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Arthur Boyd portraits from 1945

Arthur Triggs (1868-1936), pastoralist and collector, is sometimes referred to as the 'Kidman of the wool industry'.

1 portrait in the collection

Mysterious eyes

Previous exhibition, 2016

Boyd’s self-portrait at age 25 is joined by his equally emotive portraits of those around him.

New South Wales State Repatriation Board

Arthur Vernon

Arthur Vernon was the general secretary of the United Labourers’ Protective Society, a delegate to the Sydney Labour Council, a member of the Eight Hours committee, and a Labour alderman of the city for Cook ward.

1 portrait in the collection

Arthur Boyd AC OBE

Arthur Boyd AC OBE (1920–1999), painter, potter and printmaker, was one of Australia’s greatest artists.

14 portraits in the collection

Arthur Murch

Arthur Murch, artist, is best-known as a painter in a colourful cubistic style, but he was occupied with sculpture throughout his career.

8 portraits 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

Arthur Summons

Arthur Summons (1935-2020), footballer, played fly-half in ten rugby union test matches for the Wallabies between 1956 and 1960 before joining rugby league's Western Suburbs Magpies in 1960.

1 portrait in the collection

Arthur Phillip

Arthur Phillip (1738–1814), first governor of New South Wales, began his career while a boy in London.

2 portraits in the collection

Arthur T. Woodward

Arthur Thomas 'A T' Woodward (1865–1943), painter and art scholar, was born in Birmingham, England.

1 portrait in the collection

Arthur Boyd

Recorded 1965

Arthur Calwell part one

Recorded 1967

Arthur Calwell part two

Recorded 1967

Self portrait, 1945-1946

Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2014

Self portrait, 1964

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

Mary Windeyer

Mary Windeyer (née Bolton, 1837-1912), women's rights campaigner, was one of the nine children of Robert Thorley Bolton, a clergyman who emigrated to New South Wales in 1839.

3 portraits in the collection

Mary Rouse

Mary Hassall (nee Rouse), the eldest of Richard and Elizabeth's children, was born in England and made the sea journey to New South Wales as an infant.

2 portraits in the collection

Mary Ware

Jeremiah Ware (1792–1878) arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in 1822 with his wife, Mary (née Brooks, c.

1 portrait in the collection

Ann Mary Windeyer

Ann Mary Windeyer (née Rudd, c. 1783–1865) arrived in Sydney in 1828 with her husband Charles Windeyer (1780–1855) and nine of their ten children.

1 portrait in the collection

Queen Mary

George Frederick Ernest Albert, The Duke of Cornwall and York and later King George V (1865-1936), was the son of Edward VII, the man for whom the Edwardian era was named.

3 portraits in the collection

Mary MacQueen

Mary MacQueen studied for a year at the George Bell School after the war, and for another year at RMIT a decade later.

2 portraits in the collection

Mary Moore

Mary Moore (b. 1957) is a West Australian portrait artist. She began formal art training in Claremont at the age of fifteen, later attending the Western Australian Institute of Technology and Royal College of Art, London.

4 portraits in the collection

Lady Mary Hay

Portrait, pastel and charcoal on paper

Lady Hay, née Chalmers (c. 1806-1892) was reported at the time of her death to have been about ten years older than Hay.

1 portrait in the collection

Disillusion self portrait, 1983

Mary MacQueen

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Robin MacQueen 2007

Arthur William Burman

Arthur William Burman was one of the nine children of photographer William Insull Burman (1814-1890), who came to Victoria in 1853.

2 portraits in the collection

Arthur Beetson, 1968 (printed 2019)

Ern McQuillan OAM

Purchased 2019

Dr Arthur Martin a'Beckett

Dr Arthur Martin a’Beckett FRCS (1812-1871) surgeon and New South Wales parliamentarian studied at London University from 1831 before undertaking a residency in Paris, centre for innovation in the practice of hygiene, pathological anatomy and physiopathology.

