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Exhibitions

show all 37

Maggie Beer

In Gallery One

Previous exhibition, 2023

Our most recent commission, the portrait of Maggie Beer by Del Kathryn Barton both combines a statuesque almost devotional likeness with a spell-binding and dream-like personalised symbology of the sitter.

Contemporary Australian Portraits

Previous exhibition, 2002

Contemporary Australian Portraits is a cross section, a sampling, of some of the present-day directions in Australian portrait practice

All that fall

Sacrifice, life and loss in the First World War

Previous exhibition, 2015

Focussing on the wide-ranging theme of loss and absence, this exhibition provides a moving ‘portrait’ of loss during the First World War on the Australian home front. Powerful symbolic images, including contemporary works, evoke the emotional intensity of loss. All that fall: Sacrifice, life and loss in the First World War is the National Portrait Gallery’s contribution to the Anzac Centenary.

Portraits for Posterity

Previous exhibition, 2006

Drawn from some of the many donations made to the Gallery's collection, the exhibition Portraits for Posterity pays homage both to the remarkable (and varied) group of Australians who are portrayed in the portraits and the generosity of the many donors who have presented them to the Gallery.

Steven Bishop, performer by Nathalie Latham

Australia's Creative Diaspora

Photographed by Nathalie Latham

Previous exhibition, 2007

Paris based Australian photographer and filmmaker Nathalie Latham has an ongoing interest in the creative achievements of other Australian artists living in various locations around the globe.

Jimmy Barnes at The Coogee Bay Hotel 1984 (detail) Grant Matthews

Pub Rock

Your backstage pass to 70s and 80s sounds and scenes

Previous exhibition, 2020

Celebrate the people, places and sounds of Australian pub rock and its enduring impact on our nation’s identity.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018

Previous exhibition, 2018

The exhibition is selected from a national field of entries, reflecting the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.

Angela Belgiorno-Zegna, 2001 by Salvatore Zofrea

Intimate Portraits

Previous exhibition, 2002

Intimate Portraits is an exhibition of paintings, drawings and prints that explore the less public side of portraiture

Tough & Tender

Previous exhibition, 2016

Art by Warwick Baker, Chris Burden, Larry Clark, Rozalind Drummond, Nan Goldin, Robert Mapplethorpe and Collier Schorr explores personal relations, individual expression and fluid identity.

Slim Dusty and Dame Edna Everage, Carlton Hill Station, WA, 10 July 1993

Rarely Everage

The Lives of Barry Humphries

Previous exhibition, 2002

The exhibition begins with Barry's childhood in Camberwell, Melbourne and chronicles his days as a struggling actor in Australia and England, his creation of characters including Barry McKenzie, Dame Edna Everage, Sandy Stone and Sir Les Patterson

Headspace 6

Who Am I?

Previous exhibition, 2005

The sixth in the National Portrait Gallery’s series of student exhibitions, will feature 200 portrait artworks, both two and three-dimensional, from secondary school students from across Australia

Decorative portrait – Len Lye, c.1925 by Rayner Hoff (1894-1937)

Presence and Absence

Portrait Sculpture in Australia

Previous exhibition, 2003

This exhibition focuses on exploring national and communal identity through sculptural production in Australia, from the early decades of settlement through to the present day

Glossy - Faces Magazines Now

Previous exhibition, 1999

Magazines are the portrait galleries of the 90s... Glossy is about magazines. The exhibition presents the work of eight photographers, Australian by birth or long-term residency, who are producing portraits for publication in magazines around the world.

Collection: Icons

Volume Two

Previous exhibition, 2018

The second instalment of a display featuring bold contemporary portraits drawn from the collection. For the Gallery’s 20th birthday this display brings together a group contemporary photographic portraits of inspiring women and men.

Glossy 2

Faces, Magazines, Now

Previous exhibition, 2005

Following the success of Glossy: Faces, Magazines, Now in 1999 the National Portrait Gallery again highlights the huge array of contemporary portraiture in the pages of magazines.

The Possibilities of Portraiture

Previous exhibition, 1999

What does 'portraiture mean at the end of the 20th century? At the outset of building a national portrait collection it seems an appropriate question to investigate.

show all 37

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