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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

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Search / rupert murdoch

Rupert Murdoch AC KCSG

Biography

Rupert Murdoch AC (b. 1931) is widely regarded as the world's most influential media mogul.

2 portraits in the collection

Rupert Murdoch, 2005

Ben Baker

Portrait, type C photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005

Rupert Murdoch, c. 1986

Joe Greenberg

Portrait, watercolour, crayon, coloured pencil, fibre-tipped pen and gouache on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001

Rupert Bunny

Biography

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

Self portrait with scarf, c. 1930s

Rupert Bunny

Portrait, oil on canvas

Gift of Philip Bacon AM 2012. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Sir Rupert Hamer AC KCMG ED

Biography

Sir Rupert ‘Dick’ Hamer AC KCMG (1916-2004) was premier of Victoria from 1972 to 1981.

1 portrait in the collection

Rupert C.W. Bunny, 1928

Arthur T. Woodward

Portrait, watercolour and gouache on strawboard

Gift of Ben Travers 2021. Donated through Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Sir Keith Murdoch

Biography

Sir Keith Murdoch (1886–1952), journalist and media proprietor, was dux of his Melbourne school before becoming a cadet journalist for the Age in 1904.

1 portrait in the collection

Study for portrait of Sir Rupert 'Dick" Hamer', 2009

Lewis Miller

Portrait, oil on linen

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Sir Andrew Grimwade CBE 2018
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Dame Nellie Melba, c. 1901

Rupert Bunny

Portrait, pencil on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE

Biography

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE (1909–2012), philanthropist, was the widow of Sir Keith Murdoch and mother of the publisher, Rupert Murdoch.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Walter Murdoch KCMG

Biography

Sir Walter Murdoch KCMG (1874–1970), academic and essayist, was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and came to Australia with his family in 1884.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Keith Murdoch, 1944

Danila Vassilieff

Portrait, oil on canvas

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Serafin Martinez and Thai Loi 2013

Doodles of the Diva

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2010

Three tiny sketches of Dame Nellie Melba in the NPG collection were created by the artist who was to go on to paint the most imposing representation of the singer: Rupert Bunny.

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2002

The story behind the commissioning of the tapesty portrait of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch.

Sir Walter Murdoch, 1920s (printed later)

an unknown artist

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Purchased 2012

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch

'Weaving the Dame'

Portrait story

An interview with Victorian Tapestry Workshop artists Sue Walker and Christopher Pyett.

Portrait of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, 2000

Australian Tapestry Workshop, Merrill Dumbrell, Christopher Pyett, Normana Wight

Portrait, warp: cotton No.12 seinetwine; weft: wool and cotton

Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2000

'The Australian Cricketers' from The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News June 1882, page 2

Unknown artist Publisher Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News

Image

'The Australian Cricketers' from The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News June 1882

'The Australian Cricketers' from The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News June 1882, 1882

an unknown artist

Portrait, engravings on paper

Purchased 2009

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, 2009

by Richard Kendall

Image

The Murdoch

Moustaches

Sport was a potent means by which, in the lead up to Federation, Australians began to assert a sense of themselves as youthful, manly and athletic – the products of an equally young and virile new nation.

Richard Walley OAM honoured in new Portrait Gallery commission

2 September 2015

Archived media releases 2015

A new commissioned portrait funded by the Gallery’s Foundation will be launched at Murdoch University in Perth tonight, Wednesday 2 September.

Janet Holmes a Court AC

Biography

Janet Holmes à Court AC (b. 1943), businesswoman and philanthropist, graduated in science and worked as a teacher before marrying young Perth lawyer Robert Holmes à Court in 1966.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait 4

June - August 2002

Magazine

This issue of Portrait Magazine features articles on Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, George Lambert's self-portrait, Professor Peter Doherty, the man behind the Dr. Who theme, and more.

Shadows cast on fairy tale scene

Lust

Bunny’s side-honey

Janet Holmes á Court, 2001 (printed 2011)

Lorrie Graham

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Sir Frank Packer

Biography

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

Portrait Allsorts

In Gallery Seven

Previous exhibition, 2020

Offering portraiture in all its flavours: painting, photography, drawing, textiles, printmaking and sculpture, this exhibition is a feast for minds and eyes.

Supporters

$5,000 - $9,999

Honour board

The Cosmopolitans

In Gallery Two

Previous exhibition, 2023

Spanning the 1880s to the 1930s, this collection display celebrates the innovations in art – and life – introduced by the generation of Australians who travelled to London and Paris for experience and inspiration in the decades either side of 1900.

The Australian Cricket Team 1882

Biography

The Australian cricket team of 1882 was the third side to tour England and the team whose defeat of England at The Oval in August of that year initiated the 'The Ashes' Test series.

1 portrait in the collection

Tea time, c.1898–1902 by Rupert Bunny (1864–1947)

Impressions

Painting light and life

Previous exhibition, 2011

Impressions: Painting light and life presents portraits by, and of, artists at the heart of Australian impressionism including Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and Frederick McCubbin.

