Search / jessie street

Jessie Street (née Lillingston, 1889-1970), feminist and activist, had a 50-year career encompassing achievements on landmark issues such as family planning, equal pay and equal employment.

1 portrait in the collection

Jessie Street

In their own words

Recorded 1967

Worth her salt

Jerrold Nathan's portrait of Jessie Street shows the elegant side of a many-faceted lady.

Jessie Street, 1929

Reginald Jerrold-Nathan

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2010

Gift of the Street family and the Jessie Street National Women's Library 2010

The considered life

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

George Hoyningen-Huene and Jessie the Barmaid

Jessie Sinden

Jessie Sinden was a barmaid at the Brooklyn Hotel on George Street in Sydney when she was 'discovered' by Baron George Hoyningen-Huene, a high-profile American fashion photographer and Hollywood figure.

1 portrait in the collection

Jessie Robertson

Jessie Robertson (1835–1849) was the eldest of the seven children of pastoralist and businessman, William Robertson (1798–1874), and his wife Margaret (née Whyte, 1811–1866).

1 portrait in the collection

Jessie Whyte

Jessie Whyte (née Walker, 1779–1864). Born in Berwickshire, Scotland, Jessie married George Whyte (d.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait of Lady Eyre Williams (Jessie Gibbon)

Lady Jessie Eyre Williams

Portrait, pencil, chalk and gouache on paper

Jessie, Lady Eyre Williams (neé Gibbon, 1815-1903), colonial spouse, was the daughter of an Aberdeenshire clergyman.

1 portrait in the collection

Jessie Robertson, c. 1849

Thomas Bock

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC 2013

Jessie Whyte, c. 1840

Thomas Bock

Portrait, pastel and chalk on paper laid down on cotton over Cedar strainer

Purchased 2017

George Hoyningen-Huene and Jessie the Barmaid, 1937

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

Chance encounter

Joanna Gilmour explores the life and times of one of Melbourne's early socialites, Jessie Eyre Williams.

Portrait of Lady Eyre Williams (Jessie Gibbon), 1833

Claude-Marie Dubufe

Purchased 2009

Lady Jessie and Sir Donald Bradman, Kensington Park, Adelaide, South Australia

Lady Jessie and Sir Donald Bradman, Kensington Park, Adelaide, South Australia, 1992-1993 (printed 2019)

Robin Sellick

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2019

Aboriginal couple, Finniss Springs Mission, South Australia

Aboriginal couple, Finniss Springs Mission, South Australia, 1959 (printed 2000)

David Moore

A folio of British street portraits 1824–1844

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.

Copeman, gardener, Great Yarmouth by John Dempsey

Dempsey's people

Previous exhibition, 2017

Dempsey’s people: a folio of British street portraits 1824–1844 is the first exhibition to showcase the compelling watercolour images of English street people made by the itinerant English painter John Dempsey throughout the first half of the nineteenth century.

Luke Cornish, aka E.L.K. describes his street art and portraiture

Portrait 33

September - November 2009

Magazine

This issue features Hermannsburg pottery, Nicole Kidman, Ken Done, Jessie Street, two gladiators, the Portraits+Architecture exhibition and more.

Mirka and Philippe - 9 Collins Street, c. 1966 (printed 2015)

Lazar Krum

Gift of the artist 2015

Mirka - 9 Collins Street, c. 1966 (printed 2015)

Lazar Krum

Gift of the artist 2015

Reg Livermore, Pitt Street, Sydney, 1965 (printed 2020)

Robert McFarlane

Purchased 2020

McCaughey Street, Turner, 1959, 2012

by Heather Corrigan

Lynn Gailey, Smart Street Films

Thomas Archbold, Durham, 1826 by John Dempsey

Street fare

John Noone after William Strutt

The late Georgian and early Victorian working classes often bought their food in ale-houses, chop-houses and ‘penny pie shops’, or purchased their meals day after day in the streets.

Angel Street (Adam Cullen), 2010

Darren McDonald

Portrait, oil on linen

Purchased 2012

Opening of the First Legislative Council of Victoria by Governor Charles Joseph LaTrobe at St Patrick's Hall, Bourke Street West, Melbourne November 13th 1851

Opening of the First Legislative Council of Victoria by Governor Charles Joseph LaTrobe at St Patrick's Hall, Bourke Street West, Melbourne November 13th 1851, 1883

Portrait, photolithograph on paper

Purchased 2013

A good innings

Devotion

Childhood sweethearts

Regent Street

King Edward Terrace

Behind the street name

Visiting the gallery

King Edward Terrace was named in honour of King Edward VII (1841-1910)

Mozart Street interview

Alexis Nicholas Nöel after Louis Auguste de Sainson

Vue de George’s Street à Sydney, 1833

Portrait, lithograph on Chine-collé on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Sunshine and rain, Lygon Street, 1964

Eric Thake

Portrait, linocut on paper

Gift of Professor Van Sommers 2011

George Johnston, Fleet Street, London, c. 1952 (printed 2000)

David Moore

Tom Durkin, The Weekly Times

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
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

A Collins Street Surgeon "Patients and Diamonds" [Dr Beaney F.R.C.S.], 1874

Portrait, lithograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Rod McNicol and Jack Charles

'We're village elders on Smith Street'

Portrait story

Rod and Jack on the series of portraits they created together.

Here’s looking at you, kid

Devotion

Is he thinking of me?

Richard Walsh, Editor OZ magazine at the Hunter Street offices

Richard Walsh, Editor OZ magazine at the Hunter Street offices, c. 1966 (printed 2021)

Robert McFarlane

Purchased with funds provided by Tim Bednall 2021

Reginald Jerrold-Nathan

Reginald Henry Jerrold-Nathan (1889-1979) arrived in Australia from London in 1924, having studied under John Singer Sargent and William Orpen at the Royal Academy, where he was awarded a medal for portrait painting.

2 portraits in the collection

Kondelea Elliott

Kondelea Elliott (1917–2011), union official and women's rights lobbyist, was the daughter of a Greek migrant father, Nicholas Xenodohos, who had come from the Queensland canefields via Sydney, and an Australian mother who had left school at the age of eight and performed in a circus.

1 portrait in the collection

Closer to Heaven, 2013

by Molly Harris

Terry Clune

Terry Clune (b. 1932), gallerist, established Terry Clune Galleries with Frank MacDonald at 59 McLeay Street Potts Point in 1957.

1 portrait in the collection

Solomon Studios

Portrait, oil on masonite

Saul Solomon (1836–1929) had a studio in Main Road, Ballarat from 1857 to 1862, and worked in partnership with William Bardwell at 29 Sturt Street, Ballarat until 1874.

1 portrait in the collection

Kondelea (Della) Elliott, 1979

Ivy Shore

Gift of Jeannie Highet and Kim Buchan 2012

Tracey, 2018

by Rod McNicol

Baby Guerrilla

Artists and Collectives

Baby Guerrilla is a street artist based in Naarm/Melbourne. Her exquisite large-scale drawings of figures made into paste-ups celebrate humanity.

Robert T. Carter

Robert Thomas Carter (1843–1917) was a leading Sydney cabinetmaker and furniture warehouseman, and later an antique dealer.

2 portraits in the collection

Suzie Petyarre Hunter

Suzie Petyarre (also spelt Pitjara) Hunter (b. c. 1966), painter, is an Alyawarre woman who lives a traditional life in the bush at Irrultja, Utopia.

1 portrait in the collection

Ahn & Pete, The Bus Stop Project, 2012

by Simone Darcy

The crime writer Shane Maloney, 2004

Rick Amor

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2010
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Sir Edward E. Williams

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

Falk Studios

Falk Studios was established by Melbourne-born photographer H. Walter Barnett in George Street, Sydney in 1885.

5 portraits in the collection

Alex Kolozsy

Alex Kolozsy left his native Transylvania for Hungary as a small child.

1 portrait in the collection

Bassano Ltd

The Bassano studios operated from 1850, when photographer Alexander Bassano (1829-1913) opened premises in Regent Street, London.

2 portraits in the collection

Contact sheet (Mozart St, two)

Contact Sheet (Vale St, one; Mozart St, one; Ian Macrae)

William Robertson, c. 1852

Portrait, 1/6 plate daguerreotype, hand coloured with case

Gift of Fiona Turner (née Robertson) and John Robertson 2011. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Margaret Robertson

Australian Schools Portrait Project

Margaret Robertson (née Whyte, 1811–1866) was the daughter of settlers George and Jessie Whyte, who emigrated to Van Diemen’s Land from Scotland in 1832.

4 portraits in the collection

Portrait of a nation

Learning resource archive

Explore portraits of those who had a Canberra suburb or street named after them. For primary students.

Mr and Mrs R. T. Carter, c. 1863

Milligan Bros (Studio)

Portrait, ambrotype, hand coloured on glass plate with black paint backing

Gift of Mr and Mrs James Bain 2000. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Ernest Walter Histed

Ernest Walter Histed was born in Brighton, UK, but made his reputation as a photographer in Chicago and later in Pittsburgh.

1 portrait in the collection

Amanda

Francis Cloake

The Swiss Studios, Melbourne

The Swiss Studio opened in Bourke Street, Melbourne, in September 1900 and remained in business until 1920..

1 portrait in the collection

Munnan Studios

Munnan Studios operated from premises in Hunter Street, Sydney, from around 1915.

1 portrait in the collection

Johnstone O'Shannessy & Co

Johnstone, O’Shannessy & Co was founded in Melbourne in 1864 by Henry James Johnstone and a photographer known as ‘Miss O’Shaughnessy’, who had previously been in partnership with her mother in their own photographic business in Carlton.

12 portraits in the collection

James Gillray

James Gillray, caricaturist and printmaker, was born in Chelsea and learned the art of engraving as a youth in London.

1 portrait in the collection

John Cann and his father, 2007

by Hugh Stewart

Antoine Fauchery

Antoine Fauchery (1823–1861) was a Parisian artist and writer, an occasional collaborator with Henri Murger, author of Scènes de la vie de bohème which was a chief source of the opera La bohème.

2 portraits in the collection

Margaret Robertson, c. 1852

Portrait, ambrotype, hand coloured

Gift of Fiona Turner (née Robertson) and John Robertson 2011. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Fatima, 2013

by Andrew Tsangarides

John Noone

John Noone, photographer and lithographer, began advertising the services of his ‘Photographic Establishment’ in the Melbourne Argus in September 1858, and worked from two separate addresses on Collins Street from this time until 1862.

1 portrait in the collection

Rollo Thomson

Rollo Thomson, a Melbourne artist, shared a studio with Constance Stokes at 9 Collins Street.

1 portrait in the collection

Madame Praeger

Previous exhibition, 2016

Laura Praeger (née Blundell) was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, and was about twelve years old when her father brought his family to Australia, settling in Queensland.

1 portrait in the collection

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.

Australia’s great internationalists

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2016

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

Perry, Kemp & Co

Kemp, Perry & Co. operated from 81 Bourke Street East, Melbourne, between 1873 and 1875.

1 portrait in the collection

Geoffrey Legge

Geoffrey Legge (b. 1935) and Frank Watters (1934–2020) ran Watters Gallery in Darlinghurst from 1964 to 2018.

3 portraits in the collection

Frank Watters OAM

Geoffrey Legge (b. 1935) and Frank Watters (1934–2020) ran Watters Gallery in Darlinghurst from 1964 to 2018.

