Search / gladys hope marks

Gladys Marks, c. 1962

Gift of Danina Dupain Anderson 2021. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Gladys Moncrieff, 1920s

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Sally Douglas 2009

Gladys Moncrieff album,

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Gladys Cotta, 1984

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Joseph Mathew Cotta and Gladys Maria Cotta 2016

Gladys Moncrieff, 1963

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Group photograph with Gladys Moncrieff,

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

A D Hope and his circle

To celebrate the centenary of the birth of poet Alec Derwent Hope AC OBE (1907-2000), the National Portrait Gallery exhibited a selection from its many portraits of Australian poets and authors.

Claude Charlick, 1961

Gift of Gladys Lock née Charlick 2012

Professor A D Hope, Canberra, 1963 (printed 2000)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
The series 'David Moore: From Face to Face' was acquired as a gift of the artist and with financial assistance from Timothy Fairfax AC and L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2001.

Alec Hope, c. 1985 (printed 2007)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2007

Nicholas Hope,

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2007

Olegas Truchanas, 1971

Purchased 2005

Portrait of the Seventh Earl of Hopetoun, the Rt Hon. John Hope, 1901

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Governor Sir Robert Duff with Lady Duff, Lord Hopetoun and Vice-Regal Party, 1893

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

The Lord Chamberlain (Earl of Hopetoun John Adrian Louis Hope), 1900

Gift of Mr Ronald Walker 2001

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention, Sydney 1891 from Australasia Illustrated, 1891

Purchased 2009

Hope for kindness

Sarah Engledow arrives at the junction of fate and hope in Sarah Ball’s poignant Immigrants series.

Peace, the Man and Hope, 2005

Gift of Brook Andrew in memory of Emmaline Rose Charnock 2012. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Treaties for madmen only, 2008

To arrive at hope

Penelope Grist, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2020 Prize.

The Cape of Good Hope ( Sir Henry Barkly), 1887

Purchased 2015

H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh and Suite in Mining Costume after descending the Band of Hope Gold Mine, Ballarat, Australia, 1867

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020

Joseph Cotta, 1984

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Joseph Mathew Cotta and Gladys Maria Cotta 2016

Mother and child, 2016

Gil Askey, 2011

Chest piece, 2014

Nan Goldin

The photographs by Nan Goldin in Tough and tender are warm images of heartache and hope.

The Biologist (Bob Wong)

The morticians, 2014

Guy in his studio

Les Enfants du Paradis, 2012

Kid A, 2014

Peter O'Doherty, 2013

Barry, 2006

Bern Emmerichs

Born: 1961, Melbourne
Works: Melbourne

Eleni and the bookshop

Angel of the Gap, 2009

Kath Walker (Oodgeroo Noonuccal) and Lowitja O’Donoghue at the opening of the inaugural National Aboriginal Conference, Canberra, 1978 (printed 2014)

Purchased 2015

Eleven

A Covid kind of day

Mämburrkmamburrk, the grouping of the clouds, 2017

Finalist, DPA 2017
Single channel HD digital video

Single parent Robert Smith-Goode, housing commission flats, 2009

Thirty Three Weeks, 2013

Adalita Srsen, 2013

Observation point

I wanted to be a journalist. I was very idealistic and I had a big chip on my shoulder. I wanted to investigate the human condition, drawing attention to those in need with the hope of someday effecting positive change.

HOMELAND The importance of place, 2014

A Life in Service

Artist Mandy Martin describes the creation of her portrait of Aldo Giurgola, principal architect of Australia's Parliament House.

2012-13 Acquisition Fund

The Circle of Friends Acquisition Fund for 2012 was dedicated to purchasing a portrait of David Malouf by Rick Amor.

Disillusion self portrait, 1983

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Robin MacQueen 2007

The Brontë Sisters (Anne Brontë; Emily Brontë; Charlotte Brontë)

Collection in focus: Brook Andrew

Experience the artistic clout of Brook Andrew’s portraits of Marcia Langton AM and Anthony Mundine.

