Search / joseph brown

Joseph Brown, 1980

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

Dr Joseph Brown with Two Typists, 1996

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

A quiet moment

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

Woburn Sheepshearing, 1811

Purchased 2018

A moment, 2016

Stockyards, 2011

Jaye

Bob Brown at his home in Liffey, 1988 (printed 2013)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Helga Leunig 2013

Dr Brown and Green Old Time Waltz, 1983

Gift of the Estate of Harold Thornton 2009

L.J. Brown, 1955

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Marion McBeath Harper 2019

A look I’ve never seen before, 2014

Bob Brown

Bob Brown discusses the events that occurred during the Franklin River campaign as depicted in his portrait by Harold 'The Kangaroo' Thornton.

Bryan Brown, 2008

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

Litja Brown, 2021

Purchased with funds provided by the Annual Appeal for Contemporary Australian Photography 2022

Reverend George Brown DD, 1905

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Nancy Joyce 2014

Will Dyson, c. 1931

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

William Beckwith McInnes, n.d.

Purchased 1999

Robert Brown, 1850

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

Mike Brown and Liz Land in Kitchen, 1993

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2004

Where the wild things are

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

Robert Brown, c. 1835

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Rachel Ward and Bryan Brown, 2006 (printed 2020)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020

Lord Casey, 1938

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Jonno and Api, 2016

Joseph Cotta, 1984

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

Sir Joseph Banks, 1802

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Gina and Ted Gregg 2010

The great South Sea caterpillar transformed into a Bath Butterfly (Sir Joseph Banks), 1795 (printed 1851)

Gift of Douglas Stewart Fine Books 2013

Portrait of Sir Joseph Banks, c. 1814

Purchased 2011

Joe Darling (Joseph Darling, member of the 1896 Australian Cricket Team), 1896

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

Joseph Cotta, 1983-1984

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Joseph Dalton Hooker, c. 1860

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

The Botanic Macaroni (Sir Joseph Banks), 1772

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

The Fly Catching Macaroni (Sir Joseph Banks), 1772

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Telphia, 1990 (printed 2013)

Purchased 2013

Ben Chifley, n.d.

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

In a good paddock

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.

Portrait of Sir Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society, 1812

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Charles Joseph La Trobe, 1853

Purchased 2006

Joseph Dalton Hooker, c. 1880s

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

Archbishop Thomas Joseph Carr, c. 1886

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Thomas Joseph Carr, Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, c. 1887

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Ben Chifley, 1951

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Frith family 2006
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Lola Montes, c. 1845

Purchased 2010

Sir Joseph Banks, 1811

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Joseph Banks Esq, 1774

Purchased 2008

Joseph Banks and Dr Solander, 1778

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Gina and Ted Gregg 2010

The Bath Butterfly

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

The medallion

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

Nicolas Baudin, Capitaine de Vaisseau. Commandant I'Expedition pour le tour du Monde et Specialement relatif aux Sciences et auz Arts, entreprise en I'An gme, 1800, 1800

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Charles Joseph La Trobe, c. 1857

Purchased 2010

Sir Joseph Banks, c. 1788

Purchased 2010

Sir Joseph Banks, 1840s

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Gina and Ted Gregg 2010

Pre-Raphaelite Profile

In 2006 the National Portrait Gallery acquired a splendid portrait of Victoria's first governor, Lieutenant Governor Charles Joseph La Trobe by Thomas Woolner.

Joe Darling (image plate from The Empire's Cricketers. London: Fine Art Society), 1905

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2017

Thrown together

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

To the end of the earth

The portrait of Dr. Johann Reinhold Forster and his son George Forster from 1780, is one of the oldest in the NPG's collection.

The Quiet Australian

Robert Oatley talks about the repatriation of the John Webber portrait of Captain James Cook.

Sir Joseph Banks, 1810

Purchased with funds provided by the Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Society Canberra 2000

Queen Victoria, 1901

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Edward John Eyre, Late Governor of Jamaica, 1867

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Karen McLeod Adair and Anthony Adair 2003

Bruny d'Entrecasteaux, 1837

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Joe and Brenda, 1990 (printed 2013)

Purchased 2013

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

Purchased 2013

Joseph and Worm, 2008

Arthur Boyd, c. 1982

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

Megan Wilding as Blackie Blackie Brown: Traditional Owner of Death, 2019

Sir Joseph Banks, Bt

Christine Audrey Pecket painting 'Self Portrait in a Brown Coat at the Sydney Technical College', 1937

Gift of Suzanne Playfoot 2023

Unboxed

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

Adrian Brown

An interview with the photographer.