3 portraits in the collection

Margaret Robertson, c. 1863

Archived media releases 2017

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

Calling all family history buffs

3 July 2017

The National Portrait Gallery is calling on family history enthusiasts and amateur historians to tell it more about the people in its new show, Dempsey’s People: A folio of British street portraits from 1824-1844.

Billy the match man, Liverpool, 1844 by John Dempsey

Rare Set of Watercolour Paintings on Display for the First Time

15 June 2017

Archived media releases 2017

A rare and enchanting collection of 52 portraits of British street people will be on display for the first time in the National Portrait Gallery’s winter show, Dempsey’s People: a folio of British street portraits 1824-1844.

Maurice Felton

Maurice Appleby Felton (1803-1842) arrived in Sydney with his wife and four children in late 1839 as surgeon to the immigrant ship the Royal Admiral.

3 portraits in the collection

Annie May Moore

Portrait, watercolour on paper laid on cardboard

Annie May Moore (1881-1931) was born in New Zealand and studied at the Elam School of Art and Design in Auckland.

5 portraits in the collection

John Connell, c. 1830

Richard Read Jnr

Gift of Eleanor Thornton 2013. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

The Singer, 2012

by Richard Payne

Ria Murch

Ria Murch (1918-2014), writer and muse, was brought up in King’s Cross and attended the Thosophist school in Mosman before acquiring secretarial skills at Miss Hales Business College.

1 portrait in the collection

Stephen and Angelo

George Fetting

John Davis

Alan Davies' and Peter Stanbury's The Mechanical Eye in Australia lists Sydney photographer John Davis (life dates unknown) as having a carte-de visite studio on King Street, and as working from addresses on Pitt and George Streets between 1870 and 1873..

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Hewitt

Born in Lincolnshire, Charles Hewitt (1837–1912) had begun working in Melbourne by 1860 and was one of the founding members of the Photographic Society of Victoria.

3 portraits in the collection

The Swiss Studios, Sydney

The Swiss Studios opened in King Street, Sydney in early 1898, operating from a building described as a 'pleasing reminder of one of those delightful old Swiss chalets, which one always associates with Alpine travel.' The elaborate establishment boasted a first-floor reception room, 'beautifully decorated and luxuriously furnished', 'tastefully arranged dressing rooms, one for ladies and the other for gentlemen', and a 'lofty, cool and well-lit gallery' where 'the best artists in the photographic line' were at work.

1 portrait in the collection

Kerry Walker, c. 1979

Stuart Campbell

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Stuart Campbell 2012

Les and Eileen, 2010

by Alex Vaughan

Neighbourhood Watch, 2015

by Melissa Osborn

Suzie Petyarre, 1994

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

David Mitchell

David Mitchell (1829-1916), builder, contractor and businessman, arrived in Melbourne in mid-1852 in the Anna.

1 portrait in the collection

Frances Samuel

Frances Samuel (1818-c. 1898) was a member of one of early Sydney's most significant Jewish settler families.

1 portrait in the collection

Mervyn Godfrey OAM

Mervyn Godfrey OAM (1924-2013), Dean Godfrey (b. 1970), David Godfrey (b.

2 portraits in the collection

Dean Godfrey

Mervyn Godfrey OAM (1924-2013), Dean Godfrey (b. 1970), David Godfrey (b.

1 portrait in the collection

David Godfrey

Mervyn Godfrey OAM (1924-2013), Dean Godfrey (b. 1970), David Godfrey (b.

1 portrait in the collection

Murray Godfrey

Mervyn Godfrey OAM (1924-2013), Dean Godfrey (b. 1970), David Godfrey (b.

1 portrait in the collection

Wendy Sharpe

Wendy Sharpe undertook art studies in Sydney between 1978 and 1984 and held her first solo exhibition at the Nicholson Street Gallery in 1985.

3 portraits in the collection

Geoffrey Legge and Frank Watters, 1999

Anne Zahalka

Purchased 2021

Dickinson Monteath Studio

The Dickinson Monteath Studio operated at 296 Collins Street Melbourne during the 1930s and into the 1940s.

1 portrait in the collection

Kerry Walker AM

Kerry Walker AM, actor, graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1974 and made her professional stage debut in a melée in Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet with the Australian Ballet.

1 portrait in the collection

William - Aspendale, 1966 (printed 2015)

Lazar Krum

Gift of the artist 2015

Frederick Bromley

Frederick Bromley was among a family of printmakers active in Britain for much of the 19th century.

1 portrait in the collection

George Perry

George William Perry (1824–1900) was born in London and arrived in Victoria via South Africa around 1852.

2 portraits in the collection

Max Meldrum, c. 1937

Previous exhibition, 2023

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Portrait23: Identity

Portraiture. Not as you know it. We invite you to stretch, push, resist and transcend portraiture’s conventional constraints.

William Francis King, 'The Flying Pieman'

William Francis King, 'The Flying Pieman', c. 1869

John Davis

Portrait, charcoal on paper

Gift of the family of FW Macpherson 2010

Julian Rossi Ashton, 1933

Eric Wilson

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Philip Bacon AM 2012

James Macpherson Grant, c. 1870s

Paterson Brothers

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John McPhee 2018

Porter, Charing Cross, 1824 by John Dempsey

John Dempsey folio

Thinking of something, someone

View the full collection of portraits in the exhibition.

Gulgawarnigu

Previous exhibition, 2023

In partnership with Big hART we are proud to present Gulgawarnigu - Thinking of something, someone, a national presentation of digital artworks created from Ngarluma country leramagadu (Roebourne), in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Reko Rennie, 2014

Jasper Knight

Portrait, enamel, gloss acrylic, perspex, masonite and metal sign on board

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2020. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

My room, 2015

by Anna Sinclair

Eleni and the bookshop

Tracy Ponich

Koko & Kiko (42nd Street Series), 1980 by Larry Clark

Best buds

It’s important to have a best bud when you’re growing up. For many boys the transition from boyhood through adolescence is defined by wanting to fit in.

Master Molteno, c. 1866

Townsend Duryea

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

First Legislative Council of Victoria

The First Legislative Council of Victoria was formed following Victoria’s separation from New South Wales in July 1851.

1 portrait in the collection

Andrew Charlton

Andrew 'Boy' Charlton (1907-1975) was a keen surfer throughout his youth.

1 portrait in the collection

Fradelle & Marshall

Fradelle & Marshall was a photographic and miniature-painting partnership between Albert Eugene Fradelle & William Shury Marshall, who maintained two studios in Regent Street, Westminster, London from 1872 to 1876.

1 portrait in the collection

Alice Mills

Victorian-born Alice Mills was one of a significant number of women photographers in business between 1900 and 1920.

1 portrait in the collection

Edith Ellen Williams, c. 1871

Portrait, albumen silver photograph, hand coloured on paper

Gift of Ross and Judy O'Connell 2016

Sir Hartley Williams, c. 1871

Portrait, albumen silver photograph, hand coloured on paper

Gift of Ross and Judy O'Connell 2016

Geoffrey Legge and Frank Watters, 2008

Gary Grealy

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2010

Captain William Kinghorne

William Kinghorne (1796-1878) came to the colonies from Scotland some time before 1824.

1 portrait in the collection

Confronted, 2012

by Tim Tam

Portrait, pen and ink on paper

Charles Lloyd Jones, n.d.

Louis Kahan AO

Gift of Mrs Lily Kahan 2017. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

A blackguard rehearsing - Max Cullen, 2001

David Naseby

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Nigel Naseby 2007
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Richard Read Jnr

Richard Read junior arrived in Sydney from his native London in November 1819.

2 portraits in the collection

Julian Ashton CBE

Julian Rossi Ashton CBE (1851-1942), art teacher, artist and critic, trained in art in London and at the Académie Julian in Paris before coming to Australia to work on the Illustrated Australian News in 1878.

4 portraits in the collection

John Eason

John Eason (1799–1858) was a shipwright who worked in Van Diemen’s Land during the 1830s, 1840s and 1850s.

1 portrait in the collection

Do you know more?

Previous exhibition, 2000

The National Portrait Gallery is calling on family history enthusiasts and amateur historians to help reveal more about the people in Dempsey’s People: A folio of British street portraits from 1824-1844.

Monochromatic Self-Portrait, 2000 by Genevieve Preston

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

Wenten Rubuntja, 2001

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Julian Ashton Life Class, 1920

Harold Cazneaux

Purchased 2015

Tiffany, 2015

by Brett Canet-Gibson

Wesley Enoch AM

An exhibition of sporting photographs by Anderson & Low

Wesley Enoch AM (b. 1969) is a theatre director and playwright and was the director of the Sydney Festival from 2017 to 2021.

1 portrait in the collection

The Athlete

Previous exhibition, 2000

The Athlete explores the sporting life well beyond the superficial image of the human physique

Mirka Mora

Mirka Mora (1928–2018), French-born artist and restaurateur, narrowly escaped Auschwitz as a girl.

5 portraits in the collection

Florence Austral

Florence Austral (1892–1968), operatic soprano, achieved international renown during the 1920s.

1 portrait in the collection

OBEY

Shepard Fairey Posters

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

Glitter and colour on the streets of Erskineville, 2015

by John McRae

Samantha Harris, 2010

by Hamish Ta-mé

Jenny Watson 4, February 1979, 1979 (printed 2012)

Robert Rooney

Purchased 2012

William P. Dowling

William Paul Dowling (1824–1877) is thought to have studied art in his native Dublin before settling in London, where he worked as a draughtsman while trying to establish himself as a portraitist.

1 portrait in the collection

Rose Lindsay

Rose Lindsay (née Soady, 1885-1978), artist's model, posed for Sydney Long, Antonio Dattilo Rubbo and Fred Leist before she met Norman Lindsay in 1902.

5 portraits in the collection

Robert Ross

Robert Ross (1792–1862), clergyman, studied medicine in his native Edinburgh before being ordained into the Church of Scotland in 1818.

1 portrait in the collection

Midday in the squat, 2009

by Hannah Robinson

Sir William Ashton OBE

Sir William (Will) Ashton OBE (1881-1963) was the son of James Ashton, who founded Adelaide's Norwood Art School in 1885 and its Academy of Arts in 1895.

1 portrait in the collection

Season of Change

Maxim Chikanchi

Painter John Brack with Professor Alex Mitchell and Sir Garfield Barwick

The Rt. Hon Sir Garfield Barwick AK GCMG QC

Magazine article by Brett Canét-Gibson, 2018

The Rt Hon Sir Garfield Barwick AK GCMG QC (1903–1997) was Chief Justice of Australia from 27 April 1964 to 11 February 1981 – the longest serving Chief Justice of Australia.

2 portraits in the collection

The Life of Riley, 2014 by Brett Canet-Gibson

Observation Point

Portrait photography, by definition, is a collaboration. It is also the grandest of lies masquerading as the ultimate truth.

Yuge, 2019

Kathrin Longhurst

Ralph Sutton

Ralph Sutton (1908-1967), Methodist minister, trained in Sydney, was ordained in 1935 and began his career in Mosman Methodist Church.

1 portrait in the collection

Mirka Mora, 2001

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Some women you may not know

Alison Alder

‘Everybody’s lives are built by so many influences, and for me, it is writers, artists and activists who have influenced how I think about the world.’

