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Elizabeth Read (née Archer), c. 1853

Purchased 2019

John Connell, c. 1830

Gift of Eleanor Thornton 2013. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Miss Elizabeth Roberts, 1830

Purchased 2013

John Frost, 1839

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Elegance in exile

Elegance in exile is an exhibition surveying the work of Richard Read senior, Thomas Bock, Thomas Griffiths Wainewright and Charles Rodius: four artists who, though exiled to Australia as convicts, created many of the most significant and elegant portraits of the colonial period.

Liberate the labels

Want to read about a portrait without having to lean in?

Jackie French

Recorded 2022

Christos Tsiolkas

Recorded 2017

David Malouf

Recorded 2016

Make a booking

Whether virtually or in person, here’s where you can arrange an educational visit.

Tom Goldner

The portrait's of my mother, Catherine, and the photograph was taken in a family home that we had and my mother was relocating to Tasmania.

Ned, 2011

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2016

The National Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition is selected from a national field of entries, reflecting the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.

Audio description

Hear and read detailed audio descriptions of selected artworks from our Collection as we turn the visual into the verbal.

Cameron and the prosthetic arm, 2016

Bruce Beresford at home in Birchgrove, 2018

The Companion

On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.

In your dreams

An excerpt from The Popular Pet Book.

In the flesh

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.

Ngalim-Ngalimbooroo Ngagenybe

Using ochres collected on her country in Western Australia’s East Kimberley, Shirley Purdie’s self-portrait is a kaleidoscope of traditional Gija stories and Ngarranggarni (Dreaming) passed down to her.

The mystery of Enoch Arden

Tennyson's Enoch Arden was inspired by a story that Thomas Woolner passed on to him – but whose story and of whom?

Onsite visit bookings

For in person visits, make an educational booking here through our bookcanberraexcursions.com.au portal.

Darling Portrait Prize 2022

The Darling Portrait Prize is a biennial national prize for Australian portrait painting honouring the legacy of Mr L Gordon Darling AC CMG (1921-2015). The winner receives a cash prize of $75,000.

Ticket and booking enquiries

Change of booking requests and lost tickets.

Autumn in Canberra

In Persuasion (1818), a long walk on a fine autumn day affords Anne Elliot an opportunity to ruminate wistfully and at great length upon declining happiness, youth and hope.

Portrait 3

This issue of Portrait Magazine is devoted to a review of the highlights of the gallery's activities in 2001.

Self, titled, 2013

Finalist, MDPA 2013

Henry Lawson, 1915

Purchased 2009

My Two Lovely Faces Looking at Each Other and Smiling for Love, 2022

Purchased 2023

Girl with Big Stick, Cooloman and Bird, 2022

Purchased 2023

Sharon Zwi

We were in Gaza shooting a documentary and we had heard about the orphanages and wanted to visit and document some of the children who had lost parents during the wars in Gaza.

Literary lovers’ life liaison

Desire drives forbidden love

Australian Love Stories online

Lust and longing, drama and devotion, seduction and scandal! Delve into an enticing array of tales of the heart.

Henry Lawson, c. 1915

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Henry Lawson, c. 1915

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Ada Crossley, c. 1900

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Roger Neill 2009

Tony Sowersby

Sabine's the sister-in-law of one of my oldest friends so I've known her for a while.

Jane’s conviction

Stand by your man

Rolf de Heer, Adelaide, SA, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Polly Borland on Germaine Greer

Recorded 2017

Chris Wallace-Crabbe, 2011

Purchased with the assistance of funds provided by the Circle of Friends 2014

Thousand Mile Stare

Thousand mile stare provides a unique portrait of people of rural Australia

Mr Movies - Bill Collins OAM, 2009

Gift of Joan Collins and the Todd-Wilson family in memory of Bill Collins 2019. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Mark Ella, 2015

Commissioned with funds from the Patrick Corrigan Portrait Commission Series 2015

All in the Family

In 2000, Barbara Blackman donated a portrait of her close friends - poet Judith Wright, her husband Jack McKinney and their daughter Meredith - painted by Charles Blackman.

