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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.

Search / elisabeth murdoch

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE

Biography

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE (1909–2012), philanthropist, was the widow of Sir Keith Murdoch and mother of the publisher, Rupert Murdoch.

1 portrait in the collection

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2002

The story behind the commissioning of the tapesty portrait of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch.

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch

'Weaving the Dame'

Portrait story

An interview with Victorian Tapestry Workshop artists Sue Walker and Christopher Pyett.

Portrait of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, 2000

Australian Tapestry Workshop, Merrill Dumbrell, Christopher Pyett, Normana Wight

Portrait, warp: cotton No.12 seinetwine; weft: wool and cotton

Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2000

Sir Keith Murdoch

Biography

Sir Keith Murdoch (1886–1952), journalist and media proprietor, was dux of his Melbourne school before becoming a cadet journalist for the Age in 1904.

1 portrait in the collection

Rupert Murdoch AC KCSG

Biography

Rupert Murdoch AC (b. 1931) is widely regarded as the world's most influential media mogul.

2 portraits in the collection

Sir Walter Murdoch KCMG

Biography

Sir Walter Murdoch KCMG (1874–1970), academic and essayist, was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and came to Australia with his family in 1884.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Keith Murdoch, 1944

Danila Vassilieff

Portrait, oil on canvas

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Serafin Martinez and Thai Loi 2013

Rupert Murdoch, 2005

Ben Baker

Portrait, type C photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005

Rupert Murdoch, c. 1986

Joe Greenberg

Portrait, watercolour, crayon, coloured pencil, fibre-tipped pen and gouache on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001

Sir Walter Murdoch, 1920s (printed later)

an unknown artist

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Purchased 2012

'The Australian Cricketers' from The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News June 1882, page 2

Unknown artist Publisher Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News

Image

'The Australian Cricketers' from The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News June 1882

'The Australian Cricketers' from The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News June 1882, 1882

an unknown artist

Portrait, engravings on paper

Purchased 2009

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, 2009

by Richard Kendall

Image

Portrait 4

June - August 2002

Magazine

This issue of Portrait Magazine features articles on Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, George Lambert's self-portrait, Professor Peter Doherty, the man behind the Dr. Who theme, and more.

The Murdoch

Moustaches

Sport was a potent means by which, in the lead up to Federation, Australians began to assert a sense of themselves as youthful, manly and athletic – the products of an equally young and virile new nation.

Study for self portrait, c. 1965

Jean Appleton

Portrait, oil on cardboard

Gift of Elisabeth Green 2023

Study for self portrait, c. 1965

Jean Appleton

Portrait, oil on cardboard

Gift of Elisabeth Green 2023

Study for self portrait, c. 1965

Jean Appleton

Portrait, oil on cardboard

Gift of Elisabeth Green 2023

John Bell AO OBE

Biography

John Bell AO OBE (b. 1940), actor and director, is one of Australia's best-known theatre personalities.

3 portraits in the collection

Richard Walley OAM honoured in new Portrait Gallery commission

2 September 2015

Archived media releases 2015

A new commissioned portrait funded by the Gallery’s Foundation will be launched at Murdoch University in Perth tonight, Wednesday 2 September.

John Bell, 1962 (printed 2006)

Jozef Vissel

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2006

Julie Edgar

Biography

Julie Edgar (b. 1951) is a Melbourne artist who studied at RMIT, Monash University and the University of Melbourne.

3 portraits in the collection

Hong Fu

Biography

Hong Fu was born in China in 1946 and held his first solo exhibition at the National Art Gallery, Beijing, in 1988.

1 portrait in the collection

Australian Tapestry Workshop

Biography

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

Georges Mora

Biography

Georges Mora (1913-1992) was born Gunter Morawski to a Leipzig Jewish bourgeois family of Polish descent.