The first Australian first-class cricket team to tour England and North America

The first Australian first-class cricket team to tour England and North America, 1878

A & G Taylor

Portrait, albumen photograph on carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

Australian Tapestry Workshop

Biography

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

Lawrence Cox AO

Biography

Laurence Cox AO (b. 1938), a director of the Australian Stock Exchange from its inception in 1987 and its chairman from 1989 to 1994, was an executive director of Macquarie Group Limited from 1996 to 2009; chairman of the Transurban Group from 1996 to 2007 and chairman of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute from 1994 to 2009.

1 portrait in the collection

John and Lottie’s wedding, early 1970s Unknown artist

Shifting the definition

Nearest & Dearest

Defiant commitment

Toni Wilkinson

Biography

Toni Wilkinson emigrated with her family from London to Perth in the early 1970s.

6 portraits in the collection

Paul Newton

Biography

Paul Newton (b. 1961), is a Sydney-based portrait painter noted for his ability to capture likeness and sensibility.

6 portraits in the collection

Adam Knott

Biography

Adam Knott (b. 1966) began taking photographs for local newspapers as a schoolboy in St George, South Sydney.

7 portraits in the collection

The Cosmopolitans

Now on display in Gallery Two

General content

John Bell AO OBE

Biography

John Bell AO OBE (b. 1940), actor and director, is one of Australia's best-known theatre personalities.

3 portraits in the collection

Lewis Miller

Biography

Lewis Miller (b. 1959), artist, won the Archibald Prize in 1998 with one of his many portraits of fellow artist Allan Mitelman, and has been a finalist seventeen times.

4 portraits in the collection

John Bell, 1962 (printed 2006)

Jozef Vissel

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2006

Julie Edgar

Biography

Julie Edgar (b. 1951) is a Melbourne artist who studied at RMIT, Monash University and the University of Melbourne.

3 portraits in the collection

Hong Fu

Biography

Hong Fu was born in China in 1946 and held his first solo exhibition at the National Art Gallery, Beijing, in 1988.

1 portrait in the collection

Hoda Afshar

Biography

Hoda Afshar was born Tehran, Iran in 1983. She completed a BFA (Photography) in Tehran, and PhD in Creative Arts at Curtin University.

1 portrait in the collection

Sarah Engledow and Acorn, 2016 by Mark Mohell

Explore The Popular Pet Show

The artists and their furry friends

General content

Curator, Sarah Engledow, introduces the artists and the animals in The Popular Pet Show.

Dr Julie Dowling

Biography

Julie Dowling, an artist of Badimaya, Irish and Scottish Catholic heritage, was born in Subiaco, Western Australia and grew up in nearby urban and semi-rural areas.

2 portraits in the collection

Robert Manne AO

Biography

Robert Manne (b. 1947), academic and writer, grew up in Melbourne, the child of European Jewish refugees.

1 portrait in the collection

Vintage Cassab

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2006

The oil portrait of Sir Frank Packer KBE by Judy Cassab was gifted to the National Portrait Gallery in 2006.

International issue

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2009

Michael Desmond looks at the history of the Vanity Fair magazine in conjunction with the exhibition Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008

Georges Mora

Biography

Georges Mora (1913-1992) was born Gunter Morawski to a Leipzig Jewish bourgeois family of Polish descent.

1 portrait in the collection

George Judah Cohen, 1925

George Lambert

Portrait, oil on canvas

Gift of the National Australia Bank 2002

Portrait of Georges Mora, 1956

Charles Blackman OBE

Portrait, oil on paper laid on board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

First Australian first-class cricket team

Biography

The ‘first Australian first-class cricket team to tour England and North America’ was in fact the second Australian cricket side to contest matches internationally (a team of Indigenous players having done so in 1868), but it is considered the first official national representative team to tour overseas.

1 portrait in the collection

Prince William of Wales, by Mario Testino, 2003 publ. September 2003.
Credit: Mario Testino

Vanity Fair Portraits

Photographs 1913-2008

Previous exhibition, 2009

Vanity Fair Portraits traces the birth and evolution of photographic portraiture through the archives of Vanity Fair magazine.

Malcolm J. McCusker AC CVO KC

Biography

Barrister and philanthropist Malcolm James McCusker AC CVO KC was born in Subiaco, Western Australia in 1938.

1 portrait in the collection

Making Portraits

Five Years of National Portrait Gallery Commissions

Previous exhibition, 2004

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

Glossy 2

Faces, Magazines, Now

Previous exhibition, 2005

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.

The spirit of the gift

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

Former NPG Director, Andrew Sayers celebrates the support given to the Gallery by Gordon and Marilyn Darling.

Richard Divall OBE in the church mantle of the Order of Malta

Richard Divall AO OBE

Biography

Frà Professor Richard Divall AO OBE (1945–2017), conductor, composer and scholar, grew up in Manly and was educated at Manly Boys’ High School.

