barbara Higgins, Sir Roderick Carnegie AC, Rupert Myer AO and Annabel Myer, Louise and Martyn Myer Foundation, Peter and Ruth McMullin, Diana Carlton, Professor Derek Denton AC, Harold Mitchell AC, Peter Jopling AM QC, Andrew and Liz Mackenzie, Patricia Patten, Tamie Fraser AO, Bruce Parncutt and Robin Campbell, Lauraine Diggins, Steven Skala AO and Lousje Skala 2017
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001. 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.
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
The story behind George Lambert's Self-portrait with Gladioli.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2004
Ethel Anderson (née Mason, 1883-1958), writer and artist, was an important figure in the Sydney modern art scene of the 1920s and 30s.
2 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Happiness to heartache
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001
Gift of the artist 2019 acknowledging Herbert Smith Freehills for supporting the creation of the portrait
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2002
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999
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.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001
George Lambert (1873–1930), artist, was born in St Petersburg and lived in Germany and England before coming to Australia with his family at the age of fourteen.
7 portraits in the collection
Polly Borland: Australians, is an exhibition of 54 new portraits of significant Australians who have made a contribution to British life and who have largely made their home or based their professional life in the UK
In the flesh is realised through moments of intimacy, empathy, transitions in life and the transience of life, vulnerability, alienation, restlessness, self-reflection, mortality and acceptance.
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 Laurie Curley OAM and Mrs Robyn Curley 2012
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds provided by Mr Anthony Adair and Ms Karen MacLeod 2007
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.
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
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dr Robert Edwards AO 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
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
Gift of Nancy Bird Walton AO OBE 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
The Circle of Friends Acquisition Fund for 2012 was dedicated to purchasing a portrait of David Malouf by Rick Amor.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016
Gift of Rodney Davidson AO OBE 2014. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Peter Garrett AM (b. 1953), musician, environmental and social activist, and former politician, is the lead singer of the band Midnight Oil, which originated in Sydney's northern beaches in the mid-1970s.
12 portraits in the collection
Sir Rupert ‘Dick’ Hamer AC KCMG (1916-2004) was premier of Victoria from 1972 to 1981.
1 portrait 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.
Gift of Danina Dupain Anderson 2017. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Sir Robert Gibson GBE (1863-1934) trained in design and drafting in Glasgow, where he began work as a designer at an iron company; he soon became manager of its London office.
1 portrait in the collection
Former NPG Director, Andrew Sayers describes the 1922 Self-portrait with Gladioli by George Lambert.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the National Australia Bank 2002
Vali Myers (1930-2003) artist, vagabond and agitator, was born near Box Hill and moved to Melbourne at the age of eleven.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Geoff Cousins AM 2007
Jill Ker Conway AC (1934-2018), academic, writer and company director, was born in Hillston in western New South Wales and spent her early years on her father's sheep station, Coorain, which was so isolated that she was seven years old before she saw another girl.
1 portrait in the collection
Jason Yat-Sen Li (b. 1972) was born to parents who came to Australia from China in 1959.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003
Mark Strizic's work crosses a broad spectrum of photographic fields including urban, industrial, commercial, and architectural photography.
Frank Hurley (1885-1962), photographer, first made his name on Douglas Mawson's Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911-14.
2 portraits in the collection
Harold Cazneaux's portraits of influential Sydneysiders included Margaret Preston and Ethel Turner, both important figures in the development of ideas about Australian identity and culture.
William Hardy Wilson (1881-1955) - or Hardy Wilson, as he styled himself - is regarded as one of the most significant and visionary Australian architects of the twentieth century.
1 portrait in the collection
Gilbert Eric Douglas (1902-1970), pilot and air force officer, took part in Sir Douglas Mawson's British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE) of 1929-1931.
1 portrait in the collection
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.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2002
Jean Appleton (1911–2003), painter and art teacher, studied at the East Sydney Technical College, completing a diploma in drawing and illustration in 1932.
2 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Wayne Williams 2015
Thousand mile stare provides a unique portrait of people of rural Australia
Nancy Bird Walton AO OBE (1915–2009), aviatrix, decided she wanted to be a pilot when, at age eight, she saw a plane make an emergency landing on a beach near her home.