Little Darlings Youth Portrait Prize 2022

Little Darlings is for primary and secondary students, with four separate categories across Kindergarten to Year 12. Responding to the theme ‘identity’, students painted, drew, photographed, printed or combined all of these to make their portrait.

The Migrant, 2017

To Look Away – Tilda, 2015

Finalist, DPA 2016

Ian Frazer, 2007

Commissioned 2007

Sophie and Mercy, 2016

Autumn in Canberra

In Persuasion (1818), a long walk on a fine autumn day affords Anne Elliot an opportunity to ruminate wistfully and at great length upon declining happiness, youth and hope.

OBEY

Shepard Fairey is best known for his iconic poster Obama/Hope which he made in support of Barack Obama for the 2008 US election.

Reflections on a Hologram

Sam Bowker examines Paula Dawson's Mirror, Mirror - a holographic portrait of Graeme Murphy.

Portrait 55

Explore convict art, photography by Ruth Hollick and Collier Schorr, an interview with neurosurgeon Charlie Teo, portraiture on money, and more!

Thousand Mile Stare

Thousand mile stare provides a unique portrait of people of rural Australia

Collette Dinnigan, 2005

Gift of the artist 2006

Tough & Tender

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.

Joey Chan

Feeling a bit emotional. Took this portrait and it was the last photo I took of her.

Western Australia (Sir Frederick Bedford), 1903

Purchased 2015

Never let you go

Country, culture, connection

Princess Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia and Electress Palatine

Michael Simms

I first saw Zaachariaha Fielding perform with electric fields at Fair Day for Mardi Gras back in 2019 and they just blew me away.

Geoffrey Graham, 1941

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Rex Dupain 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Very small business

Under the ‘Old Poor Law’, people begging on the streets could be arrested, so to avoid punishment, they often pretended to commerce, offering the most marginal of goods and services.

Penny Sackett

Recorded 2014

Cecil Beaton

Accomplished illustrator, painter, writer and diarist, set designer and one of the most distinguished photographers of the twentieth century, Cecil Beaton is renowned for his portraits of well known faces from the worlds of fashion, literature, and film.

Portrait of Alec Campbell, 2001-2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Jim Ferrier, n.d.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Frith family 2013

Lee Kernaghan near Broken Hill, 2005

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Albert Tucker

Recorded 1961

Activating the space

Sandra Phillips on portraits of Indigenous activism from Cairns Art Gallery’s 2019 Queen’s Land Blak Portraiture exhibition.

Margaret Court and Evonne Goolagong, c. 1971

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Reg Richardson AM, 2014

Purchased with funds provided by the Circle of Friends 2015

Andrew Steiner, 2020 (printed 2021)

Gift of the artist 2021

Tan Le

Recorded 2018

Gary Catalano, 1994

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

Kylie Minogue, 1999

Purchased 2000

John Tsiavis

Recorded 2018

Portrait of His Excellency Sir Henry Barkly, Governor of Victoria, c. 1864

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by The Ian Potter Foundation 2007

Jack Brabham, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2005

Kyle Vander-Kuyp, c. 2000

Gift of the artist 2004

Gary Catalano, 1994

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

Mum Shirl (Mrs Shirley Smith), 1988

Gift of the artist 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Observation point

Australian artist and Archibald Prize winner, Jenny Sages reflects on her work.

Nell, 2008

Gift of Nell Schofield 2020. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Tom Goldner

The portrait's of my mother, Catherine, and the photograph was taken in a family home that we had and my mother was relocating to Tasmania.

The Honourable Chief Justice Susan Kiefel AC, 2018

Gift of the artist 2019 acknowledging Herbert Smith Freehills for supporting the creation of the portrait

Tim Flannery, 2006

Gift of Professor Tim Flannery 2016. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Bree Pickering appointed Director of the National Portrait Gallery

The Board of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia announced the appointment of Bree Pickering to the role of Director.

