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Katrina Power, c. 2000

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2004

Dr Paul Scully-Power, 2005

Purchased with funds provided by donors 2006

Love scars

Katrina Osborne immerses herself in one of photography’s most fearless chronicles.

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

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

Ralph Heimans

The exhibition will feature some of the most significant portraits in the artist’s career to date, from early major works such as his painting of HM Queen Mary of Denmark through to his most recent.

Portraits of Power: Ralph Heimans tour

Join our professional guides on this 45-minute deep dive into the work of Ralph Heimans, one of Australia’s preeminent portraitists.

Drawing power

The National Portrait Gallery joins the Big Draw, a program dedicated to promoting drawing as a tool for thought, creativity, social and cultural engagement.

Pen power

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

Prime minister, 2018

Serenity

Audio described exhibition portraits

Audio descriptions for selected portraits from the exhibition Ralph Heimans: Portraiture. Power. Influence.

Equation of a life – a portrait of Derek Denton

The National Portrait Gallery, has welcomed the newest portrait commission of Emeritus Professor Derek Denton AC by Evert Ploeg.

APS5 Exhibitions Coordinator

The Exhibitions Coordinator plays a key role in the development, delivery and maintenance of exhibitions and collection displays at the National Portrait Gallery. The role reports to the Senior Exhibitions Coordinator and is a member of a small team that is responsible for the delivery of exhibitions both onsite and travelling. The position requires excellent communication and interpersonal skills and is required to act with a good degree of autonomy.

APS6 Senior Exhibitions Coordinator (non-ongoing)

The Senior Exhibitions Coordinator plays a key role in the development and delivery of the National Portrait Gallery’s travelling exhibition program and onsite exhibitions and collection displays. The role reports to the Head of Exhibitions and supervises the Exhibitions Coordinator. The position requires excellent communication and interpersonal skills and is required to act with a good degree of autonomy.

Untitled #1, 2010

Gus and full moon at the farm, 2006

Portrait 41

This issue features Kate Beynon, Philosopher Cynthia Freeland, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, John Tsiavis & Chris Lilley, UK's BP Portrait Award, Purchasing power in colonial Sydney and more.

Bernard Smith, 1985

Purchased 1998

David Williamson

Recorded 1976

Dissections: Layered portraits from the collection is now open

Dissections, showcases the hyper-realist sculptural self-portrait of artist Sam Jinks, Divide, alongside the painted portrait of philosopher David Chalmers by Nick Mourtzakis, which was commissioned by the Gallery in 2011.

Gusta

Beadles, bellmen and bumbles

For Dempsey’s people their occasional encounters with state power would have been largely through the local parish, which administered the ‘Old Poor Law’.

Sentinel, 2013

Creative angst, 2011

Ryan Presley: Paradise won

Marri Ngarr artist Ryan Presley's site-specific commission Paradise won is prominently positioned at the Gallery’s entrance. This ambitious new work invites conversations about the ongoing legacies of colonisation and celebrates First Nations survival and autonomy.

Engagement, 8, 2017

Nikki Toole

Recorded 2017

EVA, 2015

Shakespeare to Winehouse

From Shakespeare to Winehouse, Darwin to Dickens, the Beatles, Brontë sisters and Beckham, the National Portrait Gallery London holds the world’s most extensive collection of portraits.

Lucinda, Tram Driver

Returning the Gaze

Abraham Admasu (School of St Yared student, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)

Icons Syndicate

Cut and thrust

Harry Butler, Tim Flannery and Ian Kiernan

The Hermit, 2016

Elvis At 21

Elvis at 21 is a photographic exhibition capturing Elvis’ rise to fame in the year 1956, before security and money built walls between him and his fans.

George Foxhill

Foxhill's portraits are more concerned with describing an emotional and psychological state than the surface topography of the human face.

HOMELAND The importance of place, 2014

The great echo chamber, 2017

The Chess Player, 2011

Samantha Harris, 2010

Divine, 2014

Michael Field, 2009

Nothing to hide, 2006

Announcing... Portrait23: Identity

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.

Mr M Walarmerpui, 2019

Morteza Arefifar, Manus Island Detention Centre, 2017

To Look Away – Tilda, 2015

Finalist, DPA 2016

The Amazing Face: a 14-day Dive into Portraiture

The National Portrait Gallery is offering a free online class on the art of portraiture from April 28.

Facing East

An exhibition at the Freer and Sackler Galleries in Washington DC showcases the art of portraiture in Asia over two thousand years.

