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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.

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Portrait of Jerry Ellis

1999
Lewis Miller

oil on Belgian linen (frame: 124.7 cm x 95.0 cm)

Jeremy Ellis (b. 1927) was Chairman of BHP from 1997 to 1999. Born in England, he was educated in Western Australia and gained a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford. After working for ICI in England and Australia he became the manager of planning and development for the BHP-owned Australian Wire Industries in Sydney in 1969. He became manager of the Australian Wire Rope Works, another BHP company, in 1971. He managed a number of operations within BHP before becoming deputy executive general manager of BHP Utah Minerals International in 1989 and a director of BHP in 1991. A former chairman of Sandvik Australia, he has also been chairman of the Pacifica Group and Black Range Minerals, and a director of GroPep and ANZ. A director of the Museum of Contemporary Art from 1996 to 1999, he has also been chancellor of Monash University, and chairman of both the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission and Future Directions International.

Lewis Miller is one of Australia's leading figurative and portraiture artists. He won the 1981 Hugh Ramsay Portrait Prize, and the 2000 Sporting Portrait Prize with a portrait of football legend Ron Barassi. He has been an Archibald finalist fifteen times, and won the prize in 1998 with one of his many portraits of his fellow artist Allan Mitelman. The technique he employed in that painting served him for the painting of Jerry Ellis the following year. 'I worked the paint very thinly using something like a staining technique,' he said, 'and kept a drawn feel with the charcoal lines visible.' In 2003 Miller was appointed by the Australian War Memorial as Australia's official artist to the conflict in Iraq, recording mine clearing undertaken by the Royal Australian Navy in the Persian Gulf and by members of the SAS at Al Qusayr and on the Al Ifziiyah peninsula.

Gift of BHP Billiton 2003. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
© Lewis Miller/Copyright Agency, 2024

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. Works of art from the collection are reproduced as per the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The use of images of works from the collection may be restricted under the Act. Requests for a reproduction of a work of art can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

Artist and subject

Lewis Miller (age 40 in 1999)

Jeremy Ellis AO (age 72 in 1999)

Subject professions

Business, trades and industry

Donated by

BHP Billiton (11 portraits)

© National Portrait Gallery 2024
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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.

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