Aretha Brown

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

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.

Banksia and grevillea

Portraits can render honour to remarkable men and women, but there are other ways.

Joseph Paul Gaimard, c. 1830

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Elliot Brown

This portrait is called Jaye and it's a photo of my friend. She's a member of the Multicultural Society in Geraldton.

Peter Brown

Self Portrait in a Brown Coat, 1936

Purchased 2020

Cousins, 2013

David Brown Dignam [and] George Barrington drawn from the life, 1777

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Californian clinch in the ‘Australian’ outback

Long-term love scene

Henry Parkes, 1900

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Portrait 39

This issue features the National Photographic Portrait Prize, Neil Murray, Lee Tulloch on Stuart Campbell, Joseph Banks, Scott Redford and more.

Portrait 38

This issue features Martin Schoeller, Bess Norriss Tait, Emanuel Solomon and the sisters of St Joseph, Rennie Ellis and AC/DC, John Brack and more.

Study for commissioned portrait of HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark (full-length study), 2005

Commissioned with funds provided by Mary Isabel Murphy 2005

Preparatory study of Tom Hughes, 2003

Commissioned with funds provided by Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull 2003

Portrait of Brian Dunlop, c. 1972

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

Gladys Cotta, 1984

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

Portrait 34

This issue features Australian cricketers, surfing legend Isabel Letham, Christos Tsiolkas, Bob Brown's portrait by Harold 'The Kangaroo' Thornton, James Angus, virtual portraits and more.

J.H. Roy Rousel, 1915

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

JH Roy Rousel, 1915

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

Sir Zelman Cowen, 2000

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Marc Besen AO and Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE 2000

Album of cartes de visite and cabinet cards compiled by William St Leonards Robertson, 1860s-c. 1900

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

A photographer’s glamorous friends

Community, arts, activism

The Royal Society medal in commemoration of Captain James Cook, 1784

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Robert Oatley AO 2007

Portrait of Dr John Hawkesworth, c. 1770

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2018

Maria Dowling and her children Leura, Bessie, Selina, Jane, Jack, Ben and Joe Dowling [Selina Dowling, Jane Dowling, Maria Jane Dowling (née Ware), John Ware Dowling, Joseph Dowling, Benjamin Dowling, Elizabeth (Bessie) Dowling, Leura Dowling], c. 1859

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

Runners, 2010

Portrait 69

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.

Beauty and strength

Influential Indigenous Australian artist Michael Riley (1960 - 2004) created these portrait photographs between 1984 and 1990 - they stand as an intricately connected group portrait of the vibrant urban-based Indigenous arts community in Sydney's inner-west at a formative moment.

Nothing to hide, 2006

Sketch of Clifton Pugh painting John Perceval, 1985

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2016

Brains trust

Eminent doctors and scientists have for more than a century consistently caused our nation to punch far above her weight.

Bringing down a kingdom

The king and the showgirl

Lindy (No. 2 of Robert, Lindy, Grant)

Lieutenant King, 1789

Purchased 2010

Dancer

From letting loose in the loungeroom to enthralling audiences on stage, this exhibition celebrates dance and dancers.

Corroboree, or Dance of the Natives of New South Wales, 1820

Purchased 2013

Dr Solander, 1772

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

William Westall, 1854

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

M.O. Ranger 3: Preparatory study for 'Nothing's as precious as a hole in the ground', 2001

Commissioned with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001

The Legend of Ruby and Archie

A bond in song

International Penny Postage (Mr John Henniker Heaton MP), 1887

Gift of Ronald Walker 2002

Dame Enid Lyons, c. 1943

Purchased 2016

Jack Charles

Recorded 2022

2020 Annual Appeal

In 2020 the Annual Appeal was focussed on Sally Robinson's remarkable portrait of author Tim Winton.

