What's on

The Portraits

Watch

The Gallery

Governance & Board

Circle of Friends

Learn

Access

Search the website

close close

What's on The Portraits The Gallery Learn Watch More O

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 / hugo weaving

Hugo Weaving AO

Biography

Hugo Weaving AO (b. 1960), actor, spent his childhood in England, Australia and South Africa before returning to live in Australia in 1976.

1 portrait in the collection

Hugo at home (Hugo Weaving), 2011

Nicholas Harding

Portrait, oil on canvas

Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2012

Nicholas Harding

'A portrait of Hugo Weaving'

Portrait story

Artist Nicholas Harding talks about how he became interested in portraiture, and his motivation in painting Hugo Weaving.

Hugo Wolfsohn

Biography

Hugo Wolfsohn, a Dunera Boy, was Foundation Professor of Politics at Latrobe University.

2 portraits in the collection

Henry Mayer, 1965

Hugo Wolfsohn

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Elaine Mayer and Ms Vicky Mayer 2011

Henry Mayer, 1965

Hugo Wolfsohn

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Elaine Mayer and Ms Vicky Mayer 2011

Yanyangkari Roma Butler and Yangi Yangi Fox from Irrunyju (Wingellina), Western Australia, 2017 Rhett Hammerton

Weaving identity

Magazine article by Rebecca Ray, 2022

Rebecca Ray explores the way identity, belonging and connectedness are translated through materiality in First Nations portraiture.

Robert Rosen

Biography

Robert Rosen is a portrait photographer who took thousands of snaps of the tawdry Sydney social scene of the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

2 portraits in the collection

Richard Roxburgh

Biography

Richard Roxburgh (b. 1962), actor, completed an economics degree at the Australian National University before gaining a place at NIDA on his second attempt.

2 portraits in the collection

Robert 'Twogun' Rosen, 1994

Lewis Morley

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

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

Del Kathryn Barton

Biography

Del Kathryn Barton (b.1972) lives and works in Sydney. She is one of Australia's most celebrated contemporary artists, famous for her figurative paintings that feature fantastical characters posed against ornate—and sometimes psychedelic—backgrounds.

1 portrait in the collection

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch

'Weaving the Dame'

Portrait story

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

Sue Walker

Biography

Sue Walker (b. 1936) is a weaver and arts administrator. After studying fine arts in Melbourne she began her professional career as a weaver in London.

1 portrait in the collection

Sue Walker, 1977

Lewis Morley

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Gift of the artist 2003. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Mona Hessing

Biography

Mona Hessing (1933-2001) weaver, was described as having made a 'very significant contribution from the late 1960s into the 1980s to the development of weaving as monumental public sculpture.

1 portrait in the collection

Nicholas Harding

Biography

Nicholas Harding (1956–2022) was one of Australia's most highly regarded artists, known for his portraits and drawings, and his light-filled, vigorously painted images of the bush and the coast.

5 portraits in the collection

Toni Collette as Muriel trying on a wedding dress by Robert McFarlane, Muriel’s Wedding, 1994

Starstruck: Australian Movie Portraits opens

9 November 2017

Archived media releases 2017

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.

Ngayulu Minyma Tjanpinya, I am a Tjanpi Woman

Tjunkaya Tapaya OAM

Biography

Tjunkaya Tapaya OAM (b. c 1947) is a senior Tjanpi Desert Weaver with work spanning across printmaking, ceramics and fibre-based work.

1 portrait in the collection

Fiona Lowry

Biography

Fiona Lowry is a Sydney-based artist. Having held her first solo exhibition in 2002, she exhibited at Sydney’s Gallery Barry Keldoulis from 2004 to 2010; from 2010 she was also represented by Hugo Michell in Adelaide, and she is currently handled by Martin Browne Contemporary in Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

Nicholas Harding

28 Portraits

Previous exhibition, 2017

Nicholas Harding: 28 portraits features paintings of Robert Drewe, John Bell and Hugo Weaving alongside gorgeously coloured recent oil portraits, delicate gouaches and bold ink and charcoal drawings.

Fay Bottrell

Biography

Fay Bottrell (b. 1927) textile artist and teacher, collaborated with Wessley Stacey on the book The Artist Craftsman in Australia: Aspects of Sensibility in 1972.

