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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.

Garry Shead and Tom Thompson

1993
Adam Knott

gelatin silver photograph on paper (sheet: 35.0 cm x 26.2 cm, image: 28.5 cm x 18.7 cm)

Born in Sydney, Garry Shead studied at the National Art School in 1961-2. With Martin Sharp, John Firth Smith and Ian van Wieringen he edited The Arty Wild Oat and published cartoons in the Oz, The Bulletin, The Sydney Morning Herald, and Honi Soit. He worked for several years as a scenic artist with the ABC before winning the Young Contemporaries Prize in 1967. In the ensuing years he travelled in Papua New Guinea, Japan and Europe and held several international art residencies. Shead's first solo exhibitions were at the Watters Gallery in Sydney from 1966; he has had numerous solo exhibitions since. His work is represented in the National Gallery, several state galleries and many public and private collections. A finalist in the Doug Moran Portrait Prize of 1987, he won the Archibald Prize in 1993 for his portrait of an old friend, Sydney publisher Tom Thompson.

Tom Thompson (b. 1953) is a publisher and writer. During the 1980s he worked as a journalist at the Sydney Morning Herald and as publishing coordinator of the Encyclopedia of the Australian People (for the Australian Bicentennial Authority) before moving to Collins, for which he developed the Imprint label in 1988. As Publisher of Literature at Angus & Robertson between 1989 and 1993 he developed the Imprint Classics, Lives, and Critical Studies series and published the poetry list. In 1994 he published the first Imprint titles under Editions Tom Thompson, in association with HarperCollins, from which he subsequently purchased the trademark and titles. He is currently proprietor of the ETT (Editions Tom Thompson) imprint, dedicated to keeping classic Australian titles available. Thompson is the author of fourteen books including Growing Up in the Sixties (1986), Hors Texte (Paris, 1997) and Hurstville Oval (2002), the latter one of several pieces written with his wife, Elizabeth Butel. Thompson has an intense interest in Australian sporting history and from 2003 to 2005 published on sporting history and memorabilia for Lawson Menzies.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard King 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
© Adam Knott

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

Adam Knott (age 27 in 1993)

Garry Shead (age 51 in 1993)

Tom Thompson (age 40 in 1993)

Subject professions

Visual arts and crafts

Donated by

Richard King (16 portraits)

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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 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