The rock and the flies, 1952

Gift of Professor Van Sommers 2011

Sunshine and rain, Lygon Street, 1964

Gift of Professor Van Sommers 2011

Epstein/Einstein? I can never remember!, 1962

Gift of Professor Van Sommers 2011

Mr Thake - Dr So and So, 1959

Gift of Professor Van Sommers 2011

Figure in a rocky landscape, 1965

Gift of Professor Peter Van Sommers 2011

Self portrait among the ant hills, 1950

Gift of Professor Peter Van Sommers 2011

Desert Island, 1967

Gift of Professor Peter Van Sommers 2011

Magna Carta

On this day eight hundred years ago at Runnymede near Windsor, King John signed Magna Carta.

Self portrait, 1846

Purchased 1999

Friendship’s rhyme and reason

Poetic trio

Ngalim-Ngalimbooroo Ngagenybe, 2018

Purchased 2019

Mum Shirl (Mrs Shirley Smith), 1988

Gift of the artist 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Portrait of Alan Marshall, 1955

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999

Dr Charlie Teo operating on my brain

Jeff Carter with his dog Annie Rose at Foxground NSW, 2000 (printed 2017)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2017

Queen Rose of the Wathaurung People, c. 1876-1877

Purchased 2017

Indecent exposure

'Diving Venus' and 'the perfect woman' are two of the numerous descriptions applied to Annette Kellerman, who achieved international fame during the early decades of the twentieth century.

Gary Foley, Invasion Day - We Have Survived, 1988

Gift of the artist 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Trukanini, 1866 (printed 1890s)

Purchased 2011

David Armstrong, B.A., B. Phil., 1959

Gift of Jennifer Armstrong 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

George Hoyningen-Huene and Jessie the Barmaid, 1937

Gift of Danina Dupain Anderson 2021. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Piper, the native who accompanied Major Mitchell in his expedition to the interior, c. 1836

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Observation point

Photographer Gary Grealy discusses his passion for portraiture.

Rick Amor

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.

Hall of Mirrors

Hall of Mirrors: Anne Zahalka Portraits 1987-2007 explores the thread of portraiture through the artist's prolific career, now spanning more than 20 years.

Linde Ivimey

Born: 1965, Sydney
Works: Sydney

White Whiteley

Eleven works by Brett Whiteley, centred around his scintillating 'Patrick White at Centennial Park 1979-1980'.

POL

POL was a magazine that ran from 1969 to 1986

Les Darcy, c. 1916

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

A G Stephens, c. 1910 (printed later)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Duke of Wellington, 1841

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Bern Emmerichs

Born: 1961, Melbourne
Works: Melbourne

Dr Sarah Engledow

Dr Sarah Engledow was appointed Historian at the National Portrait Gallery in 1999.

Arthur Boyd Portraits

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

Shirley Purdie

Born: 1947, Gilbun – Mabel Downs Station, WA
Works: Warmun, WA

Public information

An agency plan prepared in accordance with the Information Publication Scheme.

Dorothy Porter, 2001-2002

Gift of Andrea Goldsmith 2011. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Neil Armfield, 2010

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2010

Reverend Nathaniel Kinsman, c. 1880

Purchased 2013

Celebrities on the field

Robin Sellick's portraits of Australian sportspeople include Harry Kewell, Adam Scott, Shane Warne, Mark Webber and John Newcombe.

Xavier Herbert, early 1980s (printed 2018)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Observation point

My practice has always been driven by my experimental curiosity, from heavy wax and resin bodies generated in flame, to delicate temporal works that explore the conductive and alchemical possibilities of copper.

Why portraiture?

Blak Douglas reflects on his experiences, process and motivation for making portraits.

Patrick White #1, 1980

Purchased 1998

School visit information

All you need to know from COVID-19 and group sizes to cancellations and our Certificate of Currency.