2 portraits in the collection

Arthur Boyd, c. 1982

Wes Walters

Portrait, pastel and gouache on paper laid down on backing sheet

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

Ann Mary Windeyer, 1847

G Ziegler

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Joanna Russell Maher (née Windeyer) 2018

Sister Mary Brady

Sister Mary Brady OP (1922-2014), born in Tamworth, is a self-taught painter, though she did receive critiques from Joshua Smith and Norman Carter.

1 portrait in the collection

Dame Mary Gilmore DBE

Dame Mary Gilmore DBE (1865–1962), poet, journalist and social reformer, was born near Goulburn and had an itinerant childhood as her father moved the family around New South Wales for work.

3 portraits in the collection

Mary Gilmore

Portrait, lithograph on paper

Recorded 1957

Mary, Botany Bay tribe, 1836

William Fernyhough

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dr Robert Edwards AO 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Sir Arthur Coles, c. 1971

Sir William Dargie CBE

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

Arthur Boyd, 1962

Axel Poignant

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Arthur Boyd - Bundanon Studio II, 1993

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

Alfred Arthur Greenwood Hales

Magazine article by Patrick McCaughey, 2015

Alfred Arthur Greenwood Hales (1860-1936), adventurer, writer and newspaper correspondent, left school and started writing short stories in his teens.

1 portrait in the collection

Self Portrait in red shirt, 1937 by Arthur Boyd

Arthur as Alyosha?

Patrick McCaughey explores a striking Boyd self portrait.

Arthur Streeton, c. 1890

Portrait, platinum photograph on original studio backing card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Arthur Boyd in his studio at Bundanon, 1993

Adam Knott

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

Arthur Boyd, Bundanon, New South Wales, 1995 (printed 2000)

David Moore

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

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Portrait, fibre-tipped pen on paper

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

Arthur Calwell, n.d.

Louis Kahan AO

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Lily Kahan 2017
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

H.R.H. The Prince Arthur, 1860

John J. Mayall

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite photograph on card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020

Prince Arthur, 1860

John J. Mayall

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite photograph, hand coloured on card

Purchased 2020

Arthur Murch, 1945

Margaret Michaelis

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Arthur Boyd, 1993

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

Arthur Boyd - Bundanon Studio III, 1993

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

Arthur Boyd with horse hair brush - Bundanon 1993

Arthur Boyd with horse hair brush - Bundanon 1993, 1993

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

Carl Cooper, 1945-1946

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on masonite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Bequest of Alan Boxer 2014

Betty Burstall, 1945

Purchased 1998

Bernard Smith, n.d.

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on board

Gift of an anonymous donor 2002

Mawalan Marika, c. 1963

Portrait, oil on canvas on board

Purchased 2015

Sir Charles Mackerras, 1983

Arthur Fleischmann

Portrait, cast bronze on mosaic tile panel

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Sir Charles Mackerras 2009

Rupert C.W. Bunny, 1928

Arthur T. Woodward

Portrait, watercolour and gouache on strawboard

Gift of Ben Travers 2021. Donated through Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Chinese giant Chonkwicsee and companion, 1876

Arthur William Burman

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Mary Hassall (née Rouse), c. 1850

Portrait, hand coloured photograph

Gift of Pamela Glasson 2009
Collected by Leila Haigh (nee Rouse)

Mary Windeyer, c. 1891

Freeman Brothers

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on studio mount

Gift of J.B. Windeyer 2018

Mary Windeyer on the verandah at Tomago, NSW

Mary Windeyer on the verandah at Tomago, NSW, c. 1880s

Portrait, glass plate negative

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Windeyer family 2012

Mary Ware, c. 1854

Robert Dowling

Portrait, oil on canvas on board

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

Mary Elizabeth Maud Chomley OBE

Mary Elizabeth Maud Chomley OBE (1872–1960) has been described as the 'divine angel of mercy' for Australian prisoners of war during the First World War.