Person and Place

The connection between land and identity holds great significance in Australia. While for First Nations people, person and place are intertwined both culturally and spiritually, forming an intrinsic union between Country and self, stories of colonisation and migration are also deeply bound to this nation.

First Ladies

First Ladies profiles women who have achieved noteworthy firsts over the past 100 years.

Kylie Minogue 1, 2018 (printed 2020)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2020

Kylie Minogue 2, 2018 (printed 2020)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2020

Elizabeth Blackburn, 2011

Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2011

Fiona McMonagle

Born: 1977, Letterkenny, Ireland
Works: Melbourne

Untitled #88 (Captain Brad Kilpatrick and Kylie Minogue, Balibo, East Timor, 20 December 1999), 1999

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2010. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Untitled #15 (Kylie Minogue performs at Tour of Duty concert at Dili Stadium, East Timor, 21 December 1999), 1999-2000

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2010. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Axe Me Biggie

Australian photojournalist Stephen Dupont's Afghanistan project captures the human experience of a country in reconstruction.

South-bound and down

Joanna Gilmour recounts the story of ill-fated sea voyages in the early stages of the Antipodean colony.

Charlie's angles

Stephen Phillips talks to neurosurgeon Charlie Teo about his practice, perspectives and the anatomy of hope.

Edmund Jowett, 1917

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Observation point

While visiting the National Portrait Gallery I noticed the absence of paintings of journalists.

A portrait of the artist by the artist

Rowan McGinness asks: when is a self portrait not a self portrait?

National Youth Self Portrait Prize

An annual event, the National Youth Self Portrait Prize seeks to encourage young people to embrace self portraiture and its expressive possibilities.

Michelle Simmons

Recorded 2018

Thousand mile stare

John Elliott talks about his photographic portrait practice, including his iconic image of Slim Dusty arm-in-arm with Dame Edna Everage.

Headspace 1

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

Inspiration + Realisation: John Singer Sargent

Katherine Russell examines the art of Australian artist Paul Newton, referencing the portraiture of John Singer Sargent.

Jack Brabham, 1967 (printed 2012)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Lloyd Rees at the Rock in 1975, 1984

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2009

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.

Observation point

Nicholas Harding describes his enduring fascination with drawing and painting people.

The Icons Syndicate

Annual membership of the Icons Syndicate is $5,000 and you are invited to join by making a tax-deductible donation to the National Portrait Gallery.

Lewis Morley

Lewis Morley has a great eye for a shot and a sharp ear for a pun

Heads of the People

For Tom Roberts - Australia's best nineteenth-century portrait painter - neither a proto-national portrait gallery nor more popular collections of portrait heads, were sufficient public celebrations for the notables of Australian history

New partnership with Stripy Sock

We have a new partnership with Canberra-based leading mobile application development consultancy, Stripy Sock.

David Combe and the portrait, 1983

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

The mystery of Enoch Arden

Tennyson's Enoch Arden was inspired by a story that Thomas Woolner passed on to him – but whose story and of whom?

National Youth Self Portrait Prize

An annual event, the National Youth Self Portrait Prize seeks to encourage young people to embrace self portraiture and its expressive possibilities.

Recognition

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

Why portraiture?

Blak Douglas reflects on his experiences, process and motivation for making portraits.

Observation point

Zhong Chen's paintings of boys on Chinese zodiac animals and kung fu images reflect his identity as a Chinese-Australian artist.

Glossy 2

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.

Observation point

Artist Kate Beynon reflects on the place of portraiture in her artistic career.

The animating signature

Joanna Gilmore delights in the affecting drawings of Mathew Lynn.

Audacity, audacity, audacity

Angus delves into the biographies of two ambitious characters; Sir Stamford Raffles and Sir John Pope-Hennessy.