Awesome Achievers

Celebrate and be inspired by talent, passion and achievement – and triumph over adversity. This exhibition features major portraits drawn from the National Portrait Gallery collection and supplemented with works from private and institutional sources.

OBEY

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

Heidi Margocsy

Perrin is an amazing amazing woman, and what I wanted to do with this particular sitting was create something raw and stripped back.

Private and public ancillary funds

Information Sheet for private and public ancillary funds donating to the National Portrait Gallery.

Observation point

Portraits take many forms, from official statements of power and status to deeply personal testaments of affection and insight.

Self Portrait #5, 2008

Purchased 2022

I am mine

Dr Christopher Chapman, curator and judge of the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2009 contextualises the themes of the exhibition.

The Obama effect

Kim Sajet reflects on two portraits with a power that extends beyond gallery walls.

Essington Lewis, 1952

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

Dementia and the arts

That principle of equity of access has ever since been a noble aspiration for all public art museums, as it is for us here at the National Portrait Gallery.

15 minutes of frame

Delve into the lives, loves and labour of the world’s most prominent portrait galleries in this international conversation series.

John Mawurndjul, 2005

Gift of R Ian Lloyd 2010. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program.

Reinis Zusters

Recorded 1965

NPPP 2010 exhibition essay

Dr Christopher Chapman, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2010 Prize.

The powerful, subversive female gaze

Erotic-platonic

Powerful, equal, legal love

Three weddings

Provocative talks on Saturdays in September

Join The Saturday Paper’s chief political correspondent, Karen Middleton, for A Month of Saturdays – afternoon conversations bringing current affairs experts to the Gallery for engaging, real-time discussions about the topics that matter.

Hall of Mirrors

Hall of Mirrors: Anne Zahalka Portraits 1987-2007 explores the thread of portraiture through the artist's prolific career, now spanning more than 20 years.

Queen Elizabeth I

Horatio Nelson

William Wilberforce

Oliver Cromwell

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.

Rosie Batty

Recorded 2017

The courage of their convictions

Trust the women

King Charles I

Bernard Smith, n.d.

Gift of an anonymous donor 2002

Margaret Preston, c. 1930

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM and Barbara Corrigan 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Malcolm, 1976

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

Malcolm Fraser, 1990 (printed 2010)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Mary Neville, Lady Dacre and Gregory Fiennes, 10th Baron Dacre

Peter Thomson, c. 1960

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mary Thomson 2017

George Rose, 1811

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Designing the ideal marriage

Deep foundations, shared vision

"The determined" Self portrait, 2002

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2007

Penelope Seidler, 2019 (printed 2021)

Purchased 2021

Phillip Gudthaykudthay, 1986

Purchased 2005

First study for portrait of Malcolm Fraser, 1981

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Jane Campion, 2009

Purchased 2011

Self portrait, between 1951 and 1953

Gift of the artist 2000

Paddy Jaminji, 1986

Purchased 2005

Jacki Weaver, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2018

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022

Let’s look closely at the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022 together! For students and family groups.

Ben McNamara

This is Marissa Gallagher from Kintore, which if you're in Alice Springs, just go west until the WA border, just before that, a traditional area of Pintupi mob.

Peter Thomson, 1970

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2004

Reko Rennie, 2014

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

Harry and Penelope Seidler, 15 December 1958

Gift of Penelope Seidler AM 2021

Florence Austral, c. 1930

Gift of the University of Newcastle (Australia) 2007

Portrait Paintings by Matthew Perceval

From 1967 until 1981 Matthew Perceval lived and painted in France and during those years produced a large body of portrait paintings.

Elizabeth, 2019

Gift of the artist 2020

Dame Joan Sutherland, c. 1977

Gift of William Bowmore AO OBE 2003. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Tas Bull, 1986 (printed 2018)

Purchased 2018

Ann Moyal, 1957

Gift of Ann Moyal 2012. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

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.

Acacius (Stigmata) - Tony Carden, 1991

Gift of Lesley Saddington 2015

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.

Joan Kirner, c. 1990

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2006

Joan Sutherland, n.d. (printed 1992)

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

Figurative foundation

Joanna Gilmour explores the life and art of the Australian artist Janet Dawson.

Vanity Fair Portraits

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

Selfhood transcended

Anne Sanders and Christopher Chapman bring passionate characterisation to Express Yourself, the Portrait Gallery collection exhibition celebrating iconoclastic Australians.

Michelle Simmons

Recorded 2018

Portrait 67

William Yang on his autobiographical self portraits, David Parker's 1970s and 80s Melbourne music photographs, seven-time NPPP finalist Chris Budgeon, and Benjamin Warlngundu Ellis.

