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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.

Gordon and Marilyn Darling

1994
Francis Reiss and June Orford

gelatin silver photograph on paper (sheet: 40.7 cm x 41.5 cm, image: 39.2 cm x 40.2 cm)

L. Gordon Darling AC CMG (1921-2015), former company director, was the Founding Patron of the National Portrait Gallery. Born in London, Darling was schooled in England before serving as a major in the AIF during World War II. In the early 1950s he became a company director with BHP, a position he held for 32 years. For fifteen years during this period he was also Chairman of Rheem Australia and Koitaki Ltd. Inaugural Chairman of the Board of the Australian National Gallery from 1982 to 1986, in 1987, reflecting his interest in the visual arts, he founded the Gordon Darling Australian Print Fund, which has acquired over 6 000 prints for the national collection. In 1991 he established the Gordon Darling Foundation, which continues to provide funding and staff development opportunities for public art institutions Australia-wide. That year, too, he and Marilyn Darling initiated the Darling Foundation-sponsored touring exhibition Uncommon Australians: Towards an Australian Portrait Gallery, the interest generated by which led to the establishment of the National Portrait Gallery, housed first in the National Library of Australia, then in Old Parliament House and then in its own building on King Edward Terrace, Parkes.

Marilyn Darling AC (b. 1943), a Founding Patron of the National Portrait Gallery, was Chair of the Board of the Gallery from 2000 until 2008. Under her leadership the Gallery grew from a small institution located in Old Parliament House to a significant Federal institution in its own building. Having studied science at the University of Queensland, Darling worked in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Melbourne in the late 1960s, and undertook postgraduate study in the Medical School of Monash University from 1973 to 1978. Soon her interests expanded to a variety of social and cultural concerns, including the Victorian Children's Aid Society and the Victorian State Opera Foundation. By the mid-1980s she was a major patron of art, music and health in the Australian community. After she married Gordon Darling in 1989, the couple convened the exhibition Uncommon Australians: Towards an Australian Portrait Gallery, which toured nationally from 1992–1993. It demonstrated the potential for the institution and proved to be the impetus for its foundation. Since the Gallery was established in 1998 she has funded the acquisition of many diverse works for its collection. Marilyn Darling is the Deputy Chair of the Gordon Darling Foundation and a member of the National Gallery of Australia’s Gordon Darling Australia Pacific Print Fund.

Gift of Francis Reiss 2009
© Francis Reiss and June Orford

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

Francis Reiss (age 67 in 1994)

June Orford (age 48 in 1994)

L Gordon Darling AC CMG (age 73 in 1994)

Marilyn Darling AC (age 51 in 1994)

Donated by

Francis Reiss (4 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