Lady Knox, c. 1927-1929

Gift of Mrs Caroline Philippa Parker 2005. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

The soul surfer’s manifesto

Barrels, bliss and brotherhood

Mr and Mrs Horace Keats in the "Christopher Brennan Cycle", 1945

Gift of Anne and Brennan Keats 2009

Emily Fairfax, 1870

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Arthur Boyd Portraits

This is the first in a series of National Portrait Gallery exhibitions to survey the portraits painted by artists who are not thought of, primarily, as portrait painters

Mary Ware, c. 1854

Purchased with funds provided by Mary Isabel Murphy and Rosalind Blair Murphy 2014

Omai, A Native of Ulaietea, 1774

Purchased with funds provided by Robert Oatley AO 2007

National Youth Self Portrait Prize

At the end of 2007 the National Portrait Gallery launched the inaugural National Youth Self Portrait Prize and artists aged between eighteen and twenty-five were invited to submit self portraits using a variety of media including drawing, painting, printmaking and traditional or digital photography.

Vanity Fair Portraits

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

A colourful story from Sideshow Alley

From infamous bushranger to oyster shop display, curator Jo Gilmour explores the life of George Melville.

Catholic clergymen from the Diocese of Adelaide, c. 1862

Purchased 2018

Maria Windeyer, c. 1865-1868

Gift of J.B. Windeyer 2018

Sketches and sermons

Jessica Smith looks at the 'fetching' portrait of Tasmania's first Anglican Bishop, Francis Russell Nixon by George Richmond

My Favourite Australian

My Favourite Australian is a project developed in collaboration with ABC TV and the people of Australia.

Out of the blocks

Dawn Fraser, Lionel Rose, Shane Gould and Cathy Freeman

William Bligh, c. 1776

Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2015

Fred Hilmer, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Dr Helen Nugent AO 2018

A G Stephens, c. 1910 (printed later)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Studio

Studio: Australian Painters Photographed by R

The Saint and the merchant

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

Annual Appeal

Billy Hughes bottle stopper, 1911-1921

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Ed Murrow, New York, 1956 (printed 2000)

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

2023 Annual Appeal

In 2023 the Annual Appeal was focussed on a work by one of Australia's best loved and most successful portrait painters, Judy Cassab AO CBE, depicting model, entrepreneur and deportment icon, June Dally-Watkins OAM.

2022 Annual Appeal

In 2022 the Annual Appeal was focussed on Mayatjara by Robert Fielding, a series of 24 photographs of Elders of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara community.

Right Rev Dr Lawrence Bonaventure Sheil OSF, c. 1872

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Written in Water

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

Ellen Stirling, c. 1828

Purchased with funds provided by the Ian Potter Foundation 2008

Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award 2014

Press releases for media.

Recognition

Originally conceived as an anthropological record, Percy Leason’s powerful 1934 portraits of Victorian Aboriginal people are today considered to be a highlight of 20th century Australian portraiture

Sitter still

Jaynie Anderson reflects on her experience as sitter for Reshid Bey’s 1962 portrait.

Admiral Bligh, 1801

Purchased 2010

School portraits

Inga Walton sheds light on a portraiture collection usually only seen by students and teachers at Melbourne University.

So Fine

This exhibition features new works from ten women artists reinterpreting and reimagining elements of Australian history, enriching the contemporary narrative around Australia’s history and biography, reflecting the tradition of storytelling in our country.

Primed

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

Friends and Acquaintances

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

Thomas Pearce, c. 1878

Purchased 2010

Melbourne experience

Diana Warnes explores the lives of Hal and Katherine 'Kate' Hattam through their portraits painted by Fred Williams and Clifton Pugh.

Australians in Hollywood

Although perceived to be a recent phenomenon, the 'Aussie invasion' of Hollywood can actually be traced as far back as the early 1900s

Portrait Donors

Sideshow Alley

Death masks, post-mortem drawings and other spooky and disquieting portraits... Come and see how portraits of infamous Australians were used in the 19th century.

Missing Persons

Desperately seeking Woolner medallions

Lady Barkly, 1863

Purchased 2014

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2023

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.

Australian Love Stories

A major new exhibition celebrating love in all its guises. Opening 20 March 2021.

Arcadia (Wayne Lynch and Bob McTavish), 1969 (reprinted 2011)

Gift of the artist 2011

Tim Fairfax, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by The Calvert-Jones Foundation 2018

To Look Within

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

2021 Annual Appeal

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

The Mutineers turning Lieut Bligh and part of the Officers and Crew adrift from His Majesty's Ship the Bounty, 1790

Purchased with funds provided by the Ian Potter Foundation 2008

Melanie Faith Dove

I had been watching Agnes with intrigue, her face and profile were so mesmerizing. On our final day together I pulled her aside and convinced her that she had such an amazing face that I needed to get a photograph for myself. It was very spontaneous in that I decided quickly how it would best look and shot it in only two frames.

