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Wiradjuri artist Brook Andrew (b. 1970) studied art at the University of Western Sydney and the University of New South Wales.
2 portraits in the collection
Experience the artistic clout of Brook Andrew’s portraits of Marcia Langton AM and Anthony Mundine.
Recorded 2011
Professor Marcia Langton, artist Brook Andrew and printer Trent Walter discuss the creation of Marcia's portrait.
Gift of Brook Andrew in memory of Emmaline Rose Charnock 2012. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2009
Brook Andrew, Marcia Langton and Anthony Mundine.
Andrew Daly (b. 1964) is a Perth-based artist who completed studies in fine art at Curtin University.
4 portraits in the collection
Holocaust survivor, sculptor and human rights advocate Andrew Steiner OAM (b.
1 portrait in the collection
Andrew Gaze (b. 1965), basketballer and coach, was born into a prominent basketballing family.
1 portrait in the collection
Andrew Maccoll (b. 1978) is a photographer and creative director. Born into an artistic family (his father is a press photographer and his mother a documentary producer) he worked as a darkroom printing assistant while studying for his degree in Visual Arts in Photography at Queensland College of Art, Griffith University.
3 portraits in the collection
Andrew Quilty left school after completing Year 10 in 1999, and went to study photography at TAFE, graduating in 2004.
1 portrait in the collection
Tasmanian-born Andrew Bonneau (b. 1981) lives and works in Cairns, Queensland.
2 portraits in the collection
Andrew Sibley (1933–2015), painter and teacher, is known for his figurative paintings, landscapes and abstract works.
20 portraits in the collection
Andrew Mezei (b. 1963), artist, was born to Hungarian refugee parents in Melbourne and grew up in their leather-goods workshop, observing their adherence to a tradition of fine European craftsmanship.
1 portrait in the collection
Andrew 'Boy' Charlton (1907-1975) was a keen surfer throughout his youth.
1 portrait in the collection
Andrew Sayers AM (1957–2015) was inaugural Director of the National Portrait Gallery.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001
Gift of the artist 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Gift of the artist 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2010
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Walkley Award-winning photojournalist Andrew Quilty shares an extract from his new book, a powerful visual record of his nine years in Afghanistan.
Andrew Mayo talks to three of Australia’s most prominent and prolific music photographers — Martin Philbey, Kane Hibberd and Daniel Boud — about the challenges and inspiration behind their craft.
Andrew Mayo considers the changing face of modern wedding photography through the eyes of two of its finest exponents, Dan O’Day and Kelly Tunney.
Andrew Mayo explores the portrait piscatorial, with help from two of its most creative practitioners.
Andrew Mitchell Ramsay (1809-1869), clergyman, was Melbourne's first Presbyterian minister.
1 portrait in the collection
Purchased 2019
Tim Bonyhady recalls his experience as sitter for his close friend and former National Portrait Gallery Director, the late Andrew Sayers.
Former National Portrait Gallery Director, Andrew Sayers, describes John Brack's portrait of Kym Bonython.
Gift of the artist 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Gift of the artist 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2010
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Artist Andrew Mezei talks about his art practice and the process behind his portrait of Professor Penny Sackett.
Professor Penny Sackett and artist Andrew Mezei describe the process behind making the portrait.
Gift of the artist 2021
Commissioned with funds provided by Trent Birkett 2018
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001
Gift of the artist 2005. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2013
Gift of the artist 2005. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artists 2003
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010
Commissioned with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2002
Commissioned with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2002
Commissioned with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2002
Commissioned with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2002
Gift of the artist 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Gift of the artist 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds provided by Ross Adler AC 2018
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2010
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Purchased 2011
Purchased 2012
Purchased 2010
Gift of the artist 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Gift of the artist 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Photographer Andrew Maccoll tells the story behind his portrait of dual world champion pro surfer Mick Fanning.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2012
Gift of the artist 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Gift of the artist 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Former National Portrait Gallery Director, Andrew Sayers recalls meeting iconic Australian artist Sidney Nolan.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2009
Former NPG Director, Andrew Sayers, explores the creative collaborations between four Australian artists living in Paris during the first years of the twentieth century.