1 portrait in the collection

Mary Windeyer, 1850s

Portrait, watercolour and gouache on ivory

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

Dame Mary Gilmore, 1961

Max Dupain OBE

Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Duchess of Cornwall and York (later Queen Mary), 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015

Duchess of Cornwall and York (later Queen Mary), 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015

Duchess of Cornwall and York (later Queen Mary), 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015

Mary Tindale, 1841

Maurice Felton

Portrait, type C Duraflex print on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Mary MacQueen, 1990

Anne Zahalka

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

Mary Katatjuku Pan, 2021

Robert Fielding

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

Mary Hassall (née Rouse), c. 1850

Portrait, pencil, pastel and watercolour on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Pamela Glasson 2009
Collected by Leila Haigh (nee Rouse)

Mary McCarthy, New York, 1956 (printed 2000)

David Moore

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.

Study for painting commission portrait of Fiona Stanley

Study for painting commission portrait of Fiona Stanley, 2010

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2011

Fiona Stanley, 2011

Commissioned 2011

Portrait of Elizabeth Jolley, 2003

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on cabinet card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2003

Lady Hay, 1887

Freeman Brothers

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Dr. Arthur Martin a'Beckett, c. 1840

Portrait, pastel on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Dr. Arthur Martin a'Beckett, 1845

Charles Abraham

Portrait, cast plaster

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

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

W Sherwin after Francis Wheatley

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Archbishop Michael Kelly, c. 1924 (cast 2010)

Portrait, cast bronze on black granite plinth

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Anthony Dattilo Rubbo, 1935

Portrait, ciment fondu, patinated

Purchased 2000

Edward Lloyd Jones, c. 1920s

Gift of Charles E. Lloyd Jones and Kim Lloyd Jones 2019. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Clara Crosbie, c. 1885

Arthur William Burman

Gift of John McPhee 2018

Dame Mary Gilmore, c. 1938

Lyall Trindall

Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2001

Sidney Kidman and Arthur Triggs, c. 1914

Falk Studios

Purchased with funds provided by The Ian Potter Foundation 2007

The sculptor (George Lambert and Arthur Murch)

The sculptor (George Lambert and Arthur Murch), c. 1929

Harold Cazneaux

Purchased 2015

The Gladiators (Norm Provan and Arthur Summons), 1963 (printed 1970s)

John O'Gready

Portrait, mezzotint on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Duke of Wellington, 1841

John Lucas

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Jack Lang, life mask, n.d.

Portrait, fibreglass and resin

Purchased 2000

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.

Sydney Cove medallion, 1789 by Josiah Wedgwood

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.

Princess Mary

Portrait story

Artist Jiawei Shen describes the symbolism in his portrait of HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark.

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

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

Commissioned with funds provided by Mary Isabel Murphy 2005

Study for commissioned portrait of HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark (profile head study), 2005

Commissioned with funds provided by Mary Isabel Murphy 2005

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

Portrait, black pastel on brown paper

Commissioned with funds provided by Mary Isabel Murphy 2005

Portrait of HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark

Portrait of HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, 2005

Commissioned with funds provided by Mary Isabel Murphy 2005

Mary Chomley, 1909

Violet Teague

Purchased with the assistance of funds provided by Jillian Broadbent AC 2021

HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark

Ralph Heimans AM

Larry Sitsky, 1971

Sister Mary Brady

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Larry Sitsky and Magda Sitsky 2010

The Saint and the merchant

Magazine article by Mette Skougaard, 2006

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

Australian visit in Denmark

In April 2006 the National Portrait Gallery showcased Australian portraits at the Fredenksborg Castle in Denmark.

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

W Sherwin, John Stockdale after Francis Wheatley

Portrait, stipple engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Tea time, c.1898–1902 by Rupert Bunny (1864–1947)

Impressions

Painting light and life

Previous exhibition, 2011

Impressions: Painting light and life presents portraits by, and of, artists at the heart of Australian impressionism including Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and Frederick McCubbin.

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.

The painter and the princess

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2006

Michael Desmond interviews Ralph Heimans about his portrait of Crown Princess Mary of Denmark.