Mirror With A Memory

This is the first major exhibition to examine photographic portraiture in Australia, from its beginnings in the early 1840s to the present day

Fred Hilmer, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Dr Helen Nugent AO 2018

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.

Robert, Lindy, Grant, 1981

Purchased 2002

The National Portrait Prizes

The National Portrait Gallery today announced finalists for the inaugural Darling Portrait Prize, a national new $75,000 prize for Australian portrait painting, and released selected images from the final prize pool for the popular National Photography Portrait Prize.

Observation point

I met Clara while teaching photomedia at the University of Tasmania last year. One of her assignments focused on her relationship with her former boyfriend, who she now works for as his live-in carer.

Animated

Animated is the National Portrait Gallery's first online exhibition.

Study of Archbishop Daniel Mannix, 1962

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005

Humour’s warm refuge

Angus Trumble pays tribute to John Clarke.

Clifton Pugh

This exhibition offers a comprehensive display of Clifton Pugh's portraits revealing his development and growth from tonal paintings to a unique style that was in demand from politicians, artists, academics and Australian personalities.

Joan Alone

Julia Gillard pays poignant tribute to her friend and mentor, the late Joan Kirner, Victoria’s first and only female premier.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2020

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.

National Youth Self Portrait Prize

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

Emerging realities

Leah King-Smith

Born: 1957, Gympie, QLD
Works: Brisbane

Observation point

Yvette Coppersmith considers the influences on her portrait painting.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018

The exhibition is selected from a national field of entries, reflecting the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.

In focus

Brook Andrew, Marcia Langton and Anthony Mundine.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 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.

Poison pen

Michael Desmond examines the career of the eighteenth-century suspected poisoner and portrait artist Thomas Griffiths Wainewright.

Husbands and Wives

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

Icons

When a portrait communicates determination and individuality as boldly as these do, it has the potential to become an iconic image. For the Gallery’s 20th birthday this display brings together a group contemporary photographic portraits of inspiring women and men.

Observation point

I have known Dr Aunty Matilda House, Ngambri Elder, Traditional Custodian and Cultural Knowledge Holder, since I was a child.

Exhibition themes

The four main themes of the exhibition: About face, Body politic, Skin deep, and Self reflex.

Time and light

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.

Lucy Escott, c. 1861

Purchased 2009

Nicholas Harding

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

Seduce, Amuse, Entertain

Michael Desmond, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2007 Prize.

In the National Interest

In focussing on the importance of gifts in the building of the collection, prominence must be given to the most spectacular of the National Portrait Gallery's acquisitions; the portrait of Captain James Cook RN by John Webber R.A.

Seduce Amuse Entertain

Michael Desmond profiles a handful of the entrants in first National Photographic Portrait Prize and notes emerging themes and categories.

Rosina Carandini, mid 1860s

Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Apollo's breath

Christopher Chapman delights in the intimacy of Robert Mapplethorpe's photography

To Look Within

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

Australian of the Year

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

Richard Avedon People media information

Press releases and images downloads for media.

Fannie Carandini, mid 1860s

Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

The Quiet Australian

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

Anna Meares, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by King & Wood Mallesons 2018

15 minutes of frame

Delve into the lives, loves and labour of the world’s most prominent portrait galleries in this international conversation series.

Australian Visit

The exhibition will include works of art from the NPG Canberra's permanent collection with some inward loans and aims to highlight the achievements of notable Australians.

Crème Valaze

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

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.

Magna Carta

On this day eight hundred years ago at Runnymede near Windsor, King John signed Magna Carta.

Hearts of Darkness

The National Portrait Gallery's acquisition of the portrait of Edward John Eyre by pioneering English photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.

The highest honour

Bringing eminent scientist Frank Fenner and artist Jude Rae together for the National Portrait Gallery commission was like matchmaking.

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.

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.

Blow Back, 2018

Gift of the artist 2024. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program.

Powerful energy

Dr Christopher Chapman explores the symbolism in the portrait commission of Marcia Langton by Brook Andrew.

Jacki Weaver, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2018

Andrew Campbell

An interview with the photographer.

Three ways to look at a photograph

Dr Christopher Chapman, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2019 Prize.

Hall of mirrors

Naomi Cass, Director of the Centre of Contemporary Photography, in conversation with Anne Zahalka.

Pin-ups

Christopher Chapman describes the art and life of Australian artist Richard Larter.