1 portrait in the collection

Jeffrey Smart AO

Biography

Jeffrey Smart (1921–2013) was an iconic realist painter, acclaimed for his urban and industrial landscapes which form one of the most original and recognisable bodies of work in the canon of Australian art.

6 portraits in the collection

The Story So Far...

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2002

A reflection on the National Portrait Gallery's first four years.

Australian Love Stories

4 January 2021

Archived media releases 2021

A major new exhibition celebrating love in all its guises. Opening 20 March 2021.

Percy Leason

Biography

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

Darren McDonald

Explore The Popular Pet Show

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.

Portrait of Professors Margaret Gardner and Glyn Davis

Portrait of Professors Margaret Gardner and Glyn Davis, 2017

Jacqueline Mitelman

Portrait, type C photograph on paper

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 KC, Andrew and Liz Mackenzie, Patricia Patten, Tamie Fraser AO, Bruce Parncutt and Robin Campbell, Lauraine Diggins, Steven Skala AO and Lousje Skala 2017

School portraits

About Face article

Inga Walton sheds light on a portraiture collection usually only seen by students and teachers at Melbourne University.

Gail Kelly, 2018

by Paul Newton

General content

Commissioned with funds provided by Westpac Group and Optus 2018

Harriet Schwarzrock: spaces between movement and stillness

10 February 2021

Archived media releases 2021

To celebrate the new exhibition Australian Love Stories, renowned Australian glass artist Harriet Schwarzrock has been commissioned to make a large-scale installation reflecting on the role the heart plays as our emotional centre.

Uncommon Australians

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

Previous exhibition, 2015

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.

All dressed up

Magazine article by Jane Raffan, 2013

Jane Raffan asks do clothes make the portrait, and can the same work with a new title fetch a better price?

Clifton Pugh

Australians

Previous exhibition, 2005

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.

Time and light

In Gallery Seven

Previous exhibition, 2023

This sample of 56 photographs takes in some of the smallest photographs we own and some of the largest, some of the earliest and some of the most recent, as well as multiple photographic processes from daguerreotypes to digital media.

Portrait of the artist as a young man

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2010

Dr Sarah Engledow explores the early life and career of John Brack.

In the mirror: self portrait with Joy Hester

Spring exhibition program

18 August 2020

Archived media releases 2020

The following on-line and physical exhibitions are planned to open at the National Portrait Gallery in coming months. For those who can’t travel at present, selected works from all exhibitions will be included online

Blue Mountain, Owner, Trainer, Jockey, James Scobie

Sure thing

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2009

Blue Mountain, Owner, Trainer, Jockey, James Scobie 1887 by Frederick Woodhouse Snr. is a portrait of James Scobie, well known jockey and eminent horse trainer.

Announcing... Jonathan Jones Bogong Cluster: Physically distant, socially connected

5 January 2021

Archived media releases 2021

A new light installation by Jonathan Jones reflects on the importance of community through the lens of his Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi heritage, whilst also acting as a prompt for gallery visitors to maintain social distancing.

Mick Jagger, Madonna and Tony Curtis, 1997

The Vanity model

Magazine article by David Friend, 2009

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.

The silent partner

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2015

One half of the team that was Eltham Films left scarcely a trace in the written historical record, but survives in a vivid portrait.

Small worlds

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2010

Bess Norriss Tait created miniature watercolour portraits full of character and life.

You are who?

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2022

Joanna Gilmour reflects on merging collections and challenging traditional assumptions around portraiture in WHO ARE YOU.

Picture this...

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

This edited version of a speech by Andrew Sayers examines some of the antecedents of the National Portrait Gallery and set out the ideas behind the modern Gallery and its collection.

Christian Waller with Baldur, Undine and Siren at Fairy Hills, 1932 by Napier Waller

Enigma

Magazine article by Dr Grace Blakeley-Carroll, 2015

Grace Carroll contemplates the curious case of Christian Waller.

Confessional conversations

The portraiture of Kristin Headlam

Magazine article by Fiona Gruber, 2015

Fiona Gruber investigates the work of Australian painter Kristin Headlam.

Illuminating history

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2023

Joanna Gilmour reflects on 25 years of collecting at the National Portrait Gallery.

Splendid, many-splendoured

Magazine article by Sandra Bruce, 2021

Sandra Bruce gazes on love and the portrait through Australian Love Stories’ multi-faceted prism.

Lauded legacy

Magazine article by Karl James, 2015

Karl James gives short shrift to doubts about the profile of General Sir John Monash.

Uncommon Australians

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

General content

Sarah Engledow writes about Gordon and Marilyn Darling and their support for the National Portrait Gallery throughout its evolution.

History

About us

How the National Portrait Gallery and its unique collection came to be

A sketch for some portraits

Magazine article by Judith Pugh, 2005

Judith Pugh reflects on Clifton Pugh's approach to portrait making.

Less than six degrees of separation

Lecture, 28 May 2011

General content

Dr Anne Sanders NPG Curatorial Researcher investigated the lives of the pioneering psychologists whose portraits are featured in Inner Worlds.

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