Commissioned with funds provided by Ross Adler AC 2018
Andrew Sayers feels the warmth in the paintings Matthew Perceval made while the sun shone in southern France.
Former NPG Director, Andrew Sayers describes the 1922 Self-portrait with Gladioli by George Lambert.
Andrew Sayers explores the self-portraits created by Australian artist Sidney Nolan.
Open Air is an exhibition of portraits of Australians in environments of particular significance to them.
Introduction The National Portrait Gallery’s photographic exhibition Flash: Australian Athletes in Focus explores various interpretations of Australian sporting men and women.
My Favourite Australian is a project developed in collaboration with ABC TV and the people of Australia.
Andrew Sayers discusses the real cost of George Lambert's Self portrait with gladioli 1922.
This article examines the portraits gifted to the National Portrait Gallery by Fairfax Holdings in 2003.
The story behind George Lambert's Self-portrait with Gladioli.
Basketballer Andrew Gaze and photographer George Fetting.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2010
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
An interview with former National Portrait Gallery Director, Andrew Sayers, who describes the portrait of Sir Henry Barkly by Thomas Clark.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Ann Korner, Nicholas Korner, Anthony Korner and Harriet Bingham 2015
This edited version of a speech by Andrew Sayers examines some of the antecedents of the National Portrait Gallery and set out the ideas behind the modern Gallery and its collection.
Andrew Sayers discusses the portrait of Dr Joan Croll AO by the Australian artist John Brack.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2010
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Andrew Sayers asks whether a portrait can truly be the examination of a life.
Portrait launch of Major-General Paul Cullen AC CBE DSO and Bar ED (Rtd) and George Judah Cohen.
Australia's tradition of sculpted portraits stretches back to the early decades of the nineteenth century and continues to sustain a group of dedicated sculptors.
Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2014
This issue features Jenny Sages, Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, Brook Andrew's portrait of Marcia Langton, Nicholas Harding, Lola Montez, Mick Molloy and more.
Andrew Cowen on photographing his friend Matthew Martin.
The Chairman, Board, Director and staff mourn the loss of the National Portrait Gallery's inaugural director.
Commissioned with funds provided by Trent Birkett 2018
Dr Christopher Chapman explores the symbolism in the portrait commission of Marcia Langton by Brook Andrew.
Commissioned with funds provided by Ross Adler AC 2018
An interview with the photographer.
This issue feature articles on Andrew Sayers, Gordon Darling, our summer exhibition Sideshow Alley and more.
The National Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition is selected from a national field of entries that reflect the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.
The first edition of Portrait Magazine features an article on Sidney Nolan's portraiture by former Gallery Director, Andrew Sayers.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Sir Andrew Grimwade CBE 2018
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
This issue features Del Kathryn Barton, Renaissance Portraiture in New York, Australian impressionists, Nikki Toole’s Skater project, National Photographic Portrait Prize, Andrew Maccoll & Mick Fanning and more.
Kim Leutwyler on her portraits of the LGBTQIA+ community, Oliver Giles chats to Polly Borland, Gunggandji artist Simone Arnol, and Andrew Quilty's new book.
The Australian Tapestry Workshop (formerly the Victorian Tapestry Workshop) was established in 1976, following two years of planning and research on the part of its founding patrons, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch and Lady Joyce Delacombe.
2 portraits in the collection
Gift of Janet, Andrew, Kathryn and Eleanor Ramsay, daughters and son of Alexander Maurice Ramsay and Amy Jane Ramsay 2010. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Intimate Portraits is an exhibition of paintings, drawings and prints that explore the less public side of portraiture
A dynamic young people's art exhibition, Hearts/Heads: Headspace II explored portraiture, produced by students from year 7 to year 12
Mike Brown (1938-1997) artist, was a participant (with Ross Crothall and Colin Lanceley) in the 1962 Annandale Imitation Realists exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art and Design, Melbourne.
1 portrait in the collection
Norman C Deck (1882-1980), photographer and dentist, joined the Photographic Society of New South Wales at the age of about fourteen, becoming its youngest-ever member.