Uncommon Australians

This exhibition showcases portraits acquired through the generosity of the National Portrait Gallery’s Founding Patrons, L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC.

Making Portraits

The considered matching of artist to subject has produced an amazing collection of unique and original works in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery

Krystal Seigerman

The photograph was a brief, candid moment, which unfolded into a portrait. Peter and I were in Silverton, NSW, chatting as our students explored the town. The weak afternoon light suddenly became dramatic and defined, so I asked Peter if I could take his portrait.

Jude Rae

Jude Rae’s high reputation rests on her austere, cerebral still lifes of gas canisters, electric jugs and jars, which she groups and rearranges for paintings that catch their difficult curves and reflections. Her self-portrait’s likewise thoughtfully composed.

Alter ego

Tom Fryer surveys the twentieth-century architectural project, and finds representation and the portrait were integral elements.

Giving a dam

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

Harriet Schwarzrock: spaces between movement and stillness

To celebrate the new exhibition Australian Love Stories, renowned Australian glass artist Harriet Schwarzrock has been commissioned to make a large-scale installation reflecting on the role the heart plays as our emotional centre.

Fred Hilmer, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Dr Helen Nugent AO 2018

Stubbs and the horse

One of the chief aims of George Stubbs, 1724–1806, the late Judy Egerton’s great 1984–85 exhibition at the Tate Gallery was to provide an eloquent rebuttal to Josiah Wedgwood’s famous remark of 1780: “Noboby suspects Mr Stubs [sic] of painting anything but horses & lions, or dogs & tigers.”

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.

Sea legged frogs

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

Graeme Drendel

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

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.

Hope for kindness

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

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.

Of human clay

The first collaborative commission has arrived. It's a self portrait, it's ceramic and it's from Hermannsburg.

Architecture

Natural light and human proportions – the design by Johnson Pilton Walker

Queen Victoria

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.

A bear of great substance

Just in time for Christmas, Angus reflects on the most special present he has ever received.

Why do painted portraits still matter?

Lecture by Sandy Nairne, Director, National Portrait Gallery, London, given at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra on 28 April 2006.

Roam alone

Jon Muir, adventurer and Portrait Gallery Collection subject, really knows about isolation.

Lovers of light

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

The 2023 National Photographic Portrait Prize

Shea Kirk’s portrait of friend and fellow-artist Emma Armstrong-Porter has won the 2023 National Photographic Portrait Prize.

Inditchenous beestes of New Olland

A remarkable undated drawing by Edward Lear (1812–88) blends natural history and whimsy.

The intellectual larrikin

Barrie Cassidy pays textured tribute to the inimitable Bob Hawke.

My Favourite Australian

The Australian public was invited in 2008 to vote for their favourite Australian.  After the votes were tallied an exhibition of the top-ten Popular Australians and the top-twenty unsung heroes was displayed at the National Portrait Gallery.

Memories

The second row of paintings recall stories relating to specific sites, experiences and activities.

Ngarranggarni

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

The Changing Face of the Scientist

Scientists tend to conjure up images of men in white coats in labs but this is just one stereotype in an evolving history of how we have perceived scientists, and how their profession has been understood over the years.

The last word

David Hansen’s tribute to his close friend, prince of words and former National Portrait Gallery director, the late Angus Trumble.

Pen power

Politics and personae in the portraiture of TextaQueen by Jane Raffan.

NPPP 2012 learning resource

Exploring select works from the NPPP 2012. For secondary students.

Heartfelt

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

Sophisticated and glamorous

Michael Riley’s early portraits by Amanda Rowell.

Melati Suryodarmo

Born in Surakarta (Solo), Indonesia in 1969, Melati Suryodarmo’s first degree was in international relations.

Getting a head

Alexandra Roginski gets a feel for phrenology’s fundamentals.

The Rothschilds, the Montefiores, and the Victorian Gold Rush

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

Earth to earth

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

The news from Washington

Australia's former Cultural Attache to the USA, Ron Ramsey, describes the mood at the opening week of the revitalised American National Portrait Gallery.

The family scene

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

A real Pratt

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

Living landscape

Gillian Raymond ponders landscapes as self-portraiture in Michael Taylor’s intimate expressionism.