The 1850s to the 1880s

The restrained and cultivated facial hair fashions evident through the first decades of the 1800s were on the wane by the middle of the century, when hirsute faces became mainstream.

Pets of all types take over the National Portrait Gallery

It is not every day that a national gallery turns its walls over to the animal companions that bring unconditional love and joy to their owners but this summer we have opened the doors to 15 contemporary artists with very different ways of depicting our furry, feathered and scaled pets.

Artist in residence creates portraits using brainwave zctivity

Digital media artist, George Khut, is creating a spectacular form of digital portraiture involving public participants.

Extremely generous and incredibly close

Michael Desmond examines the daguerreotype portraits created by American artist Chuck Close.

Starstruck: Australian Movie Portraits opens

Visitors will be left in awe with the National Portrait Gallery and National Film and Sound Archive of Australia’s (NFSA) new star-studded exhibition, Starstruck: Australian Movie Portraits. 

The medallion

In recent years I have become fascinated by the so-called Sydney Cove Medallion (1789), a work of art that bridges the 10,000-mile gap between the newly established penal settlement at Port Jackson and the beating heart of Enlightenment England.

So Fine

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.

The National Portrait Gallery's 20th Anniversary

Last month we marked the twentieth anniversary of the formal establishment of the National Portrait Gallery, the tenth of the opening of our signature building, and the fifth of our having become a statutory authority under Commonwealth legislation.

Creative space

Eric Smith describes the agony and finally the ecstasy of winning the 1982 Archibald Prize with the portrait of Peter Sculthorpe.

Mash-up

Penelope Grist delves into an insightful portraiture exhibition that asks: How do three artists see the same sitter?

Journey into Headspace...

The theme for the National Portrait Gallery's eighth exhibition of student portraiture was The Journey.

Ian Roberts (after Coypel 1709), 2003

Gift of the artist 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Ellyse Perry, 2016

Purchased 2017

Home is where the art is

Tedi Bills on how social media in the age of COVID-19 has fanned the flames of our portrait fascination.

A bond of friendship

Australia's major abstract painter Yvonne Audette discusses her portrait of sculptor Robert Kippel.

Clifton Pugh

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.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 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.

The Tichborne Claimant (Arthur Orton), c. 1872

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

The sensational denouement of the case

The 'Yarra Boot Trunk Tragedy' unfolded a week before Christmas 1898, when some neighbourhood boys noticed a wooden box floating in the river at Richmond. 

Thread bare

US artist Cayce Zavaglia reveals human duality in her striking embroidered portraiture.

William Bligh

The life of William Bligh offers up a handful of the most remarkable episodes in the history of Britain’s eighteenth and early nineteenth-century maritime empire.

Off the wall

Sir Henry Barkly, c. 1863

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Ralph Kenke and Elmar Trefz win Digital Portraiture Award with Selfie Factory

The National Portrait Gallery is pleased to announce Mr Ralph Kenke and Mr Elmar Trefz are the winners of the Digital Portraiture Award 2017 for their submission Selfie Factory.

Australian of the Year

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

The National Photographic Portrait Prize: 2021 Living Memory

Director Karen Quinlan AM announces significant changes for 2021, including a larger, longer exhibition, themed to reflect our experience of events that have occurred in this historic year.

For the boys

The photographs from Matthew Sleeth's tour of duty series look more like advertisements than images of war.

Lady Barkly, 1863

Purchased 2014

2021 Annual Appeal

In 2021 the Annual Appeal was focussed on Peter Brew-Bevan's portraits of athletes Turia Pitt, Leisel Jones OAM and Ellie Cole OAM.

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.

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.

The art of peace

Sean Davey captures the portrait of a nation renewed.

Sideshow Alley

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.

Risky business

John Zubrzycki lauds the characters of the Australian escapology trade.

Krystal Seigerman

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.

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.