1 portrait in the collection

The Queen of Deakin, 2017

by Julia Ann Cameron

Image

Portrait of Georges Mora, 1956

Charles Blackman OBE

Portrait, oil on paper laid on board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Supporters

$5,000 - $9,999

Honour board

Portrait Allsorts

In Gallery Seven

Previous exhibition, 2020

Offering portraiture in all its flavours: painting, photography, drawing, textiles, printmaking and sculpture, this exhibition is a feast for minds and eyes.

The Australian Cricket Team 1882

Biography

The Australian cricket team of 1882 was the third side to tour England and the team whose defeat of England at The Oval in August of that year initiated the 'The Ashes' Test series.

1 portrait in the collection

The spirit of the gift

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

Former NPG Director, Andrew Sayers celebrates the support given to the Gallery by Gordon and Marilyn Darling.

Geoffrey Parsons, 1972

Michael Shannon

Portrait, pastel on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Les Rowe 1998
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

The first Australian first-class cricket team to tour England and North America

The first Australian first-class cricket team to tour England and North America, 1878

A & G Taylor

Portrait, albumen photograph on carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

The Story So Far...

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2002

A reflection on the National Portrait Gallery's first four years.

Lawrence Cox AO

Biography

Laurence Cox AO (b. 1938), a director of the Australian Stock Exchange from its inception in 1987 and its chairman from 1989 to 1994, was an executive director of Macquarie Group Limited from 1996 to 2009; chairman of the Transurban Group from 1996 to 2007 and chairman of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute from 1994 to 2009.

1 portrait in the collection

Toni Wilkinson

Biography

Toni Wilkinson emigrated with her family from London to Perth in the early 1970s.

6 portraits in the collection

Jane Campion DNZM

Biography

Jane Campion DNZM (b. 1954), director, producer and screenwriter, is the first woman to win the Palme d'Or at Cannes and the second woman to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, both for her acclaimed film The Piano (1993).

1 portrait in the collection

Janet Holmes a Court AC

Biography

Janet Holmes à Court AC (b. 1943), businesswoman and philanthropist, graduated in science and worked as a teacher before marrying young Perth lawyer Robert Holmes à Court in 1966.

1 portrait in the collection

Hoda Afshar

Biography

Hoda Afshar was born Tehran, Iran in 1983. She completed a BFA (Photography) in Tehran, and PhD in Creative Arts at Curtin University.

1 portrait in the collection

Janet Holmes á Court, 2001 (printed 2011)

Lorrie Graham

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Dr Julie Dowling

Biography

Julie Dowling, an artist of Badimaya, Irish and Scottish Catholic heritage, was born in Subiaco, Western Australia and grew up in nearby urban and semi-rural areas.

2 portraits in the collection

Robert Manne AO

Biography

Robert Manne (b. 1947), academic and writer, grew up in Melbourne, the child of European Jewish refugees.

1 portrait in the collection

The Architecture of Music (Vladimir Ashkenazy)

The Architecture of Music (Vladimir Ashkenazy), 2011

Ralph Heimans AM

Portrait, oil on canvas

Gift of Michael Crouch AC and Shanny Crouch 2017

George Judah Cohen, 1925

George Lambert

Portrait, oil on canvas

Gift of the National Australia Bank 2002

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

In the mirror: self portrait with Joy Hester

Spring exhibition program

18 August 2020

Archived media releases 2020

The following on-line and physical exhibitions are planned to open at the National Portrait Gallery in coming months. For those who can’t travel at present, selected works from all exhibitions will be included online

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, 1899 by Carl Pietzner

The Archduke

About Face article

The immediate chain of events that led to the outbreak of the First World War began 100 years ago on June 28.

Sir Frank Packer

Biography

Sir Douglas Frank Hewson Packer KBE (1906-1974), media proprietor, grew up in Sydney and became a cadet journalist on the Daily Guardian, owned by his father RC Packer, in 1923.