Around the grounds

Anne Sanders writes about the exhibitions Victoria & Albert: Art & Love on display at the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace and the retrospective of Sir Thomas Lawrence at the National Portrait Gallery, London.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018 winner announced

Finalists have been eagerly awaiting the announcement of the Winner and Highly Commended for the National Photographic Portrait Prize since December. It is our pleasure to announce the Winner for 2018 is Lee Grant for her portrait titled Charlie and Highly Commended has been awarded to Filomena Rizzo for her portrait titled My Olivia.

The 1950s to the present day

Certain European leaders (needless to name) had the effect of making certain styles of facial hair decidedly undesirable in the years immediately after World War 2.

Study of Louis Nowra, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Bednall, Jillian Broadbent AO, John Kaldor AO and Naomi Milgrom AO 2018

Fred Hilmer, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Dr Helen Nugent AO 2018

Take thy face hence

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

Announcing.... In their own words

Inspiring Australians tell their own stories in a unique new gallery audio tour, developed in collaboration with the National Library of Australia.

Lear unbuttoned

Sarah Engledow steps up to the footlights and applauds the storyline behind Nicholas Harding's portraits of actor John Bell.

The art of multiplicity

Meredith Hughes explores a key Portrait Gallery work, emerging into the infinite iterations of identity.

One and all

The current exhibition of portraits at the National Gallery of Ireland Print Gallery investigates just how paper-thin ideas of likeness are.

Emblems of beauty

Keith Christiansen introduces the exhibition The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Hottie's Snifter to port

Peter Jeffrey trips the hound nostalgic.

The elegant thinker

Sarah Engledow pens a fond farewell to acclaimed science historian Ann Moyal.

A handful of sand

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

Let’s dance

Emma Batchelor uncovers the compelling contemporary dance made in response to the works in Shakespeare to Winehouse.

Painters' paradise

Andrew Sayers feels the warmth in the paintings Matthew Perceval made while the sun shone in southern France.

Space in between

Rebecca Ray goes backstage with Bangarra’s Head of Design and photographer Jacob Nash.

20/20 launch speech

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

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.

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.

Go Figure!

Claire Roberts interviews Swiss art collector Uli Sigg.

Facing Facts

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

The Royal she

Traversing paint and pixels, Inga Walton examines portraits of select women in Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits.

The God-shaped hole

Exploring the photographs of Martin Schoeller, Michael Desmond delves into the uneasy pact that exists between celebrity and the camera.

Announcing Shakespeare to Winehouse

More than eighty treasures from the National Portrait Gallery London will travel to Canberra for a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from March 2022.

Pretty in peach

Fugue in Yellow

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

Reflections on portraiture

An extract from the 2004 Nuala O'Flaaherty Memorial Lecture at the Queen Victoria Musuem and Art Gallery in Launceston in which Andrew Sayers reflects on the unique qualities of a portrait gallery.

The inner voice

Dr Christopher Chapman, curator of Inner Worlds: Portraits & Psychology looks at Albert Tucker's Heidelberg military hospital portraits.

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

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

Tejal Shah

Born in 1979, Tejal Shah grew up in Chhattisgarh, central India, moving to Bombay in 1995.

Mrs Cameron and the V&A

In March 2003 Magda Keaney travelled to London to join the photography section of the Victoria & Albert Museum for three months.

Subtle emotion

Christopher Chapman considers photographer Rozalind Drummond's portrait of author Nam Le.

In our nature

Tara James chats with award-winning artist Tamara Dean about portraiture prizes, the environment and the strength of women.

Icons and imagery

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

Herra Pahlasari

At the time of Herra Pahlasari’s birth in 1978, her academic parents were living in Canberra.

Mash-up

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

Moving still

Anne O’Hehir on the seductive power of the film still to reflect and shape ourselves and our cultural landscape.

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.

Unbuttoning uniforms

Sharon Peoples contemplates costumes and the construction of identity.

Life class

Barbara Blackman reflects on her experiences as a life model.

A new perspective

An exhibition devoted to Hans Holbein's English commissions shows the portraitist bringing across the Channel new technical developments in art - with a dazzling facility.

Study in scarlet

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

Sophisticated and glamorous

Michael Riley’s early portraits by Amanda Rowell.

The activist A-list

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.

Expect the unexpected

Joanna Gilmour revels in accidental artist Charles Rodius’ nineteenth century renderings of Indigenous peoples.

I'm not there

Post digital

Tegan McAuley looks at the evolution of video portraiture.

Getting a head

Alexandra Roginski gets a feel for phrenology’s fundamentals.

Top shot that

Gideon Haigh discusses portraits of Australian cricketers from the early 20th century

All that fall

Raimond Gaita comments on war and truth in the context of the First World War.

