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Getting a head

Alexandra Roginski gets a feel for phrenology’s fundamentals.

Sibly irresistible

Alexandra Roginski reveals a forceful feminist figure in the colonial period’s slippery science, phrenology.

Princess Alexandra of Denmark (later Queen Alexandra), c. 1862

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020

Set of 129 Royal Christmas Cards and three miscellaneous items, 1951-2001

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Patricia Tryon Macdonald 2005
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Ned Kelly and death masks

Alexandra Roginski explains the history behind the pseudo-science of phrenology.

Alexandra Schepisi, 2011

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

Purchased 2019

Lovely Lillie and Dirty Bertie

Royal romps: illicit liaisons

Judge a person by their cover

Alexandra Roginski explains the history behind the pseudo-science of phrenology, popular in the nineteenth century.

Portrait 61

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

Headspace 5

Crystal Gazing: Headspace V, the fifth in the National Portrait Gallery's program of secondary student portrait exhibitions, invites students from Canberra and the surrounding regions to explore the possibilities of portraiture

Rolf de Heer, Adelaide, SA, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Dr John Yu, 2004

Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2004

Lifelines

Fiona Stanley, Fiona Wood, Fred Hollows, Patrick McGorry and John Yu

James Oswald Fairfax, c. 1991

Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

The cost of living luxuriously

In 1904, the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia purchased as a gift for her sister, Queen Alexandra, a fan composed of two-color gold, guilloché enamel, mother-of-pearl, blond tortoiseshell, gold sequins, silk, cabochon rubies, and rose diamonds from the House of Fabergé in Saint Petersburg.

J.C. Williamson, c. 1913

Gift of the family of Aimée Viola Horsley, daughter of J.C. Williamson 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

The first nurse

Tamsin Hong recounts the tale of Marion Smith, the only known Australian Indigenous servicewoman of World War One.

Untitled (preparatory study for sculpture of Dr John Yu), 2003

Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2004

Lillie Langtry, c. 1885

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Malcolm Robertson in memory of William Thomas Robertson 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Australian of the Year

The Australian of the Year Awards have often provoked controversy about who is selected and whether their achievements are remarkable.

Making Portraits

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

Australian Visit

The exhibition will include works of art from the NPG Canberra's permanent collection with some inward loans and aims to highlight the achievements of notable Australians.

Uncommon Australians

This exhibition showcases portraits acquired through the generosity of the National Portrait Gallery’s Founding Patrons, L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC.

Queen of cartes

Joanna Gilmour discusses the role of the carte de visite in portraiture’s democratisation, and its harnessing by Victoria, the world’s first media monarch.

Clay, water, fire

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

Desperately seeking Sonia

Esther Erlich’s portrait of Lady McMahon.

Small worlds

Bess Norriss Tait created miniature watercolour portraits full of character and life.

Mother’s muse

Inga Walton traces the poignant path of photographer Polixeni Papapetrou, revealed in the NGV’s summer retrospective.

The personal and the historical

Where do we draw a line between the personal and the historical? Although she died in Melbourne in 1975, when I was not quite eleven years old, I have the vividest memories of my maternal grandmother Helen Borthwick.