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Seduce, Amuse, Entertain
NPPP 2007 exhibition essay
General content
Michael Desmond, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2007 Prize.
Movement is my radar
Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2015
Michael Desmond charts the path of portraiture, arriving at Julian Opie’s digital realm.
Skater
Portraits by Nikki Toole
Previous exhibition, 2012
Nikki Toole has travelled the world to photograph skateboarders.
Errol Flynn, 1938 (printed 2008)
George Hurrell
Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper
Gift of Michael Desmond 2012
Essential portraiture
Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2011
Michael Desmond in conversation with University of Houston professor of philosophy Cynthia Freeland.
Painting mates
Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2011
Michael Desmond discusses Fred Williams' portraits of friends, artist Clifton Pugh, David Aspden and writer Stephen Murray-Smith, and the stylistic connections between his portraits and landscapes.
True fella
Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2011
Michael Desmond profiles the Australian songwriter and performer Neil Murray and his contribution to Australian music.
The God-shaped hole
Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2010
Exploring the photographs of Martin Schoeller, Michael Desmond delves into the uneasy pact that exists between celebrity and the camera.
Inside outside
Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2010
Michael Desmond explores the portraiture of Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud.
Technical terminology
Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2010
Michael Desmond introduces some of the ideas behind the exhibition Present Tense: An imagined grammar of portraiture in the digital age.
Present Tense
An Imagined Grammar of Portraiture in the Digital Age
Previous exhibition, 2010
Technology has been a major influence on art since the invention of the camera, particularly in the field of portraiture.
Poison pen
Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2010
Michael Desmond examines the career of the eighteenth-century suspected poisoner and portrait artist Thomas Griffiths Wainewright.
Extremely generous and incredibly close
Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2010
Michael Desmond examines the daguerreotype portraits created by American artist Chuck Close.
Sure thing
Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2009
Blue Mountain, Owner, Trainer, Jockey, James Scobie 1887 by Frederick Woodhouse Snr. is a portrait of James Scobie, well known jockey and eminent horse trainer.
I walk the line
Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2009
Bruce Petty's animated self portrait captures a life's journey compressed into a few minutes.
Where the wild things are
Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2009
Michael Desmond explores the complex portrait of Dr Bob Brown by Harold 'The Kangaroo' Thornton.