1 portrait in the collection
Recorded 2011
Alistair McGhie discusses Andrew MacColl's portrait photograph of Australian comedian Mick Molloy.
Gallery directors Karen Quinlan and Tony Ellwood talk to Penelope Grist about the NPG and NGV collaborative exhibition, Who Are You: Australian Portraiture.
Joy Warren OAM (1922-2015), gallerist, was the owner-director of Canberra’s Solander Gallery from 1974.
1 portrait in the collection
Dr Sarah Engledow was appointed Historian at the National Portrait Gallery in 1999.
Former NPG Director, Andrew Sayers celebrates the support given to the Gallery by Gordon and Marilyn Darling.
doppelgänger is the second in a series of virtual exhibitions held by the National Portrait Gallery that explore contemporary notions of portraiture in the online environment.
Sasha Grishin AM (birth date undisclosed) is the Sir William Dobell Professor of Art History at the Australian National University.
1 portrait in the collection
Facing Memory: Headspace 4 provides us with valuable insights into the thoughts, creative processes and art-making practices of secondary students from Year 7 to Year 12 from sixty-two schools in the Australian Capital Territory, regional New South Wales and Victoria
The National Portrait Gallery is deeply saddened by the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning monarch in British history. Throughout her 70-year reign, Her Majesty represented graciousness, humanity and stability during times of enormous social change.
Browse the history of the National Photographic Portrait Prize, Cayce Zavaglia's embroidered portraiture, and modern wedding photography!
Photographers Andrew Taylor and George Taylor opened their first studio in Cannon Street in east London in 1866.
1 portrait in the collection
This display celebrates 100 years of the Historic Memorials Collection and its role in commissioning portraits of parliamentary and judicial figures in Australia.
From 1967 until 1981 Matthew Perceval lived and painted in France and during those years produced a large body of portrait paintings.
Hon Thomas Hughes AO KC (1923-2024), lawyer and former politician, was born in Sydney and educated at Riverview before serving in the RAAF during World War 2.
3 portraits in the collection
Former NPG Director Andrew Sayers discusses the art of commissioning portraits.
John Kaldor, textile designer and manufacturer, was born in Hungary. He came to Australia with his family in 1948.
1 portrait in the collection
Melbourne’s iconic culture-shapers
Contemporary Australian Portraits is a cross section, a sampling, of some of the present-day directions in Australian portrait practice
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Penny Amberg and Andrew Bond 2001
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
Finalist, DPA 2017
Single channel HD digital video
The National Portrait Gallery has unveiled twenty new portrait commissions of Australian leaders and individualists as part of its twentieth birthday celebrations in a new exhibition, 20/20: Celebrating twenty years with twenty new portrait commissions.
Sean Godsell (b. 1960) a Melbourne-based architect, is known internationally for his distinctive residential architecture.
1 portrait in the collection
Based in Melbourne, Sean Godsell is known internationally for his distinctive residential architecture.
In 2020 the Annual Appeal was focussed on Sally Robinson's remarkable portrait of author Tim Winton.
Gift of John Garran 2019. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Arts Project Australia is a creative social enterprise based in Naarm/Melbourne that supports neurodiverse artists, promoting their work and advocating for inclusion within contemporary arts practice.
George Fetting (b. 1964) is a Sydney-based photographer specialising in portrait, travel and editorial work.
8 portraits in the collection
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.
Just after 10.00 o'clock on 3 December 1879, four prisoners were brought from their cells at Darlinghurst Gaol and placed in the dock of a courtroom heaving with agitated spectators
Gift of the artist 1999
In 2021 the Annual Appeal was focussed on Peter Brew-Bevan's portraits of athletes Turia Pitt, Leisel Jones OAM and Ellie Cole OAM.
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.
Gift of the artist 2005. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Thea Proctor (1879–1966), artist and stylesetter, trained at the Julian Ashton School before leaving Australia for London in 1903.
3 portraits in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Andrew Cannon and L. Gordon Darling AC CMG 2006
John Lewin was Australia's first free-settler professional artist. He arrived in Sydney in 1800, intervention from influential patrons having secured him the assurance of rations.