Alf Vincent

Alfred Vincent began working for the Bulletin in 1896, taking over from the renowned Phil May, his idol, with whom he was often - inevitably - unfavourably compared.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir John Kerr AK KCMG LSt J PC GCVO QC

Sir John Kerr AK KCMG LSt J PC GCVO QC (1914-1991) was the eighteenth Governor-General of Australia.

3 portraits in the collection

A map of the path for walking to the Gallery from Civic

Pedestrian Access

Location

Directions for walking to the Gallery from Civic.

Geoffrey Rush, 2006

by William Yang

Roger Scott

Roger Scott (b. 1944) is a freelance documentary photographer known in particular for his images of protests and rallies held in Sydney in the 1970s.

2 portraits in the collection

Lesley Moline

West Australian-born Lesley Moline (née O’Toole) studied at Perth Technical College before moving to Melbourne in 1933.

1 portrait in the collection

‘Sandy’, Yarra River

Portrait drawings from colonial Australia

Elegance in exile

Previous exhibition, 2012

Elegance in exile is an exhibition surveying the work of Richard Read senior, Thomas Bock, Thomas Griffiths Wainewright and Charles Rodius: four artists who, though exiled to Australia as convicts, created many of the most significant and elegant portraits of the colonial period.

Gordon Powell AM KCSJ

Gordon Powell AM KCSJ (1911-2005) Presbyterian minister, broadcaster and writer, is regarded as one of the most influential Australian Presbyterians.

1 portrait in the collection

Mr and Mrs Case, 1864

Alexander Fox and Co

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Barry Walsh

Barry Walsh (b. 1951) is a painter, photographer and printmaker who has studied in Italy and France and has exhibited since the early '80s in Europe as well as Australia.

1 portrait in the collection

Obey

Portrait, albumen silver carte de visite photograph

Michael Desmond investigates the street art of Shepard Fairey, who was catapulted to fame during the 2008 presidential election with his resonant image of Barack Obama.

Madame Sibly, Phrenologist and Mesmerist

Madame Sibly, Phrenologist and Mesmerist, c. 1870

James E. Bray

Purchased 2017

Melissa Beowulf

Melissa Beowulf grew up in Sydney, where she became a graphic artist.

2 portraits in the collection

Elliott and Fry

Elliott & Fry, a photography studio and photographic film manufacturer, was founded in 1863 at 55-56 Baker Street, London by Joseph John Elliott and Clarence Edmund Fry.

2 portraits in the collection

Tim Winton, 2004

Quentin Jones

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Charles Woolley

Charles Alfred Woolley (1834-1922), photographer and sketcher, ran a studio on Macquarie Street in Hobart from 1859 to 1870, producing numerous portraits along with views and stereographs of Hobart and surrounding areas.

6 portraits in the collection

Sarah Tuckfield

Sarah Tuckfield neé Gilbart (c. 1808–1854), was the daughter of a Cornish farmer.

1 portrait in the collection

School's out

Significant Australian Women 1913–2013

First Ladies

Previous exhibition, 2013

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

William Lister Lister

William Lister Lister (1859-1943), who was born in Sydney but taken to England as an eight-year-old, studied at the Bedford School of Art and in France before moving to Glasgow to study mechanical engineering at the College of Science and Mechanics.

1 portrait in the collection

Andrew Mitchell Ramsay

Andrew Mitchell Ramsay (1809-1869), clergyman, was Melbourne's first Presbyterian minister.

1 portrait in the collection

James McClelland

Previous exhibition, 2005

Jim McClelland (1915-1999) was a lawyer, politician (senator for NSW 1971-1978), judge and columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald (1986).

1 portrait in the collection

The World of Thea Proctor

The World of Thea Proctor is the Portrait Gallery's second major biographical exhibition - that is, the second exhibition to focus exclusively on the life and work of a single individual

William Ashton, c. 1940s

William B. Latimer, W B Latimer Photo Art Studio

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard King 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Reverend Nathaniel Kinsman, c. 1880

Purchased 2013

Claude Spurgeon Charlick

Claude Spurgeon Charlick (1893-1974), businessman, was managing director of the Adelaide firm Charlick Ltd for nearly forty years.

1 portrait in the collection

Rose Lindsay in garden at Springwood with Peter the fox terrier

Rose Lindsay in garden at Springwood with Peter the fox terrier, c. 1924

Harold Cazneaux

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

James Donovan

James T Donovan (1861–1922), journalist, Catholic historian and amateur singer, was born into an Irish Catholic family in Sydney and grew up in Womerah Avenue, Darlinghurst.

1 portrait in the collection

William Robertson, 1866

Thomas Adams Hill

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

Bee Miles

Beatrice (Bee) Miles (1902-1973) ranks alongside the 'Eternity man' as one of Sydney's best-remembered street personalities, and featured in the State Library's 'Sydney Eccentrics' exhibition in 1999.

1 portrait in the collection

Hera Roberts

Hera Roberts (1892-1969) was a painter, illustrator, designer, commercial artist and milliner.

1 portrait in the collection

Arthur Horner

Arthur Horner was born in Malvern, Victoria, and attended Sydney High School and the National Art School.

1 portrait in the collection

Michael Meszaros

Michael Meszaros has worked full-time as a sculptor for thirty years.

5 portraits in the collection

Sir Hartley Williams

Portrait, pencil on paper

Sir Hartley Williams (1843–1929), judge, was the third child and second son of Edward Eyre Williams and his wife, Jessie.

1 portrait in the collection

John Kerr, 1976

Frank Hinder

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

Adrian Lawlor

Adrian Lawlor, critic and artist, came to Australia from his native England at the age of about twenty.

2 portraits in the collection

A & G Taylor

Photographers Andrew Taylor and George Taylor opened their first studio in Cannon Street in east London in 1866.

1 portrait in the collection

Jonathon Welch AM

Jonathon Welch AM (b. 1958), tenor, is the founding music director of the Choir of Hope and Inspiration (formerly known as the Choir of Hard Knocks).

1 portrait in the collection

Talma Studios, Sydney

Magazine article by Johanna McMahon, 2019

Talma Studios opened in Sydney in March 1899 in a George Street premises next door to the GPO.

1 portrait in the collection

Dupain detective

Johanna McMahon revels in history and mystery in pursuit of a suite of unknown portrait subjects.

Lynn Gailey sewing

Lynn and the Buick

Portrait, direct positive colour photograph

Rose Lindsay, 1970

Anthony Browell

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999

Hayward Veal

Hayward 'Bill' Veal was born in Eaglemont, Victoria, and studied in Melbourne with AD Colquhoun and Max Meldrum between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four.

1 portrait in the collection

Mervyn Horton

Mervyn Horton AM (1917-1983), editor, art writer and entrepreneur, founded the journal Art and Australia in 1963 and edited it until his death in 1983.

1 portrait in the collection

Lynn

Thomas Purves

Thomas Purves (1909-1969), known as Tam, founded the Australian Galleries in Smith Street, Collingwood, Melbourne with his wife Anne in 1956.

1 portrait in the collection

Jennie Boddington and Melanie Le Guay

Elizabeth Roberts

Previous exhibition, 2006

Elizabeth Roberts (1812–1833) was the daughter of Warwickshire-born William Roberts (1754–1819) and his wife, Jane (née Longhurst, c.

1 portrait in the collection

Rennie Ellis

Aussies All

Rennie Ellis: Aussies All is a celebration of the life and work of the late Australian photographer Rennie Ellis.

Lowe Kong Meng

Lowe Kong Meng (1831–1888), merchant, was born and grew up in the British colony of Penang and came to Melbourne in 1853.

1 portrait in the collection

Nellie Melba, 1898

Ernest Walter Histed

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Hera Roberts, 1936

Previous exhibition, 2010

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

National Youth Self Portrait Prize

NYSPP 2010

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

Ern McQuillan Senior

Ern McQuillan (Senior) (1905-1988), boxing trainer, was born in Newtown, Sydney, and worked there all his life.

1 portrait in the collection

John Brack

John Brack (1920–1999), artist, grew up in Melbourne and studied at the National Gallery School at night while working as a junior insurance clerk.

9 portraits in the collection

George Coates

Portrait, albumen paper photograph on carte de visite

George Coates, Melbourne-born artist, started his art career in a stained glass workshop, attending classes with Frederick McCubbin at the National Gallery school at night.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir John Young, c. 1862

Freeman Brothers

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Self Portrait in a Brown Coat, 1936

Christine A. Pecket

Previous exhibition, 2006

Purchased 2020

Headspace 7

Me and My Place

Headspace 7: Me and My Place, the seventh in the National Portrait Gallery's series of student exhibitions, will be presented at Commonwealth Place. Me and My Place is the curatorial theme for the 2006 exhibition.

Clara Crosbie, c. 1885

Arthur William Burman

Ludwig Lang after Johnstone O'Shannessy & Co

Gift of John McPhee 2018

Lowe Kong Meng, c. 1887

Portrait, tinted lithograph on paper

Purchased 2015

Professor Leslie Wilkinson, 1970

Anthony Browell

Previous exhibition, 2014

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999

Rick Amor

21 Portraits

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.

William Mora

William Mora (1953–2023), art dealer and gallerist, was the eldest son of artist Mirka Mora and restauranteur and gallery owner Georges Mora.

1 portrait in the collection

Gustavus Brooke, c. 1865

Burman and Son

Portrait, watercolour and gouache on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Joseph Brown, 1980

Brian Dunlop

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE 2006
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Reko Rennie

Portrait, albumen paper photograph on carte de visite

Reko Rennie (b. 1974) is a Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay/Gummaroi artist living and working in Melbourne.

2 portraits in the collection

The Burke and Wills Monument, 1869

Thomas Foster Chuck

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Sage

Portrait, charcoal on paper

Sage (b. 1963) was born in Wales and studied at the School of Documentary Photography in South Wales under magnum photographer David Hurn.

7 portraits in the collection

Bee Miles, 1976

Roderick Shaw

Gift of Brian Griffin 2000

Bob Maza

Portrait, watercolour and gouache on paper

Bob Maza (1939-2000), actor, playwright and activist, was born on Palm Island in North Queensland.

1 portrait in the collection

Theresa and James Laidley Mort, 1844

William Nicholas

Gift of the Mort family 2009

Reverend Daniel Draper, c. 1866

Fredrick Charles Burman after John Cochran

Purchased 2010

Billy Hughes paperweight, n.d.

Portrait, cast iron, painted

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Ric Techow and Jenny Techow-Coleman in memory of Roy and Bet Techow 2001

Aileen Dent

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, sepia toned on paper

Aileen Dent (1890–1979), painter, is the most-exhibited woman artist in the Archibald Prize, with 63 works hung between 1921 and 1962.

1 portrait in the collection

Kyle Vander-Kuyp, 1998

Anderson & Low

Purchased 2001

Bobbi Sykes, Aboriginal Medical Service, 1973 Carol Jerrems

Carol Jerrems: Portraits

Previous exhibition, 2024

Carol Jerrems: Portraits is a major exhibition of one of Australia’s most influential photographers. Jerrems’ intimate portraits of friends, lovers and artistic peers transcend the purely personal and have come to shape Australian visual culture.

