Skip to main content

What's on

Prizes

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 / nick enright

Robert, Lindy, Grant

Grant McLennan

Grant McLennan and Robert Forster both sang and wrote songs for The Go-Betweens, and McLennan wrote one of their greatest, 'Cattle and Cane', recalling the rural Queensland environment of his youth.

1 portrait in the collection

Nick Cave, Susie Bick and Luke Cave, 1998 (printed 2020) Dominique Issermann. Courtesy of the artist © Dominique Issermann

Stepping out

Beautiful punk love

Michael Hutchence by Harry Borden

An interview with photographer Harry Borden about his portrait of Michael Hutchence.

Divide (Self portrait)

Dissections: Layered portraits from the collection is now open

Archived media releases 2016

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.

image not online

Martin Philbey

Martin Philbey (b. 1962) is a Melbourne-based photographer who has amassed an archive of 100,000 images over his twenty-year career.

4 portraits in the collection

Howard Arkley 1

Howard Arkley 1

Howard Arkley 1

Howard Arkley 1, 1980 (printed 2012)

Portrait, inkjet print on paper

Purchased 2012

Rachel Ward and Bryan Brown (detail), 2006 (printed 2020) © Peter Brew-Bevan

Australian Love stories

Family, friends, fanatics and foes (and everything in between!)

Previous exhibition, 2021

Reconnect and reflect with our new major exhibition, Australian Love Stories (in real life!) as we explore love, affection and connection in all its guises.

Paul Hester

Paul Hester

Paul Hester (1959–2005), musician and former drummer for Crowded House, was born in Melbourne.

2 portraits in the collection

Nick Cave

Gallery Two

Previous exhibition, 2024

Grant McLennan

Grant (No. 3 of Robert, Lindy, Grant)

image not online

Andrew Maccoll

Andrew Maccoll (b. 1978) is a photographer and creative director. Born into an artistic family (his father is a press photographer and his mother a documentary producer) he worked as a darkroom printing assistant while studying for his degree in Visual Arts in Photography at Queensland College of Art, Griffith University.

3 portraits in the collection

Gai Waterhouse

Gai Waterhouse AO

Gai Waterhouse AO, thoroughbred racehorse trainer, is the daughter of legendary trainer Tommy Smith.

1 portrait in the collection

Costa Georgiadis and Director Bree Pickering at the announcement of The People’s Portrait.

Costa Georgiadis wins the National Portrait Gallery’s People’s Portrait

In 2024, the National Portrait Gallery took the extraordinary step of inviting the Australian public to choose the subject of its next commission. Twenty-five years after the Gallery’s first commission – the iconic Nick Cave by Howard Arkley – and nearly 90 commissions later, the people of Australia were invited to make their voice heard. Who did the public most want to see represented in their National Portrait Gallery?

John Hillcoat

John Hillcoat

John Hillcoat (b. 1960), filmmaker, was born in Brisbane and grew up in Canada, the USA and Europe.

1 portrait in the collection

Inner Worlds

Portraits and Psychology

Previous exhibition, 2011

Portraits of Australia’s pioneering psychologists and artworks by artists fascinated by the subconscious mind.

John Farnham

Glossy - Faces Magazines Now

Previous exhibition, 1999

Magazines are the portrait galleries of the 90s... Glossy is about magazines. The exhibition presents the work of eight photographers, Australian by birth or long-term residency, who are producing portraits for publication in magazines around the world.

© National Portrait Gallery 2025
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