1 portrait in the collection

Lady Natasha Johnston, 1968

Cecil Beaton

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Hugo Vickers 2005

Georges Antoni

Biography

Georges Antoni (b. 1975), fashion photographer, grew up in a small town in central Queensland.

1 portrait in the collection

Sarah Bernhardt, 1891

Falk Studios

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on cabinet card

Purchased 2017

Rehearsing Godot (Mullins as Lucky) 4.11.2013 by Nicholas Harding

Waiting for Godot

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2015

'Artist and actors, advancing spasmodically, find their rhythm together' writes Sarah Engledow.

James Iyuna, 1986

Martin van der Wal

Portrait, inkjet print on rag paper

Purchased 2005

Ngayulu Minyma Tjanpinya, I am a Tjanpi Woman, 2018

Tjunkaya Tapaya OAM, Tjanpi Desert Weavers

Portrait, Tjanpi (dry grass), acrylic wool, raffia, wire

Purchased 2022

George Gotardo Foletta

Biography

George Gotardo Foletta CMG (1892-1973), manufacturer, worked as a travelling salesman for his father, a fancy goods commission agent, before setting up the Atlas Knitting and Spinning Mills Pty Ltd in Brunswick in 1920.

2 portraits in the collection

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

Lewis Morley

Myself and Eye

Previous exhibition, 2003

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

Penny Fowler AM, John Barrington AM, Heidi Victoria, Elizabeth Dibbs, Tom Mosby, Hayley Baillie, Hugo Michell, Elizabeth Pakchung, Valerie Tam

The Board

Governance & Board

The Board oversees the Gallery's strategic directions, objectives and governance.

Supporters

$5,000 - $9,999

Honour board

George Foletta,

Sir William Dargie CBE

Portrait, oil on canvas

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Alice Myra Foletta 2006

Little Darlings Youth Portrait Prize 2023

Previous exhibition, 2023

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

George Mealmaker

Biography

George Mealmaker (1768–1808), convict and activist, became involved in radical politics in his native Dundee in the 1780s.

1 portrait in the collection

Leah King-Smith

Contributing artists

Born: 1957, Gympie, QLD
Works: Brisbane

Through thick and thin

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2017

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

Nicholas Harding

Explore The Popular Pet Show

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.

Little Darlings Youth Portrait Prize finalists

Little Darlings Youth Portrait Prize 2022

Previous exhibition, 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.

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

Marilyn Ball, Albatross, 2018 (detail) by Linde Ivimey

So Fine

Contemporary women artists make Australian history

Previous exhibition, 2018

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 more things change

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2011

National Photographic Portrait Prize curator, Sarah Engledow, finds reward in a difficult task and ultimately uncovers the essence of portraiture.

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

Nicholas Harding: 28 Portraits

Exhibition essay

General content

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

Eileen Dunne in The Hospital for Sick Children, 1940

The incomparable Beaton

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2005

To accompany the exhibition Cecil Beaton: Portraits, held at the NPG in 2005, this article is drawn from Hugo Vickers's authorised biography, Cecil Beaton (1985).

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.

The considered life

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2010

Andrew Sayers asks whether a portrait can truly be the examination of a life.

Painting mates

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2011

Michael Desmond discusses Fred Williams' portraits of friends, artist Clifton Pugh, David Aspden and writer Stephen Murray-Smith, and the stylistic connections between his portraits and landscapes.

Alternative virtue

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2015

Joanna Gilmour presents John Kay’s portraits of a more infamous side of Edinburgh.

Chet Baker, singer, New York City, January 16, 1986 by Richard Avedon

The existential lens

Magazine article by Stephen Zagala, 2013

Stephen Zagala discusses Richard Avedon’s work from an Australian perspective.

Forum participants

General content

Biographies of participants in the Writing lives, revealing lives forum.

Illuminating history

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2023

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

Australia’s great internationalists

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2016

Penelope Grist explores the United Nations stories in the Gallery’s collection.

Earth to earth

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2013

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

Anna Culliton

Explore The Popular Pet Show

Anna Culliton never had a colouring-in book when she was little. Her parents –Tony, a filmmaker, and Stephanie, a painter – wouldn’t let her have one. Instead, they insisted on her drawing her own pictures to colour-in.

Portrait Donors

Listed by year

Honour board

56 results

© National Portrait Gallery 2024
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

The National Portrait Gallery is an Australian Government Agency