Bernie McGann, 1999

Sage

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, selenium toned on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 1999

Wendy drunk 11pm, 1983 by Brett Whiteley

Idle Hours

Idle hours is an exhibition of luxurious beauty. Paintings, prints and drawings represent subjects in quiet moods and situations arranged according to the time of day they depict - reading, drawing, snoozing, bathing, sewing, gardening, sitting, looking, making love and spending tranquil time with companions. Works in the exhibition range from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present.

William Robertson junior, c. 1857

Conway Hart

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2017

Julian Smith

Julian Smith, surgeon and photographer, came to Australia with his family from England at the age of three.

2 portraits in the collection

Andrew Quilty

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

William Nicholas

William Nicholas was born near London and is believed to have trained with English printmaker A.M Huffam.

2 portraits in the collection

Phyllis Shillito

Phyllis Shillito (1895-1980), designer and teacher, grew up in Yorkshire and trained and taught at Halifax Technical School before moving to teach design, craft and principles of art at Winchester School of Art and Liverpool City School of Art.

1 portrait in the collection

The Surgeon (Dr Julian Smith), 1934

Harold Cazneaux

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Elizabeth Sarah Ellen Carter

Elizabeth Sarah Ellen Carter (née Hill, 1845-1927) was one of the eight children born to Sydney cabinetmaker and undertaker John Hill jnr and his wife Elizabeth - the step-daughter of ex-convict boatman, John Cadman.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait of Florence Broadhurst, 1968

Joshua Smith

Purchased 2007

Arthur and Ria Murch, 1945

Margaret Michaelis

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

'Amy-Blue' (Amy Winehouse)

Marlene Dumas

Judith O'Conal-Prinz

Portrait, painted wood, denim, wool, plastic and candles

Judith O’Conal grew up in Sydney’s Rocks area and became interested in art as she repeatedly passed the plaque advertising the Julian Ashton School.

1 portrait in the collection

Two gentlemen celebrating a birthday (Frank Watters and Geoffrey Legge), 1974

Bob Jenyns

Gift of Frank Watters OAM 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Sir Kenneth Gillespie

Sir Kenneth Gillespie (1929–2010), dancer, teacher and founder of the Tasmanian Ballet, left his native Launceston at age sixteen to join the Borovansky Ballet in Melbourne.

1 portrait in the collection

Mark Lean: Rape game

Portrait, cast plaster, painted

Sir George Reid, c. 1895

Nelson Illingworth

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Aretha Brown

In conversation

Magazine article by Rebecca Ray, 2023

Gumbaynggirr artist Aretha Brown talks street art, collaboration and ghost stories with First Nations Curator and Meriam woman, Rebecca Ray.

Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool

Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, 1827

Charles Turner after Sir Thomas Lawrence

Portrait, mezzotint on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Henry Hopkins

Henry Hopkins (1787–1870), merchant and philanthropist, opened his first shop on Elizabeth Street in Hobart soon after arriving in the colony in September 1822.

1 portrait in the collection

Catherine Hamlin AC

Catherine Hamlin AC (1924–2020), obstetrician and gynaecologist, graduated from the University of Sydney in 1946 and went to work at Crown Street Women’s Hospital, where she met fellow doctor Reginald Hamlin.

1 portrait in the collection

John Hillcoat

John Hillcoat (b. 1960), filmmaker, was born in Brisbane and grew up in Canada, the USA and Europe.

1 portrait in the collection

Ern McQuillan Senior, c. 1980s

Ern McQuillan OAM

The Yarra Boot Trunk Tragedy, 12 January 1899

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Olga Radalyski prison records, on loan from the Public Record Office of Victoria.

The sensational denouement of the case

Batchelder & Company Photo

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.

Charles Summers, late 1860s

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Rev. Edward Puckle

The Reverend Edward Puckle (c. 1800-1898), Anglican clergyman, took holy orders in Exeter and officiated in Cornwall before sailing on the Randolph to Canterbury, NZ in 1850.

1 portrait in the collection

Graeme Inson

Graeme Inson (1923–2000), artist and teacher, was born in Cootamundra, New South Wales and educated at Canberra Grammar School.

6 portraits in the collection

Bryan Brown AM

Bryan Brown AM (b. 1947), actor and producer, worked as an insurance salesman before doing theatre in Australia and London.

2 portraits in the collection

Paul Kelly, 2007

Martin Philbey

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Charles Blondin, 1874

Timothy Noble

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Julia Swan

Harriet and Julia Swan were daughters of the successful Hobart merchant John Swan (1796–1858), who emigrated to Van Diemen’s Land in 1823 with his wife and first four daughters.

1 portrait in the collection

Harriet Swan

Archived media releases 2018

Harriet and Julia Swan were daughters of the successful Hobart merchant John Swan (1796–1858), who emigrated to Van Diemen’s Land in 1823 with his wife and first four daughters.

1 portrait in the collection

National Portrait Gallery Director's tenure ends in triumph

30 November 2018

National Portrait Gallery Director Angus Trumble is ending his five-year tenure with a flourish, after announcing that Gallery publication Dempsey’s People: A Folio of British Street Portraits 1824-1844 has been awarded the 2018 William MB Berger Prize for British Art History.

Roslyn Oxley

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Roslyn Oxley AM, gallerist and art dealer, was born Roslyn Walton, the daughter of John Walton, owner of the department store Waltons.

1 portrait in the collection

Barry McDonald, 1997

Selina Snow

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 1999

Sir Henry Barkly, c. 1863

Portrait, albumen photograph carte de visite on card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Sarah and Ann Jacob, c. 1866

Townsend Duryea

Thomas Griffiths Wainewright

Purchased 2018

Portrait of Henry Hopkins, c. 1845

Portrait, watercolour on paper

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2013

June Dally-Watkins, 1949 (printed 2008)

Purchased 2008

Sir Saul Samuel, c. 1870

Purchased 2014

George Andronicus, 1985 (printed 2018)

Gary Ede

Purchased with funds provided by Wayne Williams 2018

Portrait of Ruth Cracknell as the Sibyl, 1995

Rosemary Valadon

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on composition board

Purchased 2000

Robert H. Black MD, c. 1950

Nora Heysen AM

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 1999. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Sir Charles Lloyd Jones

Sir Charles Lloyd Jones (1878-1958), merchant and arts patron, grew up in Sydney, where he studied at Julian Ashton's art school in 1895.

1 portrait in the collection

Peter Drewett

From lanolin to Balenciaga

Peter G. Drewett is a Grafton craftsman. Drewett grew up in difficult economic circumstances in Melbourne.

1 portrait in the collection

Helena Rubinstein in a red brocade Balenciaga gown

Crème Valaze

Helena Rubinstein (1872‒1965) was the first self-made millionairess of modern times, and created the first publicly-listed global cosmetics corporation.

Joan Croll, 1976

John Brack

Gift of Frank Croll and Dr Joan Croll AO 2001. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Therese Desmond

Portrait, conté crayon on paper

Therese Desmond (1902–1961), radio and stage actress, was born Mary Long in London and came to Australia as a teenaged orphan at the end of World War 1.

1 portrait in the collection

Study for portrait of Joan Croll, 1976

John Brack

Gift of Dr Joan Croll AO 2007. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Joseph Brown AO OBE

Joseph Brown AO OBE (1918–2009), art collector, art dealer and philanthropist, arrived in Australia with his father and siblings from Poland in 1933; his mother had passed away shortly before their departure.

2 portraits in the collection

Dave Tacon

Dave Tacon (b. 1976) is a Shanghai-based photographer, director, producer and writer who specialises in reportage, features and portraiture.

18 portraits in the collection

Christine Audrey Pecket painting 'Self Portrait in a Brown Coat at the Sydney Technical College'

Christine A. Pecket

Christine Audrey Pecket (1908–1996), artist, was three years old when her family emigrated to Sydney from Yorkshire.

2 portraits in the collection

Leon Gellert

Leon Gellert (1892-1977), poet and journalist, was a physical education teacher at Hindmarsh Public School in his native Adelaide in 1914.

1 portrait in the collection

Noel McKenna

Noel McKenna (b. 1956), artist, is best known for his spare linear style and paintings of everyday scenarios, often featuring animals and interiors.

3 portraits in the collection

Lady Barkly, 1863

Portrait, albumen silver carte de visite on card

Purchased 2014

Saint Catherine (Catherine Hamlin), 2006

Nigel Brennan

Portrait, pastel on paper laid on canvas

Purchased 2008

Portrait of Mrs Sarah Fairfax, c. 1864

Edwin Dalton

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

Gnoung-a-gnoung-a Mour-re-mour-ga (dit Collins)

Gnoung-a-gnoung-a Mour-re-mour-ga (dit Collins), 1807-1817

Barthélemy Roger after Nicolas-Martin Petit

Portrait, engraving on paper

Purchased 2009

Sidney Myer

Sidney Myer (1878-1934), retail magnate and philanthropist, arrived in Melbourne in 1898 as a penniless Russian immigrant named Simca Baevski.

1 portrait in the collection

David Malouf

David Malouf (b.1934), educated at Brisbane Grammar and the University of Queensland, left Australia at the age of 24 and remained abroad for a decade, teaching in England and travelling throughout Europe.

3 portraits in the collection

Max Cullen

Portrait, type C photograph from an original negative on paper

Max Cullen (b. 1940), actor and artist, trained in art in Sydney in the 1950s, worked as a commercial artist and illustrator for some years, and has continued to exhibit solo and in group shows including the Archibald, Blake and Sulman Prizes.

1 portrait in the collection

Hedda Morrison, 1941 (printed 2004)

Alastair Morrison

Gift of the artist 2004

Ross Watson

Ross Watson specialises in interpolating representations of lithe semi-naked men into copies of paintings by masters such as Vermeer, Ter Borsch, David and Bronzino.

2 portraits in the collection

Jack Charles, 2011

Rod McNicol

Purchased 2013

Reg Livermore AO

Portrait, enamel on canvas

Reg Livermore AO (b. 1938), stage and television entertainer, began performing as a teenager, hiring local venues to mount his own pantomimes.

2 portraits in the collection

Dr Joseph Brown with Two Typists, 1996

Noel McKenna

Gift of the artist 2021. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Captain R.C. Morgan, Missionary ship 'John Williams'

Captain Robert Clark Morgan

Magazine article by Sandra Bruce, 2022

Captain Robert Clark Morgan (1798-1864), Christian mariner, whaler and diarist, entered the Royal Navy at the age of eleven, leaving at sixteen for the merchant marine and beginning a career in whaling, a pursuit he relished.

1 portrait in the collection

Unboxed

Sandra Bruce explores a new acquisition that has within it a story of interconnectivities in the Australian art world.

Study for a portrait of Dame Merlyn Myer DBE

Study for a portrait of Dame Merlyn Myer DBE, 1960s

Sir William Dargie CBE

Portrait, oil on masonite

Gift of the Estate of Marion Orme Page 2016

Max Dupain

The Vintage Years

Previous exhibition, 2003

During his long and distinguished career Max Dupain took thousands of photographs of people

Paul Kelly and The Portraits

Previous exhibition, 2013

Aspects of singer songwriter Paul Kelly’s performance persona are communicated by portraits selected from a range of artists and leading music photographers in this focus exhibition.

June Dally-Watkins OAM

June Dally-Watkins OAM (1927–2020), model, deportment icon and entrepreneur, grew up on a property at Watsons Creek in the New England district of New South Wales.