Hon Tom Hughes KC, 2001

Commissioned with funds provided by Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull 2003

Audacity, audacity, audacity

Angus delves into the biographies of two ambitious characters; Sir Stamford Raffles and Sir John Pope-Hennessy.

Glossy 2

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.

Tejal Shah

Born in 1979, Tejal Shah grew up in Chhattisgarh, central India, moving to Bombay in 1995.

Clifton Pugh

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.

Alluring Performance Brings Gallery to Life

See the Gallery through a different lens and experience the portraits with a unique sensorial performance of movement, voice and live sound.

In memory of the Rev William Hill, 1869

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Sideshow Alley

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.

Me Myself I

Andrew Sayers explores the self-portraits created by Australian artist Sidney Nolan.

Dissections: Layered portraits from the collection is now open

Dissections, showcases the hyper-realist sculptural self-portrait of artist Sam Jinks, Divide, alongside the painted portrait of philosopher David Chalmers by Nick Mourtzakis, which was commissioned by the Gallery in 2011.

Thousand mile stare

John Elliott talks about his photographic portrait practice, including his iconic image of Slim Dusty arm-in-arm with Dame Edna Everage.

Prime number

Diana Warnes discusses the portrait of the Australian mathematician Terence Tao.

Making Portraits

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

True Stories

The story behind the creation of the portrait of Helen Garner by Jenny Sages.

Uncommon Australians

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.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022

Let’s look closely at the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022 together! For students and family groups.

Off grid

Aimee Board ventures within and beyond to consider two remarkable new Gallery acquisitions.

Australian Visit

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.

Time and light

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.

Shop Talk

Angus and the arbiters talk (photo) shop for the National Photographic Portrait Prize.

Talking heads

In their own words lead researcher Louise Maher on the novel project that lets the Gallery’s portraits speak for themselves.

Who's that?

Michael Desmond discusses the iconic picture of two Rugby League players which became known as 'The Gladiators'.

It's a Mora!

Select extracts from Mirka Mora's autobiography, Wicked but Virtuous, provide rich accompaniment to recent Gallery acquisitions.  

Krystal Seigerman

The photograph was a brief, candid moment, which unfolded into a portrait. Peter and I were in Silverton, NSW, chatting as our students explored the town. The weak afternoon light suddenly became dramatic and defined, so I asked Peter if I could take his portrait.

Shen Jiawei

Shen Jiawei was born in China. During the Cultural Revolution he laboured in the Great Northern Wilderness, but even as he worked there, he gained recognition as an artist. 

Sitter still

Jaynie Anderson reflects on her experience as sitter for Reshid Bey’s 1962 portrait.

Miscellaneous obsessions

William Yang shares the stories behind his autobiographical self portraits that celebrate his cultural heritage and identity.

Beautiful bones

Sarah Engledow reflects on the shared life and writing of Dorothy Porter and Andrea Goldsmith.

Trumble's way

At the end of a summer break one is tempted to say that there is nothing much to report. Isn’t one restful holiday very much like another?

In profile

Penelope Grist explores the photographic instinct of four-time National Photographic Portrait Prize finalist Julian Kingma.

Essential portraiture

Michael Desmond in conversation with University of Houston professor of philosophy Cynthia Freeland.

Simon Harsent

I like to think I'm an artist who uses photography as my medium, but I work commercially as a photographer and it's my full time occupation so I guess that defines me as a photographer or maybe a commercial artist?

Basking in light

Pieter Roelofs, Head of Painting and Sculpture at Rijksmuseum and co-curator of Vermeer, delves into the largest-ever exhibition of the master artist.

Thread bare

US artist Cayce Zavaglia reveals human duality in her striking embroidered portraiture.

Heart of Darkness

Magda Keaney talks with Bill Leak about his bold new portrait of Robert Hughes in the National Portrait Gallery collection.

Arthur as Alyosha?

Patrick McCaughey explores a striking Boyd self portrait.

Roam alone

Jon Muir, adventurer and Portrait Gallery Collection subject, really knows about isolation.

