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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.

The Gallery’s Acknowledgement of Country, and information on culturally sensitive and restricted content and the use of historic language in the collection can be found here.

Martin Sharp

1971
Greg Weight

gelatin silver photograph on paper (sheet: 50.4 cm x 40.4 cm, image: 43.1 cm x 33.9 cm)

Martin Sharp (1942-2013), printmaker, painter, cartoonist, designer, songwriter and film-maker, is one of Australia's foremost pop artists. Born in Sydney, Sharp was founding co-editor with Richard Neville and Richard Walsh of Oz magazine, contributing humorous and often sexually explicit cartoons to the controversial journal. When he and Neville re-located Oz to London, Sharp continued as art director. He began producing posters for sale through the magazine including his celebration of Bob Dylan, Mr Tambourine Man, the electrically charged portrait of Jimi Hendrix, Exploding guitar, and several in support of the 'legalise pot rallies' at Hyde Park. Sharp lived for a time with Cream lead singer Eric Clapton, collaborating with him on song lyrics and designing album covers for the band. Returning to Australia in 1969 Sharp was instrumental in setting up the 'Yellow House', an artists' space at Potts Point in Sydney, formerly the Clune Galleries, which became a focus of the underground art scene of the 1960s. Sharp is well known for his poster designs for the Nimrod theatre in the 1970s, and for his obsessions with Tiny Tim, toys and Luna Park. The National Portrait Gallery holds one of Sharp's best-known paintings, Young Mo, which became Nimrod's signature image. He has exhibited widely since 1965 and is represented in all major Australian state galleries and the National Gallery of Australia. His work has been exhibited at the Art Gallery of South Australia and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and was an important element of the National Portrait Gallery exhibition So you wanna be a rock star?

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
© Gregory Weight/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

Greg Weight (age 25 in 1971)

Martin Sharp (age 29 in 1971)

Subject professions

Visual arts and crafts

Donated by

Patrick Corrigan AM (130 portraits)

© National Portrait Gallery 2024
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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