1 portrait in the collection
Portraits of philanthropists in the collection honour their contributions to Australia and acknowledge their support of the National Portrait Gallery.
Gift of Jennifer Armstrong 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Cate Blanchett AC (b. 1969), actor and humanitarian, graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1992, joined the Sydney Theatre Company (STC) and soon received the Sydney Theatre Critics' Circle award for Best Newcomer for Kafka Dances (1993).
4 portraits in the collection
The Circle of Friends Acquisition Fund for 2012 was dedicated to purchasing a portrait of David Malouf by Rick Amor.
Marian Anderson, emerging photographer Charles Dennington, piscatorial portraits, and the poignant path of photographer Polixeni Papapetrou and more.
Studio: Australian Painters Photographed by R
These books include sixteen inmates including Ned Kelly, Captain Moonlite and Frederick Deeming and twelve sketches of the deceased, including several children. For Year 7 – 9 students.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2014
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.
Helge Jon Molvig was born and grew up in Newcastle, where he left school at thirteen and worked in a garage and at the steelworks.
6 portraits in the collection
Rodney Hall OAM (b. 1935), writer, came to Australia in 1947 and settled in Brisbane.
2 portraits in the collection
Commissioned with funds provided by Angela Nevill, Nevill Keating Pictures Ltd, in memory of William Keating 2001
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2001
Kristin Headlam's portrait of Chris Wallace-Crabbe was acquired with the support of the Circle of Friends in 2014.
Gift of Dr Andrew Lu OAM 2013 . Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Headspace showcases portrait art produced by secondary students from Year 7 to Year 12 in Government, Catholic and Independent schools in Canberra and its surrounding regions extending to Wollongong, Deniliquin, Leeton, Crookwell, Bombala, Narooma and Albury
Sir Edward Eyre Williams (1813–1880), judge and barrister, arrived in Port Phillip in 1842 having been admitted to the Bar in London nine years earlier.
1 portrait in the collection
Clem Hill (1877–1945) was one of sixteen children and born into a notable Adelaide sporting family.
1 portrait in the collection
Mark Mohell has been Image Services Manager at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra since 2010.
1 portrait in the collection
Meredith Hughes explores a key Portrait Gallery work, emerging into the infinite iterations of identity.
Thousand mile stare provides a unique portrait of people of rural Australia
This is the first major exhibition to examine photographic portraiture in Australia, from its beginnings in the early 1840s to the present day
Walter Lindrum, world-famous billiards player, was one of Australia's greatest sporting champions.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds donated by Andrew Sayers and from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2002
Directors of the National Portrait Gallery from 1998 to today.
Featuring works by Australian and New Zealand photographers from the late 1970s up to the present day Reveries focuses on images made in the presence of or consciousness of death.
This is the first in a series of National Portrait Gallery exhibitions to survey the portraits painted by artists who are not thought of, primarily, as portrait painters
Lewis Morley has a great eye for a shot and a sharp ear for a pun
In this exhibition Sydney based photographer Peter Brew-Bevan brings together an intimate collection of works that highlight his passion for the genre of portraiture over the last 10 years
Maria Kozic (b. 1957), painter and sculptor, and Philip Brophy (b. 1959), film director, composer, performer and curator, collaborated in the avant-garde performance/happening group ??? (spoken as tsk tsk tsk) and other projects between 1977 and the mid-1980s.
1 portrait in the collection
Michael Desmond interviews Ralph Heimans about his portrait of Crown Princess Mary of Denmark.
Melbourne-born artist Jaq Grantford has been a finalist multiple times in portrait prizes such as the Black Swan Prize, the Shirley Hannan National Portrait Award, the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize and the Portia Geach Memorial Award.
1 portrait in the collection
Born: 1957, Dumfriesshire, Scotland
Works: Canberra
This exhibition offers a comprehensive display of Clifton Pugh's portraits revealing his development and growth from tonal paintings to a unique style that was in demand from politicians, artists, academics and Australian personalities.
Commissioned with funds provided by Ian Darling 2008
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
A new commissioned portrait funded by the Gallery’s Foundation will be launched at Murdoch University in Perth tonight, Wednesday 2 September.