Colour by numbers

Alistair McGhie explores the many shades of Angélica Dass’ Humanæ project.

Why do painted portraits still matter?

Lecture by Sandy Nairne, Director, National Portrait Gallery, London, given at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra on 28 April 2006.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2023

We encourage you to look, to feel, to think, to question and most importantly, to identify and connect.

Entry guidelines 2024

Read the full requirements for entering the prize.

Cultural kaleidoscope

The complex connections between four creative Australians; Patrick White, Sidney Nolan, Robert Helpmann and Peter Sculthorpe.

Eko Nugroho

Born and raised in Yogyakarta, Eko Nugroho (b. 1977) entered the art scene at the height of Reformasi.

Love scars

Katrina Osborne immerses herself in one of photography’s most fearless chronicles.

Real close

Peter Ciemitis breached regulations when creating the portrait of the polymath environmental scientist George Seddon.

More cash than dash

Joanna Gilmour describes how colonial portraitists found the perfect market among social status seeking Sydneysiders.

Inside outside

Michael Desmond explores the portraiture of Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud.

200 Years of Portraiture

To celebrate his family bicentenary, Malcolm Robertson looks at the portraiture legacy left by his ancestors.

Herra Pahlasari

At the time of Herra Pahlasari’s birth in 1978, her academic parents were living in Canberra.

Family collective

Beatrice Gralton looks at a larger than life portrait by Chinese artist Song Dong.

Being Cate

A moving portrait of Cate Blanchett unfolds as an inspired pairing of medium and subject.

Atul Bhalla

Atul Bhalla was born in 1964 in New Delhi. He frequently combines photography, installation, sculpture, video, painting and performance to question the human relationship with the natural and constructed environment.

Staying home

Joanna Gilmour brings a mindful Douglas Mawson’s perspective to bear on the concept of isolation.

A new perspective

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.

Exhibition opening speech

Leo Schofield introduces the exhibition, Masters of fare: chefs, winemakers, providores.

Depth of Field

The exhibition Depth of Field displays a selection of portrait photographs that reflect the strength and diversity of Australian achievement.

Bloodlines

Michelle Fracaro describes Lionel Lindsay's woodcut The Jester (self-portrait).

Nusra Latif Qureshi

Nusra Latif Qureshi was born in Pakistan in 1973 and originally trained in the traditional art of Mughal miniature (musaviri) paintings.

Hearts of Darkness

The National Portrait Gallery's acquisition of the portrait of Edward John Eyre by pioneering English photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.

The transparent mask

Cate Blanchett and the art of acting in Rosetzky’s digital portrait.

For the boys

The photographs from Matthew Sleeth's tour of duty series look more like advertisements than images of war.

Storied portrait

Emily Casey takes in Shirley Purdie’s remarkable self-portrait, Ngalim-Ngalimbooroo Ngagenybe.

Expect the unexpected

Joanna Gilmour revels in accidental artist Charles Rodius’ nineteenth century renderings of Indigenous peoples.

I'm not there

FX Harsono

FX Harsono was born in 1949, just as the independence of the Indonesian nation was being established.

Top shot that

Gideon Haigh discusses portraits of Australian cricketers from the early 20th century

People are people

Sandra Bruce chats with seven-time NPPP finalist Chris Budgeon about photography, guitars and representing the human story.

The family scene

Traudi Allen discovers sensitivity, humour and fine draughtsmanship in the portraiture of John Perceval.

Hall of mirrors

Naomi Cass, Director of the Centre of Contemporary Photography, in conversation with Anne Zahalka.

Desperately seeking Sonia

Esther Erlich’s portrait of Lady McMahon.

Man of war

Tedi Bills talks to George Gittoes about canvassing conflict.

The more things change

National Photographic Portrait Prize curator, Sarah Engledow, finds reward in a difficult task and ultimately uncovers the essence of portraiture.

The real Thea

Long after the portraitist became indifferent to her, and died, a beguiling portrait hung over its subject.