Portraiture in a Bleak House

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

Mugshots

A toast to the acquisition of an unconventional new portrait of former Prime Minister, Stanley Melbourne Bruce.

The National Portrait Gallery's 20th Anniversary

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

Alternative virtue

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

First encounters

Representations of the inhabitants of the new world expose the complexities of the colonisers' intentions.

Star signs

Barry York charts the course from childhood request to autographed celebrity portrait anthology.

Arcadia: Sound of the sea

One night in the spring of 1970 in an old house in Whale Beach, north of Sydney, John Witzig, Albe Falzon and David Elfick put together the first issue of Tracks, playing Neil Young’s album Harvest over and over again as they pasted up galleys of type.

Heroine knits

‘Dear Kate Just – I’m your feminist fan’. Interview by Sophia Cai.

The Lawrence lustre

Angus Trumble salutes the glorious portraiture of Sir Thomas Lawrence.

In the galleries

Christopher Chapman highlights the inaugural hang of the new National Portrait Gallery building which opened in December 2008.

Air wear

Aviation carried women’s roles in society to greater heights – fashion followed suit.

Ken Done

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

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.

Fine and dandy

Whether the result of misadventure or misdemeanour, many accomplished artists were transported to Australia where they ultimately left a positive mark on the history of art in this country.

Hump days

Jessica Bolton navigates the parallel tracks documenting Robyn Davidson’s astonishing journey.

A man of superior attainments

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

Rethinking foundational histories

A focus on Indigenous-European relationships underpins Facing New Worlds. By Kate Fullagar.

A nose by any other name

In the exhibition William Kentridge: Drawn from Africa at the National Gallery of Australia, the artist marries Gogol's Tsarist Russia, with that of Stalin and the damaging history of his homeland, South Africa.

The alchemist’s profile

John Zubrzycki meets Australian paint pioneer Jim Cobb.

Missionary positions

Stella Ramage on Father McHardy’s Bougainville portraiture.

Take thy face hence

Joanna Gilmour travels through time to explore the National Portrait Gallery London’s masterpieces in Shakespeare to Winehouse.

Empirical art

Several years ago I came across this curious painting on the racks in a distant, dusty corner of the store room in the basement of the Johannesburg Art Gallery in South Africa. Since then the mystery surrounding it has never been far from my mind. 

Fugue in Yellow

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

Profile of a marriage

Dr Sarah Engledow explores the lives of Sir George Grey and his wife Eliza, the subjects of a pair of wax medallions in the National Portrait Gallery's collection.

All the way with K of K

Sarah Engledow bristles at the biographers’ neglect of Kitchener’s antipodean intervention.

It's a Mora!

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

20 20

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

Unbuttoning uniforms

Sharon Peoples contemplates costumes and the construction of identity.

Costantini's convictions

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

High & Bligh

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

Embrace your inner nerd

The southern winter has arrived. For people in the northern hemisphere (the majority of humanity) the idea of snow and ice, freezing mist and fog in June, potentially continuing through to August and beyond, encapsulates the topsy-turvidom of our southern continent.

Splendid, many-splendoured

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

You beauty

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

Women make history

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

Hard truths

Jennifer Higgie reveals how Alice Neel reinvigorated 20th century portraiture with her honest and perceptive depictions of the human experience.

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.

Big bouquet of Blackmans

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

Kristin Headlam

Basil grew into a speckled beauty – a long-legged leaper and an exceptionally vocal dog, with a great register of sounds, ascending in shock value from a whimper to a growl to a bark to a yelp that’s a violation of the ears.

Out of the shadows

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

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. 

Noel McKenna

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.

Lucy Culliton

Most well-regarded pictures of chickens show them dead. A reliable way to tell if a chicken in a painting is dead is to check if it’s hanging upside down, because unlike, say, cockatoos, chickens don’t practise inversion for enjoyment in life.

A spectral sentience

Aimee Board reveals method, motivation and mortality in the portraiture of Rod McNicol.

Little women

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

Man of war

Tedi Bills talks to George Gittoes about canvassing conflict.

A feast of friends

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

Secure the shadow ere the substance fade

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

Regarding Henrys

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

Political profiles

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

Through thick and thin

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

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.

The more things change...

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

Material culture

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

Everybody, look serious

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

Some prime ministers

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

Nicholas Harding: 28 Portraits

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