Maria Kozic (b. 1957), painter and sculptor, and Philip Brophy (b. 1959), film director, composer, performer and curator, collaborated in the avant-garde performance/happening group ??? (spoken as tsk tsk tsk) and other projects between 1977 and the mid-1980s.
1 portrait in the collection
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012
Andrew Sayers describes the unique characteristics of the international band of portrait galleries.
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.
Originally conceived as an anthropological record, Percy Leason’s powerful 1934 portraits of Victorian Aboriginal people are today considered to be a highlight of 20th century Australian portraiture
Joanna Gilmour reflects on merging collections and challenging traditional assumptions around portraiture in WHO ARE YOU.
Commissioned with funds provided by Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull 2003
Joanna Gilmour reflects on 25 years of collecting at the National Portrait Gallery.
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.
The full-length portrait of HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark by artist Jiawei Shen, has become a destination piece for visitors.
This exhibition features new works from ten women artists reinterpreting and reimagining elements of Australian history, enriching the contemporary narrative around Australia’s history and biography, reflecting the tradition of storytelling in our country.
Sir George Houstoun Reid GCB GCMG KC (1845-1918) was Australian prime minister from August 1904 to July 1905.
3 portraits in the collection
Andrew Sayers outlines the highlights of the National Portrait Gallery's display of portrait sculpture.
Betsy (Bessie) Lee Cowie (1860–1950), 'Australia's Temperance Queen', spent the early part of her life in Daylesford, Victoria, one of the five children of Henry Vickery, a butcher and miner, and his wife Emma.
1 portrait in the collection
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.
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.
In its second year at the National Portrait Gallery, and for the first time touring to other venues, the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2009 continues to present surprising perspectives on the nature of contemporary portrait photography.
This exhibition traces the creative output of nearly 50 years by one of Australia's landmark living photographers.
This exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of self-portraits in Australia, from the colonial period to the present
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 acquisition of David Moore's archive of portrait photographs for the National Portrait Gallery's collection.
To celebrate the National Portrait Gallery’s twentieth anniversary as an institution, twenty portraits of outstanding Australian individuals have been commissioned for the permanent collection. This is the largest undertaking for the Gallery’s commissioning program in its twenty-year existence.
Christopher Chapman previews the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2009.
Beyond the centenary of the ANZAC landings at Gallipoli, a number of other notable anniversaries converge this year. Waterloo deserves a little focussed consideration, for in the decades following 1815 numerous Waterloo and Peninsular War veterans came to Australia.
Gillian Raymond describes the National Portrait Gallery's second virtual exhibition doppelgänger.
Once central to military strategy and venerated in patriotic households, Lord Kitchener is now largely forgotten.
Entries are now open for the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019, with the winner set to receive $52,000 in cash and prizes, including superb contributions from new sponsor, Canon Australia.
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.
Robert Oatley talks about the repatriation of the John Webber portrait of Captain James Cook.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (1926–2022) was the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York, who subsequently became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
4 portraits in the collection
The story behind Rick Amor's portrait of Professor Peter Doherty.
Death masks, post-mortem drawings and other spooky and disquieting portraits... Come and see how portraits of infamous Australians were used in the 19th century.
How the National Portrait Gallery and its unique collection came to be
The story behind the creation of the portrait of Helen Garner by Jenny Sages.
Let’s look closely at the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022 together! For students and family groups.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013
Pat Corrigan's generous gift of 100 photographic portraits by Greg Weight.
A design diary retrospective.
Commissioned with funds provided by Jim and Barbara Higgins, Sir Roderick Carnegie AC, Rupert Myer AO and Annabel Myer, Louise and Martyn Myer Foundation, Peter and Ruth McMullin, Diana Carlton, Professor Derek Denton AC, Harold Mitchell AC, Peter Jopling AM KC, Andrew and Liz Mackenzie, Patricia Patten, Tamie Fraser AO, Bruce Parncutt and Robin Campbell, Lauraine Diggins, Steven Skala AO and Lousje Skala 2017
This sample of 56 photographs takes in some of the smallest photographs we own and some of the largest, some of the earliest and some of the most recent, as well as multiple photographic processes from daguerreotypes to digital media.