Poison pen

Michael Desmond examines the career of the eighteenth-century suspected poisoner and portrait artist Thomas Griffiths Wainewright.

Listomania

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.

The eye and the heart

Nici Cumpston immerses herself in the collective vision of the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2020.

Our achievements to date

During the period 2018–20, the Gallery implemented our first Access Action Plan.

Star signs

Barry York charts the course from childhood request to autographed celebrity portrait anthology.

Little women

Joanna Gilmour looks beyond the ivory face of select portrait miniatures to reveal their sitters’ true grit.

Suave

Charles Haddon Chambers the Australian-born playboy playwright settled permanently in London in 1880 but never lost his Australian stance when satirising the English.

Finest quality

Joanna Gilmour explores the life of Chinese-Australian businessman and philanthropist Quong Tart.

Alternative virtue

Joanna Gilmour presents John Kay’s portraits of a more infamous side of Edinburgh.

Snap chat

2019 National Photographic Portrait Prize judge Anne O’Hehir looks beneath the surface of this year’s entries.

Stubbs and the horse

One of the chief aims of George Stubbs, 1724–1806, the late Judy Egerton’s great 1984–85 exhibition at the Tate Gallery was to provide an eloquent rebuttal to Josiah Wedgwood’s famous remark of 1780: “Noboby suspects Mr Stubs [sic] of painting anything but horses & lions, or dogs & tigers.”

Faces of war

Lesley Harding, Curator, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne explores Albert Tucker’s experience of World War II, his interests in the intersection between psychology and creativity, and their influence on his portrait making.

Ken Done

With a mum who was married to a tradie, you’d think it a fair chance that the baby Jesus would have grown up with a dog in the house.

Alwin Reamillo

Alwin Reamillo was born in Manila, Philippines in 1964. He studied painting at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts, and began his career as a visual art teacher at the Philippine High School for the Arts.

Foundation Members

Chairman Sid Myer AM, Hayley Baillie, Tim Bednall, Jillian Broadbent AC, Patrick Corrigan AM, Marilyn Darling AC, Tim Fairfax AC, Penny Fowler AM, John Liangis, Dr Helen Nugent AC and Nigel Satterley AM.

No small wonder

Joanna Gilmour describes how artist Sam Leach works on a small scale to grand effect.

Money and swat

Andrew Sayers discusses the real cost of George Lambert's Self portrait with gladioli 1922.

Hired guns, bounty hunters and horse whisperers

Jude Rae contemplates the portrait commission.

Touchy touchy

Tony Curran ponders whether our phones can change the course of painting.

Fine and dandy

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.

Doodles of the Diva

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.

The personal and the historical

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.

Rock star

Jennifer Coombes explores the lush images of Picnic at Hanging Rock, featuring Anne-Louise Lambert’s Miranda, the face of the film. 

Mother’s muse

Inga Walton traces the poignant path of photographer Polixeni Papapetrou, revealed in the NGV’s summer retrospective.

Lovers of light

Dr Sarah Engledow traces the significant links between Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo and Evelyn Chapman through their portraits.

Dupain detective

Johanna McMahon revels in history and mystery in pursuit of a suite of unknown portrait subjects.

Birds of a feather

Charting a path from cockatiel to finch, Annette Twyman explores her family portraits and stories.

The jungle look

David Gist steps beyond the public relations veneer of Australia’s official Vietnam War portrait photographs.

Prima facie

Sarah Engledow casts a judicious eye over portraits in the Victorian Bar’s Peter O’Callaghan QC Portrait Gallery.

Material culture

The Rajah Quilt’s narrative promptings are as intriguing as the textile is intricate.

Self-effacing

Michael Wardell samples the fare in the University of Queensland National Self-portrait Prize.

Reflections on portraiture

An extract from the 2004 Nuala O'Flaaherty Memorial Lecture at the Queen Victoria Musuem and Art Gallery in Launceston in which Andrew Sayers reflects on the unique qualities of a portrait gallery.

