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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.

Numb to touch (self-portrait), 2018
 by Natasha Walsh

Observation point

Magazine article by Natasha Walsh, 2019

My practice has always been driven by my experimental curiosity, from heavy wax and resin bodies generated in flame, to delicate temporal works that explore the conductive and alchemical possibilities of copper.

Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (future Queen Elizabeth II)
Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (future Queen Elizabeth II)
Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (future Queen Elizabeth II)

Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (future Queen Elizabeth II), 1942-1943

Charles Wheeler
Portrait, coloured chalk on artist board

Purchased 2019

Ian Thorpe
Ian Thorpe
Ian Thorpe

Ian Thorpe, 2002

James Houston
Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2002

Professor Peter Doherty

Rick Amor

21 Portraits
Previous exhibition, 2014

Rick Amor, noblest yet most unaffected of contemporary Australian portraitists, is also a painter of enigmatic, ominous landscapes, seascapes and cityscapes that haunt the viewer like dreams, dimly-recalled.

Layne Beachley

Collection: Icons

Volume One
Previous exhibition, 2018

When a portrait communicates determination and individuality as boldly as these do, it has the potential to become an iconic image. For the Gallery’s 20th birthday this display brings together a group contemporary photographic portraits of inspiring women and men.

Arthur Phillip Esq., Captain General and Commander in Chief in & over the territory of New South Wales
Arthur Phillip Esq., Captain General and Commander in Chief in & over the territory of New South Wales
Arthur Phillip Esq., Captain General and Commander in Chief in & over the territory of New South Wales

Arthur Phillip Esq., Captain General and Commander in Chief in & over the territory of New South Wales, 1789

W Sherwin, John Stockdale after Francis Wheatley
Portrait, stipple engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Kaloti Parmjit, 2012 by Louise Whelan

Louise Whelan

Finalist interviews

I met Kaloti Parmjit the day I took the photo. I first visited the Sikh temple in the suburb of Glenwood to take photos as part of a social documentary project I'm undertaking for the State Library of NSW.

Portrait of Mr Frank Packer

Judy Cassab

The artist's diary
Previous exhibition, 2013

The artist's diary profiles six decades of Cassab's work, from the early portrait commissions of the 1950s to later paintings that have helped confirm her eminent place in the canon of Australian portraiture.

Francis Bacon on Primrose Hill, 1963

Shadows of light

Magazine article by Mark Haworth-Booth, 2002

Mark Haworth-Booth explains why Bill Brandt is one of the most important British photographers of the Twentieth Century.

Self portrait

Sir William Dargie CBE

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2003

Sir William Dargie, painter and eight times winner of the Archibald Prize for portraiture, died in Melbourne on July 26, 2003, aged 91.

George Selth Coppin
George Selth Coppin
George Selth Coppin

George Selth Coppin, c. 1863

an unknown artist
Portrait, albumen silver carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Johnny O'Keefe

Making Portraits

Five Years of National Portrait Gallery Commissions
Previous exhibition, 2004

The considered matching of artist to subject has produced an amazing collection of unique and original works in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery

Portrait of Captain James Cook RN

The 1780s to the 1840s

Mo and beard timeline

Eighteenth century men differed from those of the preceding centuries in their preference for beardlessness.

Harry Kewell
Harry Kewell
Harry Kewell

Harry Kewell, 2011

Julian Kingma
Portrait, type C photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

HM Queen Elizabeth II
HM Queen Elizabeth II
HM Queen Elizabeth II

HM Queen Elizabeth II, 2001

Polly Borland
Portrait, type C photograph on paper

Purchased 2002

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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