A quiet moment

As Bryan Westwood’s portrait of Brian Dunlop hangs adjacent to Brian Dunlop’s portrait of the philanthropist Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE, we see the artist of one work as the subject of the other. 

Giving a dam

Ensconced and meditative in crisp Tasmania, Joanna Gilmour pays tribute to passionate green advocate and photographer Olegas Truchanas.

Old Blighty

Angus Trumble ponders the many faces of William Bligh.

Winning in technicolor

Alistair McGhie writes about the portraits of three of Australia's top professional cyclists: Cadel Evans, Stuart O'Grady and Robbie McEwen painted by Matthys Gerber.

Ngarranggarni

The third row of paintings come from Ngarranggarni (Dreaming).

Alfredo Esquillo Jr

Born in Manila in 1972, Alfredo Esquillo Jr majored in painting at University of Santo Thomas.

Hop, skip, shoot

Former NPG Deputy Director, Simon Elliott talks with Ern McQuillan about his life and career as a sports photographer.

Announcing... Ralph Heimans: Portraiture. Power. Influence.

In March 2024, the National Portrait Gallery will launch a major exhibition of the work of Ralph Heimans AM, the Australian artist who’s painted some of the world’s most recognisable people.

Progressive pictures

Athol Shmith’s photographs contributed to the emergence of a new vision of Australian womanhood.

You beauty

Joanna Gilmour explores the fact and fictions surrounding the legendary life of Irish-born dancer Lola Montez.

NPPP 2013 exhibition essay

Joanna Gilmour, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2013 Prize.

Cultural kaleidoscope

The complex connections between four creative Australians; Patrick White, Sidney Nolan, Robert Helpmann and Peter Sculthorpe.

Cannonical

Walter Lindrum, world-famous billiards player, was one of Australia's greatest sporting champions.

Hereinbefore

Alistair McGhie talks with Laura Moore about her winning digital self portrait.

Heart of Darkness

Magda Keaney talks with Bill Leak about his bold new portrait of Robert Hughes in the National Portrait Gallery collection.

Arthur as Alyosha?

Patrick McCaughey explores a striking Boyd self portrait.

Written in Water

Olegas Truchanas and Peter Dombrovskis, photographers and conservationists, shared a love of photography and exploring wilderness areas of Tasmania.

2023 Annual Appeal

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.

Out of the shadows

Joanna Gilmour profiles the life and times of the shutter sisters May and Mina Moore.

Everything, everyqueer, all at once

Bradley Vincent considers Samuel Hodge’s use of the archive to create a queer vernacular of portraiture.

Adam’s Prize Apples

Pamela Gerrish Nunn explores New Zealand’s premium award for portraiture.

Facing the inferno

Tara James speaks to Cam Neville about his portrait series, Firefighters.

In character on location

A photograph of Claudia Karvan that blends actor, character, photographer and captures the creative collaboration of the television series Love my way. 

NPPP 2011 exhibition essay

Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2011 Prize.

The long game

Penelope Grist spends some quality time with the Portrait Gallery’s summer collection exhibition, Eye to Eye.

Portrait Donors

The selfie stick

Last week ABC Television came to interview me about selfie sticks. The story was prompted by the announcement that the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has lately prohibited the use of these inside their galleries. So far as I am aware we have not yet encountered the phenomenon, but no doubt we will before too long.

The intellectual larrikin

Barrie Cassidy pays textured tribute to the inimitable Bob Hawke.

Be frank

Close encounters are the genesis for Graeme Drendel’s enticing portraiture.

Nikhil Chopra

Nikhil Chopra was born in 1974, in Calcutta. His first degree was in commerce, but in 1997 he took up fine art studies, eventually gaining a Masters in Fine Art from Ohio State University, United States.

Annual Appeal

Citizen Kenne

April Thompson explores an exhibition of Ingvar Kenne’s global portrait project.

Inside outside

Michael Desmond explores the portraiture of Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud.