3 portraits in the collection

Rose Scott, 1913

Annie May Moore

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Dr Joan M Redshaw AM, 1982

Barbara Tribe

Portrait, terracotta

Purchased 2016

Toni Collette

Toni Collette (b. 1972), actor, producer, singer and songwriter, spent much of her childhood in the western Sydney suburb of Blacktown and left school at 16 to join the Australian Theatre for Young People.

1 portrait in the collection

Bert Flugelman

Herbert 'Bert' Flugelman, sculptor, painter and lecturer, came to Australia from his native Vienna in 1938, aged fifteen.

1 portrait in the collection

Elaine Haxton, c. 1940s

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, selenium toned on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard King 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Gough and John, 1981

Peter van der Veer

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005

Mirka by Mirka, 2000

Mirka Mora

Purchased with funds provided by the Sid and Fiona Myer Family Foundation 2021

Sir Mark Oliphant, c. 1948

Lotte Meitner-Graf

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Ms Vivian Wilson 2004

Ruth Cracknell

Portraits in the Landscape

Ruth Cracknell AM (1925–2002), actor, became a household name through her character Maggie Beare in the ABC comedy Mother and Son, which ran from 1985 to 1994.

1 portrait in the collection

Open Air

Previous exhibition, 2008

Open Air is an exhibition of portraits of Australians in environments of particular significance to them.

Therese Desmond, 1919-1920

James Burnside

Portrait, watercolour on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Madeleine Howell 2013

Elizabeth Sarah Roberts

Elizabeth Sarah (Lillie) Roberts (née Williamson, 1860–1928), artist, was born in Launceston, the daughter of Caleb Williamson, a successful merchant, and his wife, Elizabeth.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir William Northam CBE

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, selenium toned on paper

Sir William Northam CBE (1905-1988), yachtsman, won the gold medal in the 5.5 m class event at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

1 portrait in the collection

Marcia Langton, 1982

Juno Gemes

Purchased 2004

Leigh Bowery in Fur Coat, c. 1983 (printed 2005)

David Gwinnutt

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005

Neil Armfield (study), 2010

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, selenium toned on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2010

Kenneth Gillespie, 2005

Dean Beletich

Purchased 2015

Carol Jerrems, Paddington, 1976 (printed 2003)

Roger Scott

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Joan Redshaw AM

Joan Redshaw AM (1921–1994), medical practitioner, chose her career in opposition to her father, a judge, who thought the University of Sydney medical school was a hotbed of women's activists.

1 portrait in the collection

William H. Bardwell

William H. Bardwell, photographer, worked at various premises in Ballarat from 1858 until 1895.

1 portrait in the collection

Nelson Illingworth

Portrait, lithograph on paper

Nelson Illingworth trained in sculpture in England and worked as a modeller at the Royal Doulton potteries for nine years before moving to Australia.

3 portraits in the collection

Gooseberry, widow of King Bungaree, 1836

William Fernyhough

Gift of Dr Robert Edwards AO 1999. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Bradley and Rulofson

Bradley & Rulofson was a partnership between photographers Henry W Bradley (1813–1891), a native of North Carolina, and Canadian-born William H Rulofson (1826–1878).

1 portrait in the collection

Tetsuya Wakuda, 2004

Quentin Jones

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005

Neil Armfield (study), 2010

Portrait, spray paint on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2010

Neil Armfield (study), 2010

Portrait, spray paint on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2010

Self portrait, c. 1948

John Brack

Portrait, conté crayon on paper

Purchased with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2010

Hon. Saul Samuel

The Hon Sir Saul Samuel Bart KCMG CB (1820-1900), merchant, politician, company director and landowner, was the first Jewish legislator in New South Wales and the first Jew to become a minister of the Crown.

1 portrait in the collection

Elizabeth Walford

Henry Samuel Sadd after Freeman Brothers

Francis William Barnard Walford (1821–1896), businessman and landowner, was born in Hobart, the son of Barnard Walford (1801–1846), a publican and victualler; and the grandson of Barnard Walford senior (c.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir James Martin, c. 1880s

Portrait, mezzotint on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009

Sarah Simpson, c. 1866

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2014

Georges Mora

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

1 portrait in the collection

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

Vanity Fair Portraits

Photographs 1913-2008

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

Margaret Michaelis

Portrait, pastel on paper laid on canvas

Margaret Michaelis, photographer, was born Margarethe Gross, of Polish Jewish parents at Dzieditz, near Bielsko.

2 portraits in the collection

John Fairfax, c. 1860

Edwin Dalton

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

Tony Bilson OAM

Previous exhibition, 2023

Tony Bilson, OAM (1944-2020), chef, grew up in Melbourne and was educated at Melbourne Grammar school before opening his first restaurant, La Pomme d'Or, in Camberwell in 1971.

1 portrait in the collection

Time and light

In Gallery Seven

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.

Alan Goldberg AO QC

Portrait photography by John Elliott

Alan Goldberg AO QC (1940-2016), Federal Court judge, was born into a pioneering Jewish Melbourne family and graduated from the University of Melbourne law school in the early 1960s.

1 portrait in the collection

Thousand Mile Stare

Previous exhibition, 2004

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

Sidney Myer, 1936

Paul Montford

Portrait, cast bronze on wooden base

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Coles Myer Ltd 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Leon Gellert with mask, 1936

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2012

Gift of Danina Dupain Anderson 2017. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Beguiling impressions

Sarah Engledow is seduced by the portraits and the connections between the artists and their subjects in the exhibition Impressions: Painting light and life.

Elaine Haxton

Elaine Haxton (1909-1999), painter, graphic artist and theatre designer, grew up in Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

The Waxworks

Waxworks were among the various types of entertainment venue to emerge in Australian cities in the mid-nineteenth century.

Portrait 69

Magazine

In conversation with Aretha Brown, Pieter Roelofs on Vermeer, humanoid robots, the nationwide search for Archibald portraits, and 25 years of collecting at the National Portrait Gallery.

Leigh Bowery

Portrait, stainless steel

Leigh Bowery (1961-1994), London-based designer and nightclub performer, was born in the Melbourne suburb of Sunshine, and attended school in Melbourne before briefly studying fashion design at RMIT.

2 portraits in the collection

Self portrait, c. 1985

Bert Flugelman

Gift of the artist 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Helena Rubinstein

Helena Rubinstein (c. 1870–1965), cosmetician, businesswoman and philanthropist, is the founder of one of the first international cosmetic companies.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Troedel

Charles Troedel (1835-1906), born in Hamburg, was working in Norway when he was headhunted by AW Schuhkrafft, a Melbourne printer who seeking European craftsmen.

1 portrait in the collection

Wicked but Virtuous

Faith Stellmaker shares pioneering artist and restaurateur Mirka Mora’s lasting legacy on Melbourne’s art, dining and culture.

Lady Maisie Drysdale

Lady Maisie Drysdale (1915–2001), children's librarian and artists' muse, developed an interest in art as a child, and attended both the University of Melbourne and George Bell's art school.

1 portrait in the collection

Michael Peck

Michael Peck, artist and academic, was born in Melbourne in 1977; he was awarded a Bachelor of Fine Art (honours) (Painting) from Monash University and has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions since 1998.

1 portrait in the collection

Dick Düsseldorp, 1991 (printed 2018)

Gary Ede

Purchased 2018

John Cobley

John Cobley (1914-1989), doctor, historian and television host, studied at State schools, won a scholarship to the University of Sydney and graduated in medicine and science in 1937.

1 portrait in the collection

Ningali Lawford-Wolf

Ningali Lawford-Wolf (1967–2019), Wangkatjungka actor and dancer, was born at Christmas Creek Station in the Kimberley.

1 portrait in the collection

William King

William Francis King (1807-1873), aka 'The Flying Pieman', accomplished a series of bizarre athletic feats during the 1840s.

1 portrait in the collection

Vali Myers

Vali Myers (1930-2003) artist, vagabond and agitator, was born near Box Hill and moved to Melbourne at the age of eleven.

1 portrait in the collection

Dame Margery Merlyn Baillieu Myer DBE

Dame Margery Merlyn Baillieu Myer DBE (1900–1982), philanthropist and fundraiser, was the daughter of a hotelier, George Baillieu.

1 portrait in the collection

Alan Goldberg, 2014

Jacqueline Mitelman

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Wayne Williams 2015

Little John of Colchester, a poor lunatic, c.1823 by John Dempsey

Dempsey's people

Magazine article by Aimee Board, 2017

Those of you who are active in social media circles may be aware that through the past week I have unleashed a blitz on Facebook and Instagram in connection with our new winter exhibition Dempsey’s People: A Folio of British Street Portraits, 1824−1844.

Progressive pictures

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

Ningali Lawford-Wolf, 1996 (printed 2016)

Stuart Spence

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2016

Ivy Shore

Ivy Shore (1915–1999), painter, was born in Melbourne, daughter of a South Australian suffragette, Elka, and engineer John Williams.

2 portraits in the collection

At the Pantechnetheca, Exhibition, Eastern Arcade, Dominick Sonsee, the smallest man in the world

The Freak Show

Many performers availed themselves of the services of photographic studios, posing for carte de visite portraits that served as souvenirs and as instruments in the making of renown and notoriety.

Carol Jerrems

Carol Jerrems (1949–1980) was a photographer known for her intimate portraits of friends, lovers and others occupying the progressive social and creative circles in which she moved.

8 portraits in the collection

Sue Ford 1980-2006, 1980-2006 (printed 2013)

Ruth Maddison

Purchased 2013

Nicolas-Martin Petit

Nicholas-Martin Petit was born in Paris, the son of a fan maker, and learned graphic art in the studio of Jacques Louis David.

9 portraits in the collection

Wendy Sharpe, 2000

Portrait, albumen silver photograph

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

The First Ministry under Responsible Government in New South Wales

The First Ministry under Responsible Government in New South Wales, 1856

Freeman Brothers

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009

Gamaliel Butler

Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2016

Gamaliel Butler (1783–1852), lawyer and free settler, emigrated to Van Diemen’s Land in 1824 with his wife, Sarah (née Paine, 1787–1870).

2 portraits in the collection

Mrs NR Mackintosh (Anne) by Ruth Hollick

Natural, artistic and unselfconscious

Angus Trumble gazes at the once bright star of photographer Ruth Hollick.

Sir James Martin

Sir James Martin (1820-1886) was fourth Chief Justice of New South Wales.

1 portrait in the collection

Robyn Archer and Gough Whitlam, 1986 (printed 2019)

Neil Duncan

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2019

The Right Honourable William Pitt

William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806) was Tory prime minister of Great Britain from 1783 to 1801, and of United Kingdom from 1804 to 1806.

1 portrait in the collection

A G Stephens, c. 1910 (printed later)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Jack Charles

Jack Charles (1943–2022) was a revered Wiradjuri, Boon Warrung, Dja Dja Wurrung, Woiwurrung and Yorta Yorta Elder, activist, actor, musician and artist.

1 portrait in the collection

Robert Whitaker

Magazine article by Sandra Phillips, 2010

Robert Whitaker, English photographer, spent three years in Melbourne in the early 1960s, becoming friends with Mirka and Georges Mora, Barry Humphries, Germaine Greer, the Heide crowd and Martin Sharp and Richard Neville.