The art of conciliation

Gareth Knapman explores the politics and opportunism behind the portraits of Tasmania’s Black War.

Some women you may not know

‘Everybody’s lives are built by so many influences, and for me, it is writers, artists and activists who have influenced how I think about the world.’

Confessional conversations

Fiona Gruber investigates the work of Australian painter Kristin Headlam.

Us being ourselves

Penelope Grist talks to photographer Benjamin Warlngundu Ellis about capturing moments, telling stories and keeping Culture strong.

Icons and imagery

Alison Weir explores the National Portrait Gallery, London and the BP Portrait Award to find what makes a good painted portrait - past and present.

Less than six degrees of separation

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

A non-material and non-physical portrait

Inner Worlds features the recently commissioned portrait of world-renowned philosopher of consciousness David Chalmers by Melbourne-based artist Nick Mourtzakis.

Drawing inspiration

Christopher Chapman absorbs the gentle touch of Don Bachardy’s portraiture.

Rick Amor: 21 Portraits

Sarah Engledow chronicles Rick Amor's work and accomplishments in this extensive essay in conjunction with the exhibition Rick Amor: 21 Portraits.

Home truths

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.

Lovingly observed

Sarah Engledow previews the beguiling summer exhibition, Idle hours.

Money for Myth

Australian character on the market by Jane Raffan.

Earth to earth

Dr Sarah Engledow discusses the recent gift of works by David Campbell.

Flesh, figure and rock

Aimee Board traces Judy Cassab’s path to the Australian outback, arriving at the junction of inspiration and abstraction.

Big bouquet of Blackmans

Dr. Sarah Engledow explores the context surrounding Charles Blackman's portrait of Judith Wright, Jack McKinney and their daughter Meredith.

Kristin Headlam

Basil grew into a speckled beauty – a long-legged leaper and an exceptionally vocal dog, with a great register of sounds, ascending in shock value from a whimper to a growl to a bark to a yelp that’s a violation of the ears.

What price self?

Jane Raffan investigates auction sales of self portraits nationally and internationally.

Augustus serendipitous

The London-born son of an American painter, Augustus Earle ended up in Australia by accident in January 1825. 

Seeing stars

Joanna Gilmour explores photographic depictions of Aboriginal sportsmen including Lionel Rose, Dave Sands, Jerry Jerome and Douglas Nicholls.

Nicholas Harding

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. 

The catechist and the cricketer

Stephen Valambras Graham traverses the intriguing socio-political terrain behind two iconic First Nations portraits of the 1850s.

A sketch for some portraits

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

Getting bare

How seven portraits within Bare reveal in a public portrait parts of the body and elements of life usually located in the private sphere.

Unknown drawer

Dempsey’s People curator David Hansen chronicles a research tale replete with serendipity, adventure and Tasmanian tigers.

Off her own bat

Joanna Gilmour profiles Violet Teague, whose sophisticated works hid her originality and non-conformity in plain sight.

Queen of cartes

Joanna Gilmour discusses the role of the carte de visite in portraiture’s democratisation, and its harnessing by Victoria, the world’s first media monarch.

Study in scarlet

Angus Trumble reflects on the force of nature that was Helena Rubinstein.

Regarding Henrys

Sarah Engledow ponders the divergent legacies of Messrs Kendall and Lawson.

Painting writing

Dr Sarah Engledow explores the portraits of writers held in the National Portrait Gallery's collection.

The shipwright's arms

Joanna Gilmour explores the life and times of convict-turned-artist William Buelow Gould.

The more things change...

Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2017 Prize.

The Black Death

The best horror stories are real. A flea sinks its proboscis into the skin of a sick black rat, feeds on its blood, and ingests lethally multiplying bacteria.

You are who?

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

The Bare story

Curator, Penny Grist, reveals how this exhibition came to be

Nicholas Harding: 28 Portraits

Sarah Engledow looks at three decades of Nicholas Harding's portraiture.