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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 / tom roberts

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Thomas Clark

Thomas Clark, teacher and painter, arrived in Victoria from England in about 1852, having been anatomical draftsman at King's College London and headmaster of the Birmingham School of Design.

1 portrait in the collection

Bungaree, late chief of the Broken Bay tribe, Sydney

Heads of the People

A Portrait of Colonial Australia

Previous exhibition, 2000

For Tom Roberts - Australia's best nineteenth-century portrait painter - neither a proto-national portrait gallery nor more popular collections of portrait heads, were sufficient public celebrations for the notables of Australian history

The Colonel (Portrait of Walter Withers)

The Colonel (Portrait of Walter Withers)

The Colonel (Portrait of Walter Withers)

The Colonel (Portrait of Walter Withers), 1896

Portrait, pastel on paper

Purchased 2009

She – Unemployed Girl, 2003 by Yu Hong

Yu Hong

Featured Artists

Born 1966 in Beijing, China. Lives and works in Beijing.

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Percy Spence

Percy Spence, born in Balmain, grew up in Fiji and began art classes in Sydney in about 1888.

1 portrait in the collection

Past, present, future, 2002 by Wang Qingsong
M+ Sigg Collection

Chinese Art

General content

A short overview of modern Chinese art from 1949 to the present.

Barbara Robison

Barbara Robison

Barbara Robison

Barbara Robison, 1935

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Rex Dupain 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Dr Claire Roberts

References

General content

About the exhibition curator Claire Roberts, and writers Eugene Wang and Zhang Letian.

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David Davies

David Davies began studying art at the School of Mines and Industries in his birthplace, Ballarat.

1 portrait in the collection

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Gino Zardo

Gino Zardo (b. 1968) is a Queanbeyan-born photographer who moved to New York in the 1990s, where he lived and worked for twenty years.

2 portraits in the collection

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.

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H. Walter Barnett

H. Walter Barnett (1862-1934) was a leading portrait photographer of the late Victorian, Edwardian and interwar periods.

12 portraits in the collection

David Potts reflected in a magazine page

David Potts reflected in a magazine page

David Potts reflected in a magazine page

David Potts reflected in a magazine page, c. 1949 (printed 2000)

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
The series 'David Moore: From Face to Face' was acquired as a gift of the artist and with financial assistance from Timothy Fairfax AC and L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2001.

Aldo Giurgola

Aldo Giurgola

Aldo Giurgola

Aldo Giurgola, 2005

Portrait, ochre, pigment and oil on canvas (triptych)

Gift of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects 2005

Society of Artists Selection Committee

Society of Artists Selection Committee

Society of Artists Selection Committee

Society of Artists Selection Committee, 1907

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Purchased 2008

Opening of the First Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia by H.R.H. The Duke of Cornwall and York, May 9, 1901, 1903 by Tom Roberts

Empire records

Magazine article by Kylie Scroope, 2011

Celebrates the centenary of the first national art collection, the Historic Memorials Collection, housed at Australia's Parliament House.

© National Portrait Gallery 2025
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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