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How to be a boy

Christopher Chapman profiles Chris Lilley, actor and creator of Angry Boys.

People are people

Sandra Bruce chats with seven-time NPPP finalist Chris Budgeon about photography, guitars and representing the human story.

Mental as everything

Chris O'Doherty, also known as Reg Mombassa, is best-known for his Mambo imagery but he also paints a lot of self portraits.

Portrait 41

This issue features Kate Beynon, Philosopher Cynthia Freeland, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, John Tsiavis & Chris Lilley, UK's BP Portrait Award, Purchasing power in colonial Sydney and more.

Portrait 67

William Yang on his autobiographical self portraits, David Parker's 1970s and 80s Melbourne music photographs, seven-time NPPP finalist Chris Budgeon, and Benjamin Warlngundu Ellis.

The boy, the bed and the gun

Christopher Chapman contemplates the provocative performance art of Chris Burden. 

Portrait 55

Explore convict art, photography by Ruth Hollick and Collier Schorr, an interview with neurosurgeon Charlie Teo, portraiture on money, and more!

Someone to watch over you

Carrie Kibbler looks at how portraiture fits into the Australian Artbank Collection.

Shop Talk

Angus and the arbiters talk (photo) shop for the National Photographic Portrait Prize.

Observation point

While visiting the National Portrait Gallery I noticed the absence of paintings of journalists.

Boyd to man

Christopher Chapman looks at influences and insight in the formative years of Arthur Boyd.

20 20

Sarah Engledow picks some favourites from a decade of the National Photographic Portrait Prize.

Snap chat

2019 National Photographic Portrait Prize judge Anne O’Hehir looks beneath the surface of this year’s entries.

Snap decisions

NPPP judge Robert Cook provides irreverent insight into this year’s fare, and having to be a bit judgemental.

Inspiration + Realisation: Jude Rae

Justin Paton explores the latest exhibition of Jude Rae's portrait paintings. 

A Captured Moment

The acquisition of David Moore's archive of portrait photographs for the National Portrait Gallery's collection.

A bond of friendship

Australia's major abstract painter Yvonne Audette discusses her portrait of sculptor Robert Kippel.

Being Cate

A moving portrait of Cate Blanchett unfolds as an inspired pairing of medium and subject.

Intense identity

Dr Chistopher Chapman discusses the portrait of Australian author Christos Tsiolkas taken by John Tsiavis.

Painting them gently

Penny Grist on motivation, method and melancholy in the portraiture of Darren McDonald.

Drawing inspiration

Christopher Chapman absorbs the gentle touch of Don Bachardy’s portraiture.

Golden boy

Dr Christopher Chapman examines Scott Redford's photographic portrait of Australian surfer David 'Rasta' Rastovich.

Two painters

Chris Chapman explains how Matthys Gerber bridges the gap between abstraction and portraiture.

Glamour vs grunge

Christopher Chapman examines the battle of glamour vs. grunge which played out in the fashion and advertising of the 1990s.

Tender tragedies

George Foxhill's self portraits were the subject of a small focus display at the National Portrait Gallery in 2006.

A Singular Line

A newly acquired work by Stella Bowen adds to the National Portrait Gallery's growing collection of important Australian self-portraits.

Surfer artist rockstar

Christopher Chapman talks with Scott Redford about his character Reinhardt Dammn.

With a Little Help from my Friends

The story behind the acquisition of the portrait of Danish architect Jørn Utzon.

Unpacked

Rebecca Ray reflects on Robert Fielding’s Mayatjara series, honouring songlines and intergenerational knowedge.

Village people

Christopher Chapman discusses Rod McNicol's photographic portrait series Newcomers to my village.

Hot Scots

James Holloway describes the first portraits you encounter when entering the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Glossy too

The Glossy 2 exhibition highlights the integral role magazine photography plays in illustrating and shaping our contemporary culture.

Arthur as Alyosha?

Patrick McCaughey explores a striking Boyd self portrait.

Strutt your stuff

Matthew Jones on the upshot of a St Kilda Road outrage.

The hands have it

Angus Trumble treats the gallery’s collection with a dab hand.

Drawn from life

Penelope Grist discovers the rich narratives in Peter Wegner’s series of centenarian portraits.

City boys

Christopher Chapman immerses himself in Larry Clark’s field of vision.

The Avedon effect

Dr Christopher Chapman explores how we can understand Richard Avedon's photographs.  