Full time

Alistair McGhie reminisces about three Australian rugby greats commissioned for the Portrait Gallery collection by Patrick Corrigan AM.

S Teddy D

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

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.

The boy, the bed and the gun

Christopher Chapman contemplates the provocative performance art of Chris Burden. 

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.

NPPP 2016 exhibition essay

Penny Grist, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2016 Prize.

Listening to form

National Gallery of Australia curator Jane Kinsman discusses the portraiture of Henri Matisse.

Mugshots

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

Aretha Brown

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

Safe space

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

A sketch for some portraits

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

Essential portraiture

Michael Desmond in conversation with University of Houston professor of philosophy Cynthia Freeland.

Of plague and portraits

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

Inner Worlds and psychoanalysis

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

Vanity fair

Ashleigh Wadman rediscovers the Australian characters represented with a kindly touch by the British portrait artist Leslie Ward for the society magazine Vanity Fair.

Technical terminology

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

Stigma stigmata

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

Snap chat

2019 National Photographic Portrait Prize judge Anne O’Hehir looks beneath the surface of this year’s entries.

Head, hand, heart

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

You are who?

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

Donated duo

Dr Sarah Engledow writes about the gift of two striking paintings by the Australian artist Ken Done AM.

Black tie or wombat: How formal should I go?

Michael Desmond discusses the portrait of Senator Neville Bonner by Robert Campbell Jnr.

A rogue's calling card

Joanna Gilmour explores the stories behind the ninteenth-century carte de visites of bushrangers Frank Gardiner and Fred Lowry.

Written in Water

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

Adam’s Prize Apples

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

An Australian story

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.

Hired guns, bounty hunters and horse whisperers

Jude Rae contemplates the portrait commission.

A man of superior attainments

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

Of beef in burgundy

Angus Trumble reveals the complex technical mastery behind a striking recent acquisition, Henry Bone’s enamel portrait of William Manning.

Paper, boy

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

Giving a dam

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

Diamond Doll

Karen Vickery delights in a thespian thread of the Australian yarn.

Rethinking foundational histories

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

Mother’s muse

Inga Walton traces the poignant path of photographer Polixeni Papapetrou, revealed in the NGV’s summer retrospective.

Past present

Krysia Kitch celebrates Oodgeroo Noonuccal.

Missionary positions

Stella Ramage on Father McHardy’s Bougainville portraiture.

Off grid

Aimee Board ventures within and beyond to consider two remarkable new Gallery acquisitions.

The Wentworths – Hidden in Plain Sight

Grace Carroll on the gendered world of the Wentworths.

Their brilliant careers

Jenny Gall delves into Starstruck to celebrate some of Australian cinema’s iconic women.

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.

Conduct becoming

Penelope Grist speaks to Bill Henson and Simone Young to discover the origins of the artist’s stunning photographic triptych.

Confessional conversations

Fiona Gruber investigates the work of Australian painter Kristin Headlam.

Illuminating history

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

Us being ourselves

Penelope Grist talks to photographer Benjamin Warlngundu Ellis about capturing moments, telling stories and keeping Culture strong.

Great Scots

Diana O’Neil samples the tartan treats on offer in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Australia’s great internationalists

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

Heartfelt

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

Nicholas Harding: 28 Portraits

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

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.

Hard truths

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

Home truths

Despite once expressing a limited interest in the self portrait, the idea of it has figured strongly in much of Tracey Moffatt's work and has done so in some of her most distinctive and compelling images.

The numbers man

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

More cash than dash

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

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.

Progressive pictures

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

Through blue eyes

Works by Arthur Boyd and Sidney Nolan bring the desert, the misty seashore and the hot Monaro plains to exhibition Open Air: Portraits in the landscape.

Love my way

Inga Walton delves into the bohemian group of artists and writers who used each other as muses and transformed British culture.

Man of war

Tedi Bills talks to George Gittoes about canvassing conflict.

The real Thea

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

The art of Inner Worlds

Dr Christopher Chapman NPG Curator of Inner Worlds explains the development of an exhibition that spans from Surrealism to contemporary art.

The catechist and the cricketer

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

Getting bare

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

Off her own bat

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

The Thyssen Art Macabre

Books seldom make me angry but this one did. At first, I was powerfully struck by the uncanny parallels that existed between the Mellons of Pittsburgh and the Thyssens of the Ruhr through the same period, essentially the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

A real Pratt

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

Material culture

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

Less than six degrees of separation

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

All the way with K of K

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

Uncommon Australians

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

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.