1 portrait in the collection

Exposed: Voyeurism Surveillance and the camera since 1870

The Tate/SFMOMA exhibition Exposed examined the role of photography in voyeurism and how it challenges ideas of privacy and propriety.

Alfred Simpson

Magazine article by Inga Walton, 2021

Alfred Simpson (1805–1891), manufacturer, started his professional life as a tinsmith in his native London and also worked as a hatter before financial difficulties caused him to emigrate to Australia in 1849.

1 portrait in the collection

Self-portrait in white jacket , 1901-02 Hugh Ramsay

Wunderkind lost

Inga Walton on the brief but brilliant life of Hugh Ramsay.

Sideshow Alley

Infamy, the macabre & the portrait

Previous exhibition, 2015

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.

Walter Frederick Gale

Walter Frederick Gale (1865-1945), banker and astronomer, joined the Savings Bank of New South Wales in 1888.

1 portrait in the collection

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2009

Portrait, oil on paper laid on board

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.

Portrait of Georges Mora, 1956

Charles Blackman OBE

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Glossy - Faces Magazines Now

Previous exhibition, 1999

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.

Masters of Fare

Chefs, winemakers, providores

Previous exhibition, 2004

Masters of fare: chefs, winemakers, providores celebrates men and women who have championed the unique culinary characteristics and produce of Australia, enriching our lives with new ideas and new flavours over the past forty years.

Sir Gerard Smith

Magazine article by Phil Manning, 2017

Sir Gerard Smith (1839-1920), governor, was educated at Eton before purchasing a commission as an ensign and lieutenant in the Scots Fusilier Regiment of Foot Guards, with whom he served in Canada in 1863-1864.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas Mathewson (inset) and his studio on Queen Street, c. 1908 by Thomas Mathewson & Co

Northern exposure

Phil Manning celebrates a century of Brisbane photographic portraiture.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022

Previous exhibition, 2022

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.

Sir James Dowling

Sir James Dowling (1787-1844), judge, worked as a parliamentary reporter before he was called to the Bar in London in May 1815.

1 portrait in the collection

Jenny Sages

Tom Carrington, The Australasian Sketcher

Jenny Sages (b. 1933), artist, was born to Russian Jewish parents in Shanghai and came to Australia with her family in 1948.

34 portraits in the collection

Kelly in the Guard's Van en route to Beechworth (from The Australasian Sketcher, 17 July 1880)

Kelly in the Guard's Van en route to Beechworth (from The Australasian Sketcher, 17 July 1880), 1880

Portrait, wood engraving on paper

Purchased 2017

Gary Foley

Batchelder & Company Photo

Gary Foley (b. 1950) is a Gumbainggir activist, actor, historian, curator and academic.

2 portraits in the collection

John Pascoe Fawkner, c. 1867

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

David Lloyd Jones

David Lloyd Jones (1931–1961) was the great-grandson of the original David Jones – who founded the eponymous department store in Sydney in 1838 – and the eldest son of Sir Charles Lloyd Jones (1878–1958), who was chairman of David Jones Ltd from 1920 until his death.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas Foster Chuck

Thomas Foster Chuck (1826-1898), photographer and entrepreneur, was born in London and arrived in Victoria in 1861.

4 portraits in the collection

William Baker Ashton

Previous exhibition, 2019

William Baker Ashton (1800-1854) was the first governor of Adelaide Gaol.

1 portrait in the collection

Primed

Some Prime Ministers

Seventeen of Australia’s thirty prime ministers to date are represented in the contrasting sizes, moods and mediums of these portraits.

Portrait of Lin Bloomfield, 1992

Frank Hinder

Portrait, mixed media, fibre-tipped pen, pencil charcoal, pastel, gouache on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Lin Bloomfield 2017

Judy Cassab

The artist's diary

Previous exhibition, 2013

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.

Peter Wilmoth, age 12, with copies of Our World 1974 Courtesy of the author

Paper, boy

Magazine article by Peter Wilmoth, 2016

Peter Wilmoth’s boy-journalist toolkit for antagonising an Australian political giant.

John Sumner AO CBE

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint and oil on canvas

John Sumner AO CBE (1924–2013), described as the 'father of Australian drama', was born in England and trained and worked in repertory theatre there before World War 2.

2 portraits in the collection

Mervyn Horton, 1964

Judy Cassab AO CBE

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

Sir Charles Lloyd Jones, 1951

Sir William Dobell OBE

Portrait, oil on composition board

Gift of the Simpson family in memory of Caroline Simpson OAM 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and his wife Theresa

Husbands and Wives

Photographic Portraits from 19th Century Australia

Previous exhibition, 2010

'I have just been to my dressing case to take a peep at you.

Noel Fraser Hickey

Noel Fraser Hickey (1921–2010) was born in Kensington, in Sydney, New South Wales, a stone's throw from the Royal Randwick Racecourse.

1 portrait in the collection

Painter John Brack with Professor Alex Mitchell and Sir Garfield Barwick, c. 1977

Jozef Vissel

Portrait, watercolour on paper

Gift of the Jozef Vissel 2015

William Baker Ashton, First Governor of Adelaide Gaol, c. 1849

Henry H. Glover

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Neil Armfield, 2010

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2010

Margel Hinder AM

Batchelder & Company Photo

Margel Hinder AM (née Harris) (1906-1995), sculptor, trained in Buffalo and Boston in the 1920s.

1 portrait in the collection

Richard Henry Horne, mid 1860s

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

John Connell

John Connell (c. 1759–1849), free settler, merchant and landowner, came to New South Wales aboard the Earl Cornwallis, which arrived in Sydney in June 1801.

1 portrait in the collection

Victor Trumper

Victor Trumper (1877-1915), is one of Australia's all-time great cricket batsmen.

1 portrait in the collection

Eva Besen AO

Eva Besen AO (1928–2021), philanthropist and arts benefactor, founded the Besen Family Foundation with her husband Marc Besen AC.

1 portrait in the collection

The Reverend Ralph Sutton, 1935

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on card

Gift of Reverend Ralph Sutton's daughters Arlene Howes and Megan Newman in memory of Ralph Sutton and in tribute to his wife Dorothy Sutton 2011

Marc Besen AC

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2010

Marcus (Marc) Besen AC (1923–2023), philanthropist and arts benefactor, founded the Besen Family Foundation with his wife Eva Besen AO.

1 portrait in the collection

The Saint and the merchant

Emanuel Solomon gave shelter to the Sisters of St Joseph upon the excommunication of St Mary MacKillop.

Clifton Pugh

Australians

Previous exhibition, 2005

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.

Miss Frances Samuel, 1840

Maurice Felton

Purchased 2011

Louise, daughter of the Hon. L. L. Smith by Tom Roberts, 1888

An Australian in Paris

This week it is impossible not to contemplate the ways in which France has touched many Australian lives.

Bathing woman, Bridlington, c.1825 by John Dempsey

Allow me to introduce...

W Sherwin, John Stockdale after Francis Wheatley

These full-length figures in watercolour, gouache and pencil date mostly from the 1820s, and almost all come from the collection of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart.

Arthur Phillip Esq., Captain General and Commander in Chief in & over the territory of New South Wales

Arthur Phillip Esq., Captain General and Commander in Chief in & over the territory of New South Wales, 1789

Portrait, stipple engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Cooey! An Australian Song

"Coo-ey, Coo-ey, Coo-ey, Coo-ey—Love has caught the strain, Coo-ey, Coo-ey, Coo-ey, Coo-ey—it whispers back again." The “Australian lady” who composed these fruity lyrics was none other than Desda— Jane Davies, sometime Messiter (née Price) of Leddicott, Lavender Bay.

Frances Perry, c. 1863

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2008

Purchased 2012

Pretty in peach

It's remarkable that the inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond has produced two of Australia's most successful opera singers. Three decades apart, but within a short distance of each other, both Helen Porter Mitchell and Florence Wilson were born.

To Look Within

Self Portraits in Australia

Previous exhibition, 2004

This exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of self-portraits in Australia, from the colonial period to the present

Mr John Eason, 1838

W. B. Gould

Portrait, albumen silver photograph carte de visite on card

Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2013

Julia Matthews, c. 1862

Davies & Co

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

George Selth Coppin, c. 1863

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Uncommon Australians

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.

William Walford

Portrait, oil on composition board

1 portrait in the collection

James McClelland, 1946

Nancy Borlase AM

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Gillian Appleton (McClelland) 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Charles Perry, c. 1863

Dalton's Royal Photographic Gallery

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Lucy Escott, c. 1861

Portrait, albumen silver carte de visite, hand coloured on card

Purchased 2009

Adrian Rawlins

Adrian Rawlins (1939-2001), poet, performer and promoter, grew up in a Jewish household in Caulfield and St Kilda.

1 portrait in the collection

Leigh Bowery, 1984

Robyn Beeche

Gift of Claudia Hyles, Dr Christiane Lawin-Bruessel, Gwenda Matthews, Gael Newton, Anne O'Hehir, Susan Smith and Dominic Thomas in memory of our friend, Robyn Beeche 2016

William Saurin Lyster, mid to late 1860s

Davies & Co

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

The Delltones, 1964 (printed 2019)

Ern McQuillan OAM

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2019

Geoffrey R. Robertson AO KC

Geoffrey Roland Robertson AO KC (b. 1946), barrister, academic and defender of human rights, grew up in Sydney, attending Epping Boys' High and then the University of Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

Diana Pockley

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2002

Diana Pockley (née Longridge, 1913–2011), gardener, fundraiser and amateur historian, was born in Exeter, Devon, England and completed her secondary education in Brighton.

1 portrait in the collection

Little treasures

The acquisition of the ivory miniatures of Mortimer and Mrs Lewis.

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.

Rosina Carandini, mid 1860s

Charles Hewitt

Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Janet Tavener

Finalist interviews

Mikala is the eldest of my three daughters. I have photographed her on many an occasion. Needless to say we are both extremely at home with the practice.

Georg von Neumayer, c. 1860

Johnstone & Co

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Chandler P. Coventry AM

Magazine article by Karl James, 2016

Chandler Phillip Coventry AM (1924–1999), grazier, gallerist, art collector and arts patron, was born in Armidale, New South Wales to an established New England grazing family.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait of Private Edward Lello 1915 by Darge Photographic Company

Final frame

Karl James reflects on soldier portraiture during the Great War.

Angus Trumble

12 October 2022

Archived media releases 2022

Members of the Board, Foundation and staff of the National Portrait Gallery are deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Angus Trumble.

Robert O'Hara Burke, c. 1860

Melbourne and Sydney Photographic Co

Portrait, carte de visite photograph on card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

William Robertson and Martha Mary Robertson

William Robertson and Martha Mary Robertson, 1863

William Edward Kilburn

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

Thomas Woolner

Thomas Woolner, sculptor, studied first with the brothers Henry and William Behnes, painter and sculptor respectively, and later at the Royal Academy, at which he was to become professor of sculpture in his fifties.

5 portraits in the collection

In memory of the Rev William Hill, 1869

Charles Wherrett

Magazine article by Sven Knudsen, 2018

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Royal Solomon Islands Police Force recruits, Maranatha Hall, Honiara by Sean Davey

The art of peace

Sean Davey captures the portrait of a nation renewed.

200 Years of Portraiture

To celebrate his family bicentenary, Malcolm Robertson looks at the portraiture legacy left by his ancestors.