Portrait dendrochronology

Angus's latest Trumbology is accompanied by the following caveat: 'This one is reeeeeeally geeky.'

Stigma stigmata

Angus Trumble provides poignant context for Aña Wojak’s portrait of Tony Carden.

Political profiles

Joanna Gilmour examines the prolific output of Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin, and discovers the risk of taking a portrait at face value.

Poets' Portraits

The Portrait Gallery's paintings of two poets, Les Murray and Peter Porter, demonstrate two very different artists' responses to the challenge of representing more than usually sensitive and imaginative men.

Movement is my radar

Michael Desmond charts the path of portraiture, arriving at Julian Opie’s digital realm.

Ken Done

With a mum who was married to a tradie, you’d think it a fair chance that the baby Jesus would have grown up with a dog in the house.

Arianne McNaught

An interview with the photographer.

Boyd to man

Christopher Chapman looks at influences and insight in the formative years of Arthur Boyd.

Clay, water, fire

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

FX Harsono

FX Harsono was born in 1949, just as the independence of the Indonesian nation was being established.

Love in the extreme

Joanna Gilmour reveals love’s more intense manifestations in the tale of Lord Kenelm and Venetia Digby.

The alchemist’s profile

John Zubrzycki meets Australian paint pioneer Jim Cobb.

Beautiful bones

Sarah Engledow reflects on the shared life and writing of Dorothy Porter and Andrea Goldsmith.

Fugue in Yellow

Roger Benjamin explores the intriguing union of Lina Bryans and Alex Jelinek.

Agnes enigma

Karen Quinlan considers the case of Agnes Goodsir, whose low profile in Australia belies her overseas acclaim.

The eye and the heart

Nici Cumpston immerses herself in the collective vision of the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2020.

Little women

Joanna Gilmour looks beyond the ivory face of select portrait miniatures to reveal their sitters’ true grit.

Anangu landscape learning

Angus' initial perception of Uluru shifts, as he comes to see it as central to the entire order of Anangu life.

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.

High & Bligh

Joanna Gilmour explores the 1790 portrait of William Bligh by Robert Dodd.

Maria Caroline Brownrigg

At first glance, this small watercolour group portrait of her two sons and four daughters by Maria Caroline Brownrigg (d. 1880) may seem prosaic, even hesitant

Portrait of the Gallery

A design diary retrospective.

A non-material and non-physical portrait

Inner Worlds features the recently commissioned portrait of world-renowned philosopher of consciousness David Chalmers by Melbourne-based artist Nick Mourtzakis.

Waterloo and Mrs. Moore

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.

The right note

Marian Anderson’s glorious voice thrust her into stardom, and a more reluctant role as American civil rights pioneer.

Tiny Trace of a Colonial Giant

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.

Less than six degrees of separation

Anne Sanders finds connections in Inner Worlds between Hungarian expatriates and the development of psychoanalysis in Australia.

Nicholas Harding: 28 Portraits

Sarah Engledow looks at three decades of Nicholas Harding's portraiture.

The Multifarious Career of George Selth Coppin

George Selth Coppin (1819-1906) comedian, impresario and entrepreneur, was a driving force of the early Australian theatre.

Beyond the bow tie

Nathan Faiman delves into the rich life story and legacy of Alan Goldberg.

Doodles of the Diva

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.

Rock star

Jennifer Coombes explores the lush images of Picnic at Hanging Rock, featuring Anne-Louise Lambert’s Miranda, the face of the film. 

Go Figure!

Claire Roberts interviews Swiss art collector Uli Sigg.

Private virtues public lives

Family affections are preserved in a fine selection of intimate portraits.

20 20

Sarah Engledow picks some favourites from a decade of the National Photographic Portrait Prize.

Icons and imagery

Alison Weir explores the National Portrait Gallery, London and the BP Portrait Award to find what makes a good painted portrait - past and present.