2 portraits in the collection

Announcing... Jonathan Jones Bogong Cluster: Physically distant, socially connected

5 January 2021

Archived media releases 2021

A new light installation by Jonathan Jones reflects on the importance of community through the lens of his Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi heritage, whilst also acting as a prompt for gallery visitors to maintain social distancing.

Vladimir Ashkenazy

Biography

Vladimir Ashkenazy (b. 1937), pianist and conductor, began playing the piano at age six.

1 portrait in the collection

First Australian first-class cricket team

Biography

The ‘first Australian first-class cricket team to tour England and North America’ was in fact the second Australian cricket side to contest matches internationally (a team of Indigenous players having done so in 1868), but it is considered the first official national representative team to tour overseas.

1 portrait in the collection

Malcolm J. McCusker AC CVO KC

Biography

Barrister and philanthropist Malcolm James McCusker AC CVO KC was born in Subiaco, Western Australia in 1938.

1 portrait in the collection

Uncommon Australians

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

Previous exhibition, 2015

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.

Percy Leason

Biography

Percy Leason, artist, illustrator and cartoonist, grew up in Victoria's Wimmera region and trained in the rudiments of art in Nhill.

1 portrait in the collection

International issue

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2009

Michael Desmond looks at the history of the Vanity Fair magazine in conjunction with the exhibition Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008

Prince William of Wales, by Mario Testino, 2003 publ. September 2003.
Credit: Mario Testino

Vanity Fair Portraits

Photographs 1913-2008

Previous exhibition, 2009

Vanity Fair Portraits traces the birth and evolution of photographic portraiture through the archives of Vanity Fair magazine.

Picture this...

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

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.

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.

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.

Time and light

In Gallery Seven

Previous exhibition, 2023

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.

Illuminating history

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2023

Joanna Gilmour reflects on 25 years of collecting at the National Portrait Gallery.

Vintage Cassab

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2006

The oil portrait of Sir Frank Packer KBE by Judy Cassab was gifted to the National Portrait Gallery in 2006.

Portrait of the artist as a young man

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2010

Dr Sarah Engledow explores the early life and career of John Brack.

Uncommon Australians

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

General content

Sarah Engledow writes about Gordon and Marilyn Darling and their support for the National Portrait Gallery throughout its evolution.

History

About us

How the National Portrait Gallery and its unique collection came to be

Personal Politics

Magazine article by Dr Frances Borzello, 2001

Dr Frances Borzello, British art historian and author discusses the uniqueness of women's self-portraits.

Doodles of the Diva

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2010

Three tiny sketches of Dame Nellie Melba in the NPG collection were created by the artist who was to go on to paint the most imposing representation of the singer: Rupert Bunny.

Confessional conversations

The portraiture of Kristin Headlam

Magazine article by Fiona Gruber, 2015

Fiona Gruber investigates the work of Australian painter Kristin Headlam.

Women make history

Magazine article by Jennifer Higgie, 2022

Jennifer Higgie uncovers the intriguing stories behind portraits of women by women in the National Portrait Gallery’s collection.

In good company

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2015

Jean Appleton’s 1965 self portrait makes a fine addition to the National Portrait Gallery’s collection writes Joanna Gilmour.

Lauded legacy

Magazine article by Karl James, 2015

Karl James gives short shrift to doubts about the profile of General Sir John Monash.

Mick Jagger, Madonna and Tony Curtis, 1997

The Vanity model

Magazine article by David Friend, 2009

Vanity Fair Editor David Friend describes how the rebirth of the magazine sated our desire for access into the lives of celebrities and set the standard for the new era of portrait photography.

Practising the Minuet (Miss Hilda Spong)

An actress and her fans

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2008

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.

You are who?

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2022

Joanna Gilmour reflects on merging collections and challenging traditional assumptions around portraiture in WHO ARE YOU.

Less than six degrees of separation

Lecture, 28 May 2011

General content

Dr Anne Sanders NPG Curatorial Researcher investigated the lives of the pioneering psychologists whose portraits are featured in Inner Worlds.

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