Skip to main content

What's on

Watch

The Gallery

Governance & Board

Circle of Friends

Learn

Access

Search the website

close close

What's on The Portraits The Gallery Learn Watch More O

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 20bowen

image not online

Howard Tangye

Figurative abstract artist and designer Howard Tangye was born in Queensland in 1948 and lived and worked in London from the 1970s until recently.

1 portrait in the collection

Self portrait

Sharing the dream?

It's Complicated

In love and war

Mary Chomley

The Cosmopolitans

Now on display in Gallery Two

General content

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 sitter (Drusilla Modjeska)

Drusilla Modjeska

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

May Wirth

May Wirth

May Wirth

May Wirth, c. 1921

Daguerre Studios

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

The sitter (Drusilla Modjeska)

The sitter (Drusilla Modjeska)

The sitter (Drusilla Modjeska)

The sitter (Drusilla Modjeska), 2001

Portrait, oil on canvas

Purchased with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2002

image not online

Michele Aboud

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

Captain Ulm

Captain Ulm

Captain Ulm, 1932

Portrait, cast plaster, patinated

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

Alexis Wright

Alexis Wright

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

Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Captain Charles Ulm

Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Captain Charles Ulm

Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Captain Charles Ulm, 1961

Sir William Dargie CBE

Portrait, oil on canvas

Gift of the Sydney Airports Corporation 2001

May Wirth

May Emmeline Wirth

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

1 portrait in the collection

Self portrait with gladioli

Facing Facts

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

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

The rose, 1927

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

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

Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award media information

Archived media releases 2013

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

Self portrait with glove

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

Charlie, 2017 by Lee Grant

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018

Previous exhibition, 2018

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.

© National Portrait Gallery 2024
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196

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 past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

The National Portrait Gallery is an Australian Government Agency