I had been watching Agnes with intrigue, her face and profile were so mesmerizing. On our final day together I pulled her aside and convinced her that she had such an amazing face that I needed to get a photograph for myself. It was very spontaneous in that I decided quickly how it would best look and shot it in only two frames.
In his speech launching the new National Portrait Gallery building on 3 December 2008, then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd set the Gallery in a national and historical context.
The photograph was a brief, candid moment, which unfolded into a portrait. Peter and I were in Silverton, NSW, chatting as our students explored the town. The weak afternoon light suddenly became dramatic and defined, so I asked Peter if I could take his portrait.
The Chairman, Board, Director and all the Staff of the National Portrait Gallery mourn the loss of our Founding Patron, who died peacefully in Melbourne this morning. He was 94.
The world of Thea Proctor was the National Portrait Gallery's second exhibition to follow the life of a single person, following Rarely Everage: The lives of Barry Humphries.
Michael Desmond reveals the origins of composite portraits and their evolution in the pursuit of the ideal.
Sarah Engledow writes about Gordon and Marilyn Darling and their support for the National Portrait Gallery throughout its evolution.
Talma Studios opened in Sydney in March 1899 in a George Street premises next door to the GPO.
1 portrait in the collection
Barry York charts the course from childhood request to autographed celebrity portrait anthology.
An extract from the 2004 Nuala O'Flaaherty Memorial Lecture at the Queen Victoria Musuem and Art Gallery in Launceston in which Andrew Sayers reflects on the unique qualities of a portrait gallery.
Dr Sarah Engledow discusses Quentin Jones's photograph of Australian author Tim Winton.
Dr Christopher Chapman, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2009 Prize.
In 2023 the Annual Appeal was focussed on a work by one of Australia's best loved and most successful portrait painters, Judy Cassab AO CBE, depicting model, entrepreneur and deportment icon, June Dally-Watkins OAM.
Joanna Gilmour explores the life and times of one of Melbourne's early socialites, Jessie Eyre Williams.
Jude Rae contemplates the portrait commission.
Sarah Engledow casts a judicious eye over portraits in the Victorian Bar’s Peter O’Callaghan QC Portrait Gallery.
The life and achievements of Sir Edward Holden, who is represented in the portrait collection by a bust created by Leslie Bowles.
Celebrates the centenary of the first national art collection, the Historic Memorials Collection, housed at Australia's Parliament House.
Dr Helen Nugent AO, Chairman, National Portrait Gallery at the opening of 20/20: Celebrating twenty years with twenty new portrait commissions.
More than eighty treasures from the National Portrait Gallery London will travel to Canberra for a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from March 2022.
Mark Strizic's work crosses a broad spectrum of photographic fields including urban, industrial, commercial, and architectural photography.
Gael Newton looks at Australian photography, film and the sixties through the novel lens of Mark Strizic.
Penelope Grist speaks to Bill Henson and Simone Young to discover the origins of the artist’s stunning photographic triptych.
In 2000, Barbara Blackman donated a portrait of her close friends - poet Judith Wright, her husband Jack McKinney and their daughter Meredith - painted by Charles Blackman.
The exhibition Portraits for Posterity celebrates gifts to the Gallery, of purchases made with donated funds, and testifies to the generosity and community spirit of Australians.
Exploring select works from the NPPP 2012. For secondary students.
A moving portrait of Cate Blanchett unfolds as an inspired pairing of medium and subject.
Join The Saturday Paper’s chief political correspondent, Karen Middleton, for A Month of Saturdays – afternoon conversations bringing current affairs experts to the Gallery for engaging, real-time discussions about the topics that matter.
Judith Pugh reflects on Clifton Pugh's approach to portrait making.
Jennifer Higgie reveals how Alice Neel reinvigorated 20th century portraiture with her honest and perceptive depictions of the human experience.
John Elliott talks about his photographic portrait practice, including his iconic image of Slim Dusty arm-in-arm with Dame Edna Everage.
Bringing eminent scientist Frank Fenner and artist Jude Rae together for the National Portrait Gallery commission was like matchmaking.