2 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001
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
This exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of self-portraits in Australia, from the colonial period to the present
Gael Newton delves into the life and art of renowned Australian photographer, Max Dupain.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John McPhee 2018
This is the first in a series of National Portrait Gallery exhibitions to survey the portraits painted by artists who are not thought of, primarily, as portrait painters
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of BHP Billiton 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
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
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
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.
The Australian of the Year Awards have often provoked controversy about who is selected and whether their achievements are remarkable.
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
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.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Margaret Olley Art Trust 2002
The wild balancing act of McDonald’s home décor (is that there as a joke? where do I actually sit down? is this ironic or what? what a lovely photo of Darren and Robin in Europe!) is reflected in his own personality.
Vanity Fair Portraits traces the birth and evolution of photographic portraiture through the archives of Vanity Fair magazine.
David Unaipon (1872-1967) writer, public speaker and inventor, was a Ngarrindjeri man, fourth of nine children of the evangelist James Ngunaitponi and his wife Nymbulda, both of whom were Yaraldi speakers.
1 portrait in the collection
First Ladies profiles women who have achieved noteworthy firsts over the past 100 years.
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.
Sir William Dargie, painter and eight times winner of the Archibald Prize for portraiture, died in Melbourne on July 26, 2003, aged 91.
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.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Sally Douglas 2009
Michael Kimmelman, Chief Art Critic of The New York Times and author of Portraits: Talking with Artists at the Met, the Modern, the Louvre and Elsewhere, presented the National Portrait Gallery Third Anniversary Lecture on 2 March 2002. He was generously brought to Australia by the Gordon Darling Foundation and Qantas.
Gift of John McPhee 2018
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.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Lucio Galletto OAM 2012
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Jean Appleton’s 1965 self portrait makes a fine addition to the National Portrait Gallery’s collection writes Joanna Gilmour.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2003
Open Air is an exhibition of portraits of Australians in environments of particular significance to them.
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 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.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
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.
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.
The National Portrait Gallery would like to congratulate the forty finalists for the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2004
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Sarah Engledow on Messrs Dobell and MacMahon and the art of friendship.
Deborah Hill talks figures with character, as the National Portrait Gallery touring exhibitions program welcomes its millionth visitor.
Gael Newton looks at Australian photography, film and the sixties through the novel lens of Mark Strizic.
This article examines the portraits gifted to the National Portrait Gallery by Fairfax Holdings in 2003.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
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
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.
Seventeen of Australia’s thirty prime ministers to date are represented in the contrasting sizes, moods and mediums of these portraits.
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.
Percy Leason, artist, illustrator and cartoonist, grew up in Victoria's Wimmera region and trained in the rudiments of art in Nhill.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009
Diana O’Neil on Noel Counihan’s vivid 1971 portrait of Alan Marshall.
A newly acquired work by Stella Bowen adds to the National Portrait Gallery's growing collection of important Australian self-portraits.
Penelope Grist finds philanthropy and fashion underpin the story of Susan Wakil AO.
A National Portrait Gallery, London exhibition redefines portraiture, shifting the focus towards a new perspective on Pop Art.
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 world of Thea Proctor was the National Portrait Gallery's second exhibition to follow the life of a single person, following Rarely Everage: The lives of Barry Humphries.
Dr Sarah Engledow traces the significant links between Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo and Evelyn Chapman through their portraits.
Joanna Gilmour explores the extraordinary life of Australian female aviator Nancy Bird Walton AO OBE
Magda Keaney talks with Montalbetti+Campbell about their photographic portrait of Australian astronaut Andy Thomas.
Dr Christopher Chapman, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2009 Prize.
An interview with the photographer.
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.
Christopher Chapman highlights the inaugural hang of the new National Portrait Gallery building which opened in December 2008.
Michael Desmond explores the complex portrait of Dr Bob Brown by Harold 'The Kangaroo' Thornton.
The oil portrait of Sir Frank Packer KBE by Judy Cassab was gifted to the National Portrait Gallery in 2006.
Robyn's parents had two terriers, Wuff and Snuff. In spite of Snuff’s ominous name and a couple of close shaves – once, he jumped out of a moving car, and another time, on a long road trip, he was accidentally left behind at a petrol station – he outlived Wuff.