Stephanie Alexander AO

Stephanie Alexander AO (b. 1940), cook, restaurateur, food writer and philanthropist, has been a major influence on Australian food and culinary culture for 50 years.

1 portrait in the collection

Rt Hon. Sir Robert Menzies, c. 1962

Victor Greenhalgh

Portrait, cast bronze

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Lady Bunting in honour of Sir John Bunting and the Menzies Foundation 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

The Tichborne Claimant (Arthur Orton), c. 1872

Maull & Co Photographers

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Fannie Carandini, mid 1860s

Charles Hewitt

Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Dorothy Gordon OBE

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2010

Dorothy Gordon (Jenner) OBE, ‘Andrea’ (1891-1985), actress, dressmaker, stuntwoman, journalist, radio broadcaster and charity fundraiser, grew up on a property near Narrabri and attended boarding school in Sydney before gaining a part as a chorus girl in Girl in a Train in Melbourne in 1912.

2 portraits in the collection

Suave

Charles Haddon Chambers the Australian-born playboy playwright settled permanently in London in 1880 but never lost his Australian stance when satirising the English.

Hattie Shepparde, 1872

Bardwell's Royal Studio

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Martha Mary Robertson, 1866

Dalton's Royal Photographic Gallery

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

Henry Squires, c. 1861

Portrait, albumen silver carte de visite, hand coloured on card

Purchased 2009

William St. Leonards Robertson, c. 1869

Magazine article by Diana Warnes, 2007

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

Prime number

Diana Warnes discusses the portrait of the Australian mathematician Terence Tao.

Something old, something new

Magazine article by Andrew Mayo, 2017

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.

Nicholas Chevalier, c. 1867

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Thom Roberts with Burt the Oscar Train 2017 and cushion cover

The Immersive World of Thom Roberts

12 April – 20 July 2025

Media

The first solo exhibition for this multidisciplinary, contemporary Australian artist, The Immersive World of Thom Roberts opens at the National Portrait Gallery on 12 April.

The house, the horse, the wife and the offspring

Joanna Gilmour writes about the portraiture of the colonial artist William Nicholas.

Marianne Egan

Mary Anne Egan (also Marianne or Marian, née Cheers, 1818–1857), was born in Sydney, the daughter of ex-convicts.

1 portrait in the collection

Barry Humphries

Magazine article by Tara James, 2024

Barry Humphries AO CBE (1934–2023), actor, writer and artist, was the world's all-time most successful solo theatrical performer.

12 portraits in the collection

Tara Gower and Baden Hitchcock, Chicago, 2019 Lisa Tomasetti

Stillness in movement

Tara James shares the joy of dance and its power to connect in the National Portrait Gallery’s touring exhibition Dancer.

Vintage Max

Magazine article by Gael Newton, 2003

Gael Newton delves into the life and art of renowned Australian photographer, Max Dupain.

Yellow portrait (portrait of Alex Jelinek)

Fugue in Yellow

Magazine article by Roger Benjamin, 2015

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

Miss Robertson of Colac (Dolly), 1885-86

Brothers on farms

Magazine article by Malcolm Robertson, 2011

Malcolm Robertson tells the family history of one of Australia's earliest patrons of the arts, his Scottish born great great great grandfather, William Robertson.

People are people

Magazine article by Sandra Bruce, 2022

Sandra Bruce chats with seven-time NPPP finalist Chris Budgeon about photography, guitars and representing the human story.

The bright-eyed Mariner

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2008

A new colonial portrait brings a zealous captain near.

Sir Les Patterson, 1999

Polly Borland

Magazine article by Tedi Bills, 2016

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

It's a Mora!

Select extracts from Mirka Mora's autobiography, Wicked but Virtuous, provide rich accompaniment to recent Gallery acquisitions.

Brooke Lockett, Heidi Martin, Karen Nanasca, Halaina Hills; New York, 2012 Lisa Tomasetti

Dance like everyone’s watching

Penelope Grist’s spirits soar with Lisa Tomasetti’s Dancers in the Streets series.

The great South Sea caterpillar transformed into a Bath Butterfly (Sir Joseph Banks)

The Bath Butterfly

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2016

The caricaturist and engraver James Gillray's biting satires about Sir Joseph Banks.

The boy, the bed and the gun

Christopher Chapman contemplates the provocative performance art of Chris Burden.

Miscellaneous obsessions

Magazine article by William Yang, 2022

William Yang shares the stories behind his autobiographical self portraits that celebrate his cultural heritage and identity.

Catholic clergymen from the Diocese of Adelaide

Catholic clergymen from the Diocese of Adelaide, c. 1862

Stephen Edward Nixon

Purchased 2018

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), army officer and hero, was the prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1828 to 1830.

1 portrait in the collection

Trumble's way

Magazine article by Tim Bonyhady, 2016

At the end of a summer break one is tempted to say that there is nothing much to report. Isn’t one restful holiday very much like another?

Self Portrait with sun damage, 2014 by Andrew Sayers.

At easel

Tim Bonyhady recalls his experience as sitter for his close friend and former National Portrait Gallery Director, the late Andrew Sayers.

Lovers of light

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2008

Dr Sarah Engledow traces the significant links between Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo and Evelyn Chapman through their portraits.

Axe Me Biggie

Magazine article by Stephen Dupont, 2008

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

Announcing... Portrait23: Identity

15 November 2022

Archived media releases 2022

In this major new exhibition marking the National Portrait Gallery’s third decade, 23 Australian artists and collectives have been invited to create portraits without constraints or boundaries.

The 1890s to the 1940s

Mo and beard timeline

Although the tough, weathered, hard-drinking bushmen of the kind mythologised by writers like Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson are popularly associated with the character of late nineteenth century Australia, it was also a time when alternative ideas about identity began to come into play.

Portrait Donors

Listed by year

Honour board

On the road again

Magazine article by Dr Deborah Hill, 2017

Deborah Hill talks figures with character, as the National Portrait Gallery touring exhibitions program welcomes its millionth visitor.

Finest quality

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2010

Joanna Gilmour explores the life of Chinese-Australian businessman and philanthropist Quong Tart.

Graham Kennedy and the Seekers in Melbourne

Graham Kennedy and the Seekers in Melbourne, c. 1968

Robert Whitaker

Magazine article by Pieter Roelofs, 2023

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2007

Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window, 1657–58 Johannes Vermeer

Basking in light

Pieter Roelofs, Head of Painting and Sculpture at Rijksmuseum and co-curator of Vermeer, delves into the largest-ever exhibition of the master artist.

Ready , set... shoot

Magazine article by Christine Clark, 2006

The exhibition Flash: Australian Athletes in Focus offers various interpretations of sporting men and women by five Australian photographers.

Philanthropic donations enable otherwise unobtainable acquisition

20 October 2016

Archived media releases 2016

A magnanimous portrait of Helena Rubinstein has been acquired for the National Portrait Gallery’s collection.

Aussies all

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2006

The exhibition Aussies all features the ecclectic portrait photography of Rennie Ellis which captures Australian life during the 70s and 80s.

NPPP 2009 exhibition essay

Dr Christopher Chapman, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2009 Prize.

Desert Island Discs

NPPP 2012 learning resource

I agonized over the choice of four songs to take with me to the ABC Studios for Alex Sloan’s Canberra 666 afternoon program, a sort of iteration of the old BBC Desert Island Discs.

Anthony Anderton

An interview with the photographer.

Self Portrait in red shirt, 1937 by Arthur Boyd

Arthur as Alyosha?

Magazine article by Patrick McCaughey, 2015

Patrick McCaughey explores a striking Boyd self portrait.

Past directors

History

Directors of the National Portrait Gallery from 1998 to today.

The stately lotus

I spent much of my summer holiday at D’Omah, on the outskirts of Yogyakarta. Lotus and waterlilies sprout in extraordinary profusion in artful ponds amid palms and deep scarlet ginger flowers.

2023 Annual Appeal

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.

Queen Victoria

Magazine article by Dr David Hansen, 2017

Last Sunday I had the privilege of appearing at the Canberra Writers’ Festival in conversation with Julia Baird. The subject of our session was Julia’s recent biography, Victoria the Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman who Ruled an Empire.

Mary (or Diana) Croker, mat woman, Colchester, 1823 by John Dempsey

Unknown drawer

Dempsey’s People curator David Hansen chronicles a research tale replete with serendipity, adventure and Tasmanian tigers.

The Multifarious Career of George Selth Coppin

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2004

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

The Cutmear sisters, Jane and Lucy, c. 1842

A man of superior attainments

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2013

Joanna Gilmour explores the life of a colonial portrait artist, writer and rogue Thomas Griffiths Wainewright.

Untitled (girl on chair with red shoes) by Violet Frisby

Finding Mrs Frisby

Magazine article by Robyn Sweaney, 2016

Robyn Sweaney's quiet Violet obsession.

Alison Rehfisch

Magazine article by Ellen Kent, 2007

Alison Baily Rehfisch (1900–1975) was born Alison Green in Woollahra, New South Wales, to parents who 'were very interested in painting – in all the arts: music, literature, everything'.

2 portraits in the collection

Prime Minister Gough Whitlam pours soil into the hand of traditional land owner Vincent Lingiari

A handful of sand

Ellen Kent examines the portrait of Vincent Lingiari and Prime Minister Gough Whitlam taken by photographer Mervyn Bishop.

Benny (42nd Street Series), 1979–80 by Larry Clark

City boys

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2016

Christopher Chapman immerses himself in Larry Clark’s field of vision.

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.

Self Portrait with Stetson, 2011 by Darren McDonald

Painting them gently

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2015

Penny Grist on motivation, method and melancholy in the portraiture of Darren McDonald.

Facing Facts

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

Former NPG Director, Andrew Sayers describes the 1922 Self-portrait with Gladioli by George Lambert.

James Baldwin, writer, Harlem, New York 1945 by Richard Avedon

The Avedon effect

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2013

Dr Christopher Chapman explores how we can understand Richard Avedon's photographs.

Australian Princess

Magazine article by Katherine Russell, 2005

The full-length portrait of HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark by artist Jiawei Shen, has become a destination piece for visitors.

Eko Nugroho

by Adeline Ooi

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2009

Born and raised in Yogyakarta, Eko Nugroho (b. 1977) entered the art scene at the height of Reformasi.

In the round

Andrew Sayers outlines the highlights of the National Portrait Gallery's display of portrait sculpture.

Portfolio of 54 portraits compiled by Queen Victoria, 1859–1861 by John Jabez Edwin Mayall, Camille Silvy, Frances Day and William Bambridge

Queen of cartes

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2019

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

Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles, 1824 by James Thomson

Audacity, audacity, audacity

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2016

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

Director John Duigan and actor Judy Davis on the set of ‘Winter of our Dreams’, Sydney, 1981 by Robert McFarlane

Natural born stiller

Penelope Grist speaks to Robert McFarlane about shooting for the stars.

Generous Janice

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2005

Dr Sarah Engledow puts four gifts to the National Portrait Gallery’s Collection in context.

M H Wednesday 11.15am from the series Self-harm, 2004

Big it up

Former National Portrait Gallery Curator Magda Keaney was a member of the selection panel of the Schwepes Photographic Portrait Prize 2004 at the National Portrait Gallery London.

Where the wild things are

Michael Desmond explores the complex portrait of Dr Bob Brown by Harold 'The Kangaroo' Thornton.