Books seldom make me angry but this one did. At first, I was powerfully struck by the uncanny parallels that existed between the Mellons of Pittsburgh and the Thyssens of the Ruhr through the same period, essentially the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
Emily Casey takes in Shirley Purdie’s remarkable self-portrait, Ngalim-Ngalimbooroo Ngagenybe.
Faith Stellmaker shares pioneering artist and restaurateur Mirka Mora’s lasting legacy on Melbourne’s art, dining and culture.
All that fall: Sacrifice, life and loss in the First World War exhibition co-curators Dr Anne Sanders and Dr Christopher Chapman reflect on the evolution of the Gallery’s Anzac Centenary exhibition.
Lee Tulloch remembers her great friend NIDA-trained actor turned photographer Stuart Campbell.
The exhibition Reveries: Photography and mortality is a powerful display which brings together images that depict the last phase of people's lives.
Gillian Raymond ponders landscapes as self-portraiture in Michael Taylor’s intimate expressionism.
Penelope Grist, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2020 Prize.
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.
Michael Desmond, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2007 Prize.
Michael Desmond profiles a handful of the entrants in first National Photographic Portrait Prize and notes emerging themes and categories.
A toast to the acquisition of an unconventional new portrait of former Prime Minister, Stanley Melbourne Bruce.
Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2014 Prize.
'Artist and actors, advancing spasmodically, find their rhythm together' writes Sarah Engledow.
Ron Ramsey, former Director of Cultural Relations at the Embassy of Australia interviewed NPG Washington Director, Marc Pachter, about their building renovations.
Professor Stephen Fitzgerald, Australia’s first Ambassador to China, traces the historical course from sino-australian cultural engagement to a maturing Australian identity.
Chris O'Doherty, also known as Reg Mombassa, is best-known for his Mambo imagery but he also paints a lot of self portraits.
At just 7.8 x 6.2 cm, the daguerreotype of Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and his wife Theresa is one of the smallest works in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.
Michael Desmond explores what makes a portrait subject significant.
Pamela Gerrish Nunn explores New Zealand’s premium award for portraiture.
Peter Wilmoth’s boy-journalist toolkit for antagonising an Australian political giant.
An exploration of national identity in the Canadian context drawn from the symposium Face to Face at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2004.
Dr Christopher Chapman describes the experimental exhibition Portraits + Architecture
Grace Carroll on the gendered world of the Wentworths.
Sarah Engledow on Messrs Dobell and MacMahon and the art of friendship.
Michael Wardell samples the fare in the University of Queensland National Self-portrait Prize.
Christopher Chapman takes a trip through the doors of perception, arriving at the junction of surrealism and psychoanalysis.
Sarah Engledow chronicles Rick Amor's work and accomplishments in this extensive essay in conjunction with the exhibition Rick Amor: 21 Portraits.
Dr. Sarah Engledow discusses a collection of drawings and prints by the Victorian artist Rick Amor acquired in 2005.
Basil grew into a speckled beauty – a long-legged leaper and an exceptionally vocal dog, with a great register of sounds, ascending in shock value from a whimper to a growl to a bark to a yelp that’s a violation of the ears.
Sarah Engledow trains her exacting lens on the nine photographs from 20/20.
Sarah Engledow describes the fall-out once Brett Whiteley stuck Patrick White’s list of his loves and hates onto his great portrait of the writer.
How seven portraits within Bare reveal in a public portrait parts of the body and elements of life usually located in the private sphere.
Dr. Sarah Engledow discovers the amazing life of Ms. Hilda Spong, little remembered star of the stage, who was captured in a portrait by Tom Roberts.
This is my last Trumbology before, in a little more than a week from now, I pass to my successor Karen Quinlan the precious baton of the Directorship of the National Portrait Gallery.
Penelope Grist reminisces about the halcyon days of a print icon, before the infusion of the internet’s shades of grey.
Sarah Engledow ponders the divergent legacies of Messrs Kendall and Lawson.
Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2017 Prize.
Sarah Engledow lauds the very civil service of Dame Helen Blaxland.
Sarah Engledow explores the history of the prime ministers and artists featured in the exhibition.