The importance of being bearded

Joanna Gilmour discovers that the beards of the ill-fated explorers Burke and Wills were as epic as their expedition to traverse Australia from south to north.

Costantini's convictions

Jo Gilmour uncovers endearing authenticity in the art of a twice-transported Tasmanian.

A potpourri of portraits

Archie 100 curator (and detective) Natalie Wilson’s nationwide search for Archibald portraits unearthed the fascinating stories behind some long-lost treasures.

The numbers man

Dr. Sarah Engledow tells the story of Australia's first Federal statistician, Sir George Knibbs.

Earth to earth

Dr Sarah Engledow discusses the recent gift of works by David Campbell.

Portraiture in a Bleak House

It may seem an odd thing to do at one’s leisure on a beautiful tropical island, but I spent much of my midwinter break a few weeks ago re-reading Bleak House.

Flesh, figure and rock

Aimee Board traces Judy Cassab’s path to the Australian outback, arriving at the junction of inspiration and abstraction.

Sea legged frogs

Joanna Gilmour describes some of the stories of the individuals and incidents that define French exploration of Australia and the Pacific.

In the flesh

An exhibition of humanness in ten themes by Penelope Grist.

20/20 launch speech

Dr Helen Nugent AO, Chairman, National Portrait Gallery at the opening of 20/20: Celebrating twenty years with twenty new portrait commissions.

The real Thea

Long after the portraitist became indifferent to her, and died, a beguiling portrait hung over its subject.

Nicholas Harding

Over the years the young Nicholas Harding got his hands on various mice and guinea pigs, but they served mainly to illustrate the concept of mortality. 

The catechist and the cricketer

Stephen Valambras Graham traverses the intriguing socio-political terrain behind two iconic First Nations portraits of the 1850s.

A sketch for some portraits

Judith Pugh reflects on Clifton Pugh's approach to portrait making.

Getting bare

How seven portraits within Bare reveal in a public portrait parts of the body and elements of life usually located in the private sphere.

Off her own bat

Joanna Gilmour profiles Violet Teague, whose sophisticated works hid her originality and non-conformity in plain sight.

Naked nostalgia

Penelope Grist reminisces about the halcyon days of a print icon, before the infusion of the internet’s shades of grey.

Secure the shadow ere the substance fade

The tragic tale of Tom Wills, the ‘inventor’ of Australian Rules Football.

Through thick and thin

Sarah Engledow likes the manifold mediums of Nicholas Harding’s portraiture.

The Thyssen Art Macabre

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.

A real Pratt

The death of a gentlewoman is shrouded in mystery, a well-liked governor finds love after sorrow, and two upright men become entangled in the historical record.

The shipwright's arms

Joanna Gilmour explores the life and times of convict-turned-artist William Buelow Gould.

The more things change...

Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2017 Prize.

Prima facie

Sarah Engledow casts a judicious eye over portraits in the Victorian Bar’s Peter O’Callaghan QC Portrait Gallery.

Material culture

The Rajah Quilt’s narrative promptings are as intriguing as the textile is intricate.

Poise and Carats

I keep going back to Cartier: The Exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia next door, and, within the exhibition, to Princess Marie Louise’s diamond, pearl and sapphire Indian tiara (1923), surely one of the most superb head ornaments ever conceived.

The Rothschilds, the Montefiores, and the Victorian Gold Rush

Some years ago my colleague Andrea Wolk Rager and I spent several days in the darkened basement of a Rothschild Bank, inspecting every one of the nearly 700 autochromes created immediately before World War I by the youthful Lionel de Rothschild.

Inner Worlds and psychoanalysis

Inner Worlds evokes a broad view of psychology as a discipline. However, the specific interests of the practitioners whose portraits are included in the exhibition incorporate specialist areas including psychoanalysis.

Rick Amor: 21 Portraits

Sarah Engledow chronicles Rick Amor's work and accomplishments in this extensive essay in conjunction with the exhibition Rick Amor: 21 Portraits.