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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.

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Queen Victoria in mourning, with a portrait of Prince Albert

Queen Victoria in mourning, with a portrait of Prince Albert

Queen Victoria in mourning, with a portrait of Prince Albert

Queen Victoria in mourning, with a portrait of Prince Albert, c. 1862

an unknown artist

Portrait, lithograph in carte de visite format on paper on card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020

Bob Hawke

Primed

Some Prime Ministers

Previous exhibition, 2019

Seventeen of Australia’s thirty prime ministers to date are represented in the contrasting sizes, moods and mediums of these portraits.

Portrait of Kang Sehwang, 1783 by Yi Myeonggi

The artist, the scholar and the gentleman

Magazine article by Kwon Hyeeun, 2019

Kwon Hyeeun introduces Korean portraits of Kang Sehwang, and five generations of the Kang family.

Karlo, 2017 by David Rosetzky

Observation point

Magazine article by David Rosetzky, 2019

I work with portraiture as a way to explore the nuances and complexities of contemporary selfhood and subjectivity.

The Writer, Peter Goldsworthy

Off grid

Magazine article by Aimee Board, 2019

Aimee Board ventures within and beyond to consider two remarkable new Gallery acquisitions.

Portrait 61

Max Dupain's unknown portrait subjects, phrenologist Madame Sibly, Indigenous-European relationships, Thomas Gainsborough and more.

Captain James Cook

Rethinking foundational histories

Magazine article by Kate Fullagar, 2019

A focus on Indigenous-European relationships underpins Facing New Worlds. By Kate Fullagar.

Sydney Ure Smith

Dupain detective

Magazine article by Johanna McMahon, 2019

Johanna McMahon revels in history and mystery in pursuit of a suite of unknown portrait subjects.

James Macarthur

James Macarthur

James Macarthur

James Macarthur, c. 1836-1838

an unknown artist

Portrait, black and bronze ink with white bodycolour highlight on buff board

Purchased 2019

Thomas and John Clarke, bushrangers, photographed in Braidwood Gaol

Thomas and John Clarke, bushrangers, photographed in Braidwood Gaol

Thomas and John Clarke, bushrangers, photographed in Braidwood Gaol

Thomas and John Clarke, bushrangers, photographed in Braidwood Gaol, 1867

an unknown artist

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on laid down on a section cut from a nineteenth century album page

Purchased 2019

Elizabeth Read (née Archer)

Elizabeth Read (née Archer)

Elizabeth Read (née Archer)

Elizabeth Read (née Archer), c. 1853

an unknown artist

Portrait, watercolour on paper

Purchased 2019

Christmas Island

About Face article

This is my last Trumbology before, in a little more than a week from now, I pass to my successor Karen Quinlan the precious baton of the Directorship of the National Portrait Gallery.

The Rajah quilt, 1841 by Kezia Hayter

Material culture

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2018

The Rajah Quilt’s narrative promptings are as intriguing as the textile is intricate.

Self-portrait, 1962 by Judy Cassab

Flesh, figure and rock

Magazine article by Aimee Board, 2018

Aimee Board traces Judy Cassab’s path to the Australian outback, arriving at the junction of inspiration and abstraction.

Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza and David R. L. Litchfield at Villa Favorita, Lugano, Switzerland, 1989 © Nicola Graydo

The Thyssen Art Macabre

About Face article

Books seldom make me angry but this one did. At first, I was powerfully struck by the uncanny parallels that existed between the Mellons of Pittsburgh and the Thyssens of the Ruhr through the same period, essentially the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

Trumble and Borthwick families (Mum front right, Angus smallest), ca. 1968

Humdinger

About Face article

At a meeting by teleconference of the National Portrait Gallery Foundation last week, I found myself reporting that our forthcoming exhibition So Fine is going to be “a humdinger,” whereupon Tim Fairfax chuckled and said that he hadn’t heard that expression for years.

© 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