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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.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

Search / stella bowen

Stella Bowen

Biography

Stella Bowen, painter and writer, grew up in Adelaide, where she studied with Margaret Preston.

1 portrait in the collection

Self portrait, c. 1934

Stella Bowen

Portrait, oil on cardboard

Purchased 2003

A Singular Line

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2003

A newly acquired work by Stella Bowen adds to the National Portrait Gallery's growing collection of important Australian self-portraits.

Give me five

Magazine article by Karen Quinlan AM, 2021

National Portrait Gallery director Karen Quinlan AM nominates her quintet of favourites from the collection, with early twentieth-century ‘selfies’ filling the roster.

Dr Stella Cornelius AO OBE

Biography

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

Missionary positions

Magazine article by Stella Ramage, 2016

Stella Ramage on Father McHardy’s Bougainville portraiture.

Sir George Ferguson Bowen, c. 1873

Bardwell's Royal Studio

Portrait, carte de visite photograph

Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Vice-Royalty. "A Quoter of Poetry" [George Bowen, Governor of Victoria], 1873

Tom Durkin, The Weekly Times

Portrait, lithograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Dr Stella Cornelius AO OBE, 1989

Judy Cassab AO CBE

Portrait, oil on canvas

Gift of the Cornelius family 2019

Charles Conder, Stella Maris Condor and Florence Humphrey at les Petites Dalles, Normandy

Charles Conder, Stella Maris Condor and Florence Humphrey at les Petites Dalles, Normandy, 1902

H. Walter Barnett

Portrait, platinum photograph

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Portrait 10

December 2003 - February 2004

Magazine

This issue of Portrait Magazine features Roy de Maistre, the Australians in Hollywood exhibtion, Stella Bowen, portraits of scientists and more.

Sharing the dream?

It's Complicated

In love and war

Self, titled, 2013

by Stella Rosa McDonald

General content

Finalist, MDPA 2013

Drusilla Modjeska

Biography

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

The sitter (Drusilla Modjeska), 2001

Jo Bertini

Portrait, oil on canvas

Purchased with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2002

Col Levy

Biography

Col Levy (b. 1933), ceramic artist, originally trained as a manual arts teacher, and had the opportunity to study pottery at the National Art School in Sydney in 1956.

1 portrait in the collection

Facing Facts

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

Former NPG Director, Andrew Sayers describes the 1922 Self-portrait with Gladioli by George Lambert.

Charles Ulm

Biography

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

Gooseberry, widow of King Bungaree, 1836

William Fernyhough

Portrait, lithograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dr Robert Edwards AO 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

May Wirth, c. 1921

Daguerre Studios

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Christine Rivett

Biography

Amy Christine Rivett (1891–1962), doctor, contributed greatly to medicine and women's health.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait bust of Dr Christine Rivett, c. 1950 (cast 1955-1956)

Daphne Mayo MBE

Portrait, cast bronze

Gift of Justice Ian Callinan 1999. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Michele Aboud

Biography

Michele Aboud, commercial, fashion and portrait photographer, is a graduate of the Photographic College of London and UCLA.

1 portrait in the collection

Captain Ulm, 1932

Enid Fleming

Portrait, cast plaster, patinated

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Sydney Airports Corporation 2001

To Look Within

Self Portraits in Australia

Previous exhibition, 2004

This exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of self-portraits in Australia, from the colonial period to the present

Alexis Wright

Biography

Alexis Wright (b. 1950), author and activist, won the Miles Franklin Award in 2007 for her novel Carpentaria and the 2018 Stella Prize for her collective memoir Tracker.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Captain Charles Ulm, 1961

Sir William Dargie CBE

Portrait, oil on canvas

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Sydney Airports Corporation 2001

May Emmeline Wirth

Biography

May Emmeline Wirth (1894–1978), circus performer, was once described as the ‘greatest lady bareback rider of all time’.

1 portrait in the collection

The World of Thea Proctor

Previous exhibition, 2005

The World of Thea Proctor is the Portrait Gallery's second major biographical exhibition - that is, the second exhibition to focus exclusively on the life and work of a single individual

Thomas Pearce, c. 1878

The Photographic Society of Victoria, Melbourne

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite on card

Purchased 2010

Our only concern is the void, 2013 video: 12 minutes

Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award media information

28 August 2013

Archived media releases 2013

The National Portrait Gallery recently announced the finalists for the Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award 2013.

The fat of the land

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2009

Sir Sidney Kidman (1857-1935) is inscribed in Australian legend as the ‘Cattle King’.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022

Current exhibition

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.

Uncommon Australians

Towards an Australian Portrait Gallery

Previous exhibition, 1992

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.

Yellow portrait (portrait of Alex Jelinek)

Fugue in Yellow

Magazine article by Roger Benjamin, 2015

Roger Benjamin explores the intriguing union of Lina Bryans and Alex Jelinek.

Australian Visit

Previous exhibition, 2006

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.

Sideshow Alley

Infamy, the macabre & the portrait

Previous exhibition, 2015

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.

M H Wednesday 11.15am from the series Self-harm, 2004

Big it up

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2005

Former National Portrait Gallery Curator Magda Keaney was a member of the selection panel of the Schwepes Photographic Portrait Prize 2004 at the National Portrait Gallery London.

Anna Culliton

Explore The Popular Pet Show

Anna Culliton never had a colouring-in book when she was little. Her parents –Tony, a filmmaker, and Stephanie, a painter – wouldn’t let her have one. Instead, they insisted on her drawing her own pictures to colour-in.

Nicholas Harding

Explore The Popular Pet Show

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.

Portrait Donors

Listed by year

Honour board

41 results

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