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.
Peter Jeffrey trips the hound nostalgic.
English artist Benjamin Duterrau took up the cause of the Indigenous peoples of Tasmania with his detailed and sympathetic renderings.
The photographs from Matthew Sleeth's tour of duty series look more like advertisements than images of war.
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.
Johanna McMahon revels in history and mystery in pursuit of a suite of unknown portrait subjects.
Andrew Sayers outlines the highlights of the National Portrait Gallery's display of portrait sculpture.
Penelope Grist, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2020 Prize.
Joanna Gilmour on Tom Durkin playing with Melbourne's manhood.
Joanna Gilmour examines the prolific output of Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin, and discovers the risk of taking a portrait at face value.
An exhibition of humanness in ten themes by Penelope Grist.
Christopher Chapman delights in the intimacy of Robert Mapplethorpe's photography
The exhibition Australians in Hollywood celebrated the achievements of Australians in the highly competitive American film industry.
Sarah Engledow previews the beguiling summer exhibition, Idle hours.
Sarah Engledow is seduced by the portraits and the connections between the artists and their subjects in the exhibition Impressions: Painting light and life.
Emanuel Solomon gave shelter to the Sisters of St Joseph upon the excommunication of St Mary MacKillop.
Olegas Truchanas and Peter Dombrovskis, photographers and conservationists, shared a love of photography and exploring wilderness areas of Tasmania.
Gideon Haigh discusses portraits of Australian cricketers from the early 20th century
In their own words lead researcher Louise Maher on the novel project that lets the Gallery’s portraits speak for themselves.
Robyn Sweaney's quiet Violet obsession.
The London-born son of an American painter, Augustus Earle ended up in Australia by accident in January 1825.
Scott Redford discusses his dynamic portrait commission of motorcycling champion and 2008 Young Australian of the Year Casey Stoner.
Joanna Gilmour presents John Kay’s portraits of a more infamous side of Edinburgh.
Curator, Penny Grist, reveals how this exhibition came to be
Aviation carried women’s roles in society to greater heights – fashion followed suit.
Chris O'Doherty, also known as Reg Mombassa, is best-known for his Mambo imagery but he also paints a lot of self portraits.
Andrew Sayers discusses the real cost of George Lambert's Self portrait with gladioli 1922.
Pamela Gerrish Nunn explores New Zealand’s premium award for portraiture.
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.
Jerrold Nathan's portrait of Jessie Street shows the elegant side of a many-faceted lady.
Michael Wardell samples the fare in the University of Queensland National Self-portrait Prize.
Sarah Engledow chronicles Rick Amor's work and accomplishments in this extensive essay in conjunction with the exhibition Rick Amor: 21 Portraits.
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.
Christopher Chapman absorbs the gentle touch of Don Bachardy’s portraiture.
Joanna Gilmour looks beyond the ivory face of select portrait miniatures to reveal their sitters’ true grit.
Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2014 Prize.
The complex connections between four creative Australians; Patrick White, Sidney Nolan, Robert Helpmann and Peter Sculthorpe.
Aircraft designer, pilot and entrepreneur, Sir Lawrence Wackett rejoins friends and colleagues on the walls of the National Portrait Gallery.
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.
A toast to the acquisition of an unconventional new portrait of former Prime Minister, Stanley Melbourne Bruce.
Long after the portraitist became indifferent to her, and died, a beguiling portrait hung over its subject.
Dr Christopher Chapman NPG Curator of Inner Worlds explains the development of an exhibition that spans from Surrealism to contemporary art.
Judith Pugh reflects on Clifton Pugh's approach to portrait making.
Dr. Sarah Engledow discovers the amazing life of Ms. Hilda Spong, little remembered star of the stage, who was captured in a portrait by Tom Roberts.
Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2017 Prize.
One half of the team that was Eltham Films left scarcely a trace in the written historical record, but survives in a vivid portrait.
Dr Anne Sanders NPG Curatorial Researcher investigated the lives of the pioneering psychologists whose portraits are featured in Inner Worlds.
Sarah Engledow writes about Gordon and Marilyn Darling and their support for the National Portrait Gallery throughout its evolution.
Sarah Engledow explores the history of the prime ministers and artists featured in the exhibition.