My Favourite Australian

The Australian public was invited in 2008 to vote for their favourite Australian.  After the votes were tallied an exhibition of the top-ten Popular Australians and the top-twenty unsung heroes was displayed at the National Portrait Gallery.

Bill and Ted's excellent portrait.

Sarah Engledow on Messrs Dobell and MacMahon and the art of friendship.

Surface tension

Joanna Gilmour on the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2013.

Modern Australian Women

Close contemporaries, Thea Proctor, Margaret Preston and Grace Cossington Smith were frequently sources of inspiration and irritation to each other. 

Apollo's breath

Christopher Chapman delights in the intimacy of Robert Mapplethorpe's photography

Clay, water, fire

Ah Xian's porcelain portrait of paediatrician Dr. John Yu reflects Yu's heritage and interests.

The highest honour

Bringing eminent scientist Frank Fenner and artist Jude Rae together for the National Portrait Gallery commission was like matchmaking.

I'm not there

Melbourne experience

Diana Warnes explores the lives of Hal and Katherine 'Kate' Hattam through their portraits painted by Fred Williams and Clifton Pugh.

A spectral sentience

Aimee Board reveals method, motivation and mortality in the portraiture of Rod McNicol.

Suave

Charles Haddon Chambers the Australian-born playboy playwright settled permanently in London in 1880 but never lost his Australian stance when satirising the English.

Duty bound

Joanna Gilmour explores the life of colonial women Lady Ellen Stirling, Eliza Darling, Lady Eliza Arthur, Elizabeth Macquarie and Lady Jane Franklin.

In the galleries

Christopher Chapman highlights the inaugural hang of the new National Portrait Gallery building which opened in December 2008.

Go Figure!

Claire Roberts interviews Swiss art collector Uli Sigg.

Finding Mrs Frisby

Robyn Sweaney's quiet Violet obsession.

Love scars

Katrina Osborne immerses herself in one of photography’s most fearless chronicles.

Birds of a feather

Charting a path from cockatiel to finch, Annette Twyman explores her family portraits and stories.

Confessional conversations

Fiona Gruber investigates the work of Australian painter Kristin Headlam.

Take thy face hence

Joanna Gilmour travels through time to explore the National Portrait Gallery London’s masterpieces in Shakespeare to Winehouse.

The portrait writ large

Karen Vickery on Chang the Chinese giant in Australia.

Natural born stiller

Penelope Grist speaks to Robert McFarlane about shooting for the stars.

The importance of being bearded

Joanna Gilmour discovers that the beards of the ill-fated explorers Burke and Wills were as epic as their expedition to traverse Australia from south to north.

Lovingly observed

Sarah Engledow previews the beguiling summer exhibition, Idle hours.

Beguiling impressions

Sarah Engledow is seduced by the portraits and the connections between the artists and their subjects in the exhibition Impressions: Painting light and life.

Earth to earth

Dr Sarah Engledow discusses the recent gift of works by David Campbell.

Flesh, figure and rock

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

Big bouquet of Blackmans

Dr. Sarah Engledow explores the context surrounding Charles Blackman's portrait of Judith Wright, Jack McKinney and their daughter Meredith.

Cultural kaleidoscope

The complex connections between four creative Australians; Patrick White, Sidney Nolan, Robert Helpmann and Peter Sculthorpe.

The family scene

Traudi Allen discovers sensitivity, humour and fine draughtsmanship in the portraiture of John Perceval.

The Royal she

Traversing paint and pixels, Inga Walton examines portraits of select women in Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits.

Through blue eyes

Works by Arthur Boyd and Sidney Nolan bring the desert, the misty seashore and the hot Monaro plains to exhibition Open Air: Portraits in the landscape.

The real Thea

Long after the portraitist became indifferent to her, and died, a beguiling portrait hung over its subject.

The catechist and the cricketer

Stephen Valambras Graham traverses the intriguing socio-political terrain behind two iconic First Nations portraits of the 1850s.

Naked nostalgia

Penelope Grist reminisces about the halcyon days of a print icon, before the infusion of the internet’s shades of grey.

First encounters

Representations of the inhabitants of the new world expose the complexities of the colonisers' intentions.

Study in scarlet

Angus Trumble reflects on the force of nature that was Helena Rubinstein.

Regarding Henrys

Sarah Engledow ponders the divergent legacies of Messrs Kendall and Lawson.

A real Pratt

The death of a gentlewoman is shrouded in mystery, a well-liked governor finds love after sorrow, and two upright men become entangled in the historical record.