Atul Bhalla

by Khavita Singh

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2017

Atul Bhalla was born in 1964 in New Delhi. He frequently combines photography, installation, sculpture, video, painting and performance to question the human relationship with the natural and constructed environment.

Nocturnal animals

Joanna Gilmour explores the enticing urban shadows cast by artists Martin Lewis and Edward Hopper.

Arianne McNaught

NPPP 2012 learning resource

An interview with the photographer.

Moving in creative circles

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2008

Harold Cazneaux's portraits of influential Sydneysiders included Margaret Preston and Ethel Turner, both important figures in the development of ideas about Australian identity and culture.

Thousand mile stare

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2004

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

Secure the shadow ere the substance fade

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2015

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

Study in scarlet

Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2018

Angus Trumble reflects on the force of nature that was Helena Rubinstein.

Sophisticated and glamorous

Magazine article by Amanda Rowell, 2015

Michael Riley’s early portraits by Amanda Rowell.

Earth to earth

Magazine article by Gillian Raymond, 2005

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

The Philosophy of Teapots and Ducks

Cartoonist Michael Leunig's insights into the human condition and current affairs have become famous Australia-wide.

Home and away

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2009

Sir William Dobell painted the portraits of Sir Charles Lloyd Jones and Sir Hudson Fysh, who did much to promote the image of Australia in this country and abroad.

Portrait of Truganini, daughter of the Chief of Bruny Island, Van Diemens Land, c. 1835

Black and white history

English artist Benjamin Duterrau took up the cause of the Indigenous peoples of Tasmania with his detailed and sympathetic renderings.

International issue

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2008

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

I'm not there

Christopher Chapman looks at some contemporary portraits that explore the construction of identity.

Self Portrait, Stuart Campbell by Stuart Campbell

The essence of you

Magazine article by Lee Tulloch, 2011

Lee Tulloch remembers her great friend NIDA-trained actor turned photographer Stuart Campbell.

Out of the shadows

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2013

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

Two painters

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2007

Chris Chapman explains how Matthys Gerber bridges the gap between abstraction and portraiture.

Hyperversity

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2006

Dr Sarah Engledow writes about the larger-than-life Australian performance artist, Leigh Bowery.

S Teddy D

by Elly Kent

S Teddy D was born in Padang, Sumatra in 1970, and studied painting at the Institut Seni Indonesia (Indonesian Institute of Art) in Yogyakarta.

Nadiah Bamadhaj

by Beverly Yong

Magazine article by David Friend, 2009

Born in Malaysia in 1968, to a Malaysian Muslim father and a New Zealander mother of Scottish descent Nadiah Bamadhaj studied Fine Arts in New Zealand, and is currently working on a PhD from Curtin University, Western Australia.

Mick Jagger, Madonna and Tony Curtis, 1997

The Vanity model

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.

Woman with Fair Hair and Pink Cardigan, 1949 by John Perceval.

The family scene

Magazine article, 2016

Traudi Allen discovers sensitivity, humour and fine draughtsmanship in the portraiture of John Perceval.

Pushpamala N

by Ajay Sinha

Magazine article by Katherine Russell, 2007

Pushpamala N. was born in 1956 in Bangalore. Her early training was in sculpture, but as her practice progressed she brought an early enthusiasm for narrative figuration into her photographic work.

Be bold

The name of Florence Broadhurst, one of Australia’s most significant wallpaper and textile designers, is now firmly cemented in the canon of Australian art and design.

Noel McKenna

Explore The Popular Pet Show

It’s a matter beyond dispute that in the entire history of Australian art, it’s Noel McKenna who’s painted the liveliest rendition of the head of a Chihuahua.

Sibly irresistible

Magazine article by Alexandra Roginski, 2019

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

Vincent Brady leading anti Bicentenary Protest, Brisbane, 1987 Michael Aird

Activating the space

Magazine article by Sandra Phillips, 2020

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

The world of Thea Proctor

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2005

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.

Waterfall in Australia, c. 1830 by Augustus Earle

Augustus serendipitous

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2016

The London-born son of an American painter, Augustus Earle ended up in Australia by accident in January 1825.

The National Portrait Gallery's 20th birthday party

The National Portrait Gallery's 20th Anniversary

Magazine article by Jane Raffan, 2017

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.

Sarah Bernhardt, 1876 by Georges Clairin

Demimonde liaisons

Jane Raffan feasts on modernity’s entrée in the Belle Époque theatre of the demimonde.

In profile

Julian Kingma

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2023

Penelope Grist explores the photographic instinct of four-time National Photographic Portrait Prize finalist Julian Kingma.

Patrick White at Centennial Park, 1979–1980

Listomania

Magazine article by Amy Middleton, 2023

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.

Safe space

Amy Middleton on the power of portraiture in promoting inclusivity and connecting with intersectionality and diversity in all its forms.

Mural of Italian/Roman actress Anna Magnani (1908–1973) with face mask, April 2020 Unknown artist

Of plague and portraits

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2008

Corinna Cullen on the symbolic power of pandemic-related imagery over the ages.

Practising the Minuet (Miss Hilda Spong)

An actress and her fans

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.

Portrait of a Pioneer , 1917
Violet Teague

Off her own bat

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2022

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

Helen Blaxland judging flower arrangements, c. 1940s photographer unknown

Petal to the mettle

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2019

Sarah Engledow lauds the very civil service of Dame Helen Blaxland.

Alternative virtue

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2015

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

Technical terminology

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2010

Michael Desmond introduces some of the ideas behind the exhibition Present Tense: An imagined grammar of portraiture in the digital age.

Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose, 1885-86 by
John Singer Sargent

A feast of friends

Magazine article by Richard Ormond, 2015

John Singer Sargent: a painter at the vanguard of contemporary movements in music, literature and theatre.

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.

Rehearsing Godot (Mullins as Lucky) 4.11.2013 by Nicholas Harding

Waiting for Godot

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

Queen Alexandra and Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia, Hvidore, circa 1908 by Mary Steen

The cost of living luxuriously

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2007

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.

Head, hand, heart

An extensive selection of portraits by John Brack were on display at the National Portrait Gallery in late 2007.

The silent partner

One half of the team that was Eltham Films left scarcely a trace in the written historical record, but survives in a vivid portrait.

Less than six degrees of separation

Lecture, 28 May 2011

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

Regarding Henrys

Sarah Engledow ponders the divergent legacies of Messrs Kendall and Lawson.

A real Pratt

Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2019

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.

Karl Robert, Count Nesselrode, 1818 by Sir Thomas Lawrence

The Lawrence lustre

Angus Trumble salutes the glorious portraiture of Sir Thomas Lawrence.

Monument to Mrs. Moore St. Luke’s Church, Liverpool, Sydney

Waterloo and Mrs. Moore

Magazine article by Dr Anne Sanders, 2013

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.

Pop poet

Dr Anne Sanders previews the works in the new focus exhibition Paul Kelly and The Portraits.

An Australian story

Magazine article by The Hon. Dr Kevin Rudd, 2009

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.

Sunset in the drawing room at Chesney Wold by Hablot Knight Brown

Portraiture in a Bleak House

NPPP 2017 exhibition essay

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.

Trevor Jamieson, 2016 by Brett Canet-Gibson

The more things change...

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

A Family Being Served with Tea, ca. 1745 by an unknown artist

A reflection on conversation pieces

Magazine article by Michael Wardell, 2016

There is in the collection of the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut, an English painting, datable on the basis of costume to about 1745, that has for many years exercised my imagination.

One hundred days at 7pm 2015 by Fiona McMonagle

Self-effacing

Michael Wardell samples the fare in the University of Queensland National Self-portrait Prize.

Eating the seasons

Magazine article by Dr Anne Sanders, 2019

Anne Sanders imbibes Tony Bilson’s gastronomic revolution.

Graeme Drendel

Explore The Popular Pet Show

I like talking about Drendel’s pictures as if they expressed dreams of my own.

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.

Fits of delicacy and despair

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2009

Henry Mundy's portraits flesh out notions of propriety and good taste in a convict colony.

Heartfelt

The portrait of Janet and Horace Keats with the spirit of the poet Christopher Brennan is brought to life by artist Dora Toovey.

The importance of being bearded

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2012

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.

Splendid, many-splendoured

Magazine article by Sandra Bruce, 2021

Sandra Bruce gazes on love and the portrait through Australian Love Stories’ multi-faceted prism.

Lyndall Hobbs and Marilyn at the Come as your favourite blonde party, Blitz Club, London, 1979 Robert Rosen

Shiny, happy people

Magazine article by Glynis Jones, 2022

Glynis Jones on the Powerhouse’s retrospective of one of Australia’s foremost fashion reportage and social photographers.

Murray frees himself from straightjacket in public, 1928 by Sam Hood

Risky business

Magazine article by John Zubrzycki, 2016

John Zubrzycki lauds the characters of the Australian escapology trade.

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.

You beauty

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2010

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

Friends and Acquaintances

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2005

Dr. Sarah Engledow discusses a collection of drawings and prints by the Victorian artist Rick Amor acquired in 2005.

In a good paddock

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2011

Celebrating a new painted portrait of Joseph Banks, Sarah Engledow spins a yarn of the naturalist, the first kangaroo in France and Don, a Spanish ram.

Sydney city (Patrick White and Tom Uren, Hiroshima Day demonstration), 1984

The activist A-list

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2007

Dr Sarah Engledow examines a number of figures in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery who were pioneers or substantial supporters of the seminal Australian environmental campaigns of the early 1970s and 1980s.

Big bouquet of Blackmans

Dr. Sarah Engledow explores the context surrounding Charles Blackman's portrait of Judith Wright, Jack McKinney and their daughter Meredith.

Faces of war

Lecture, 14 May 2011

Magazine article by Alexandra Roginski, 2015

Lesley Harding, Curator, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne explores Albert Tucker’s experience of World War II, his interests in the intersection between psychology and creativity, and their influence on his portrait making.

Getting a head

Alexandra Roginski gets a feel for phrenology’s fundamentals.

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).

More cash than dash

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2011

Joanna Gilmour describes how colonial portraitists found the perfect market among social status seeking Sydneysiders.

Some prime ministers

Explore The Popular Pet Show

Sarah Engledow explores the history of the prime ministers and artists featured in the exhibition.

Fiona McMonagle

Fiona aims to create a dangerous situation with a flood of water on the paper, forcing each work to the point where it can fail, and then rescuing it.

Forest Creek, Mount Alexander Diggings, 1852 by S. T. Gill

The Rothschilds, the Montefiores, and the Victorian Gold Rush

Magazine article by Tedi Bills, 2016

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.

Love City; George Gittoes on hilltop 2013

Man of war

Tedi Bills talks to George Gittoes about canvassing conflict.

Portrait of Thea Proctor, 1905 by George Lambert

The real Thea

Magazine article by Judith Pugh, 2005

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

A sketch for some portraits

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

Thrown together

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2009

Shipmates for years, James Cook and Joseph Banks each kept a journal but neither man shed light on their relationship.

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.

Nicholas Harding: 28 Portraits

Exhibition essay

NPPP 2014 exhibition essay

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

The Art Lovers - Megan, 2013 by Gary Grealy

Everybody, look serious

Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2014 Prize.

Christmas Island

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.

Inner Worlds and psychoanalysis

Lecture, 4 June 2011