Aborigines, the last of the race, Tasmania

Aborigines, the last of the race, Tasmania, c. 1866

Henry Frith

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on paper

Purchased 2006

Beguiling impressions

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2012

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

New South Wales State Repatriation Board, c. 1920

Frank Neish

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on cardboard

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the family of FW Macpherson 2012

Peace and War (Mr A. G. Hales), 1908

Sir Leslie Ward, Vanity Fair Magazine

Portrait, chromolithograph on paper

Gift of Ronald A Walker 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Dr HV Evatt, Albert Namatjira and Dame Mary Gilmore having a meal

Dr HV Evatt, Albert Namatjira and Dame Mary Gilmore having a meal, c. 1950s

Magazine article by Mette Skougaard and Thomas Lyngby, 2018

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2008

Dane reign

Mette Skougaard and Thomas Lyngby bring eloquent context to Ralph Heimans’ portraits of Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark.

Aborigines at Oyster Cove, Tasmania, 1858 (printed 1890s)

Francis Nixon

Portrait, glass plate negative

Purchased 2011

Sir Charles Court and Richard Court, 2006-2007

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2006

Arthur and Yvonne, 1993

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

Arthur Streeton, Nora Streeton (nee Clench) and Pat, the dog

Arthur Streeton, Nora Streeton (nee Clench) and Pat, the dog, c. 1909

Portrait, platinum photograph on printed card

Purchased 2001

Great stylists: Caruso, Melba, Pavarotti, Bonynge and Sutherland

Great stylists: Caruso, Melba, Pavarotti, Bonynge and Sutherland, 1983

Arthur Horner

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Eric Harding and Athol Hawke 2002

Arthur and Ria Murch, 1945

Margaret Michaelis

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2007

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Painting writing

Dr Sarah Engledow explores the portraits of writers held in the National Portrait Gallery's collection.

Duty bound

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2009

Joanna Gilmour explores the life of colonial women Lady Ellen Stirling, Eliza Darling, Lady Eliza Arthur, Elizabeth Macquarie and Lady Jane Franklin.

Private virtues public lives

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2010

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

Fits of delicacy and despair

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2009

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

Ruby, Norman, Pearl, Percy, Reg, Bill Dyson and Mary in Creswick garden

Ruby, Norman, Pearl, Percy, Reg, Bill Dyson and Mary in Creswick garden, c. 1899

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Melodrama..., c. 1900

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Tribute: Mary Isabel Murphy

Previous exhibition, 1999

The Chairman, Board, Director and all the staff of the National Portrait Gallery mourn the loss of our Benefactor, Mary Isabel Murphy.

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

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Martha Mary Robertson, 1866

Johnstone O'Shannessy & Co

Portrait, albumen photograph on carte de visite

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

The Capel Family

Cornelius Johnson

Portrait, carte de visite photograph on card

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.

John Allen Manton

Portrait, black conte on paper

John Allen Manton (1807–1864), Wesleyan minister, arrived in Australia in 1831.

1 portrait in the collection

John Perceval, 1985

Rick Amor

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

John Perceval, 1985

Rick Amor

Portrait, black conte on paper

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

Sketch of Clifton Pugh painting John Perceval

John Perceval AO

John Perceval AO (1923-2000) was a painter and ceramic artist. Early on, along with Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd and Albert Tucker, he was part of a loose group of largely self-taught Australian artists, now known as the Angry Penguins, who rebelled against the conservatism of the art establishment.

10 portraits in the collection

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Sir Thomas Lawrence

Portrait, ink, coloured pencil, gouache, crayon and fibre-tipped pen on single mount board with gold coloured ink border

Jeremiah Ware, c. 1854

Robert Dowling

Portrait, oil on board

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

John Perceval, 1999

Thomas de Kessler

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Thomas de Kessler 2001

William Burman

Arthur Boyd portraits from 1945

William Insull Burman came to Victoria in 1853 and worked as a painter and decorator before establishing his own photography business in Carlton in about 1863.

1 portrait in the collection

Listen: Mysterious eyes

An open house, recollections of my early life: extracts from the reminiscences of David Boyd.

Mary, 2006

by Bo Wong

Portrait, coloured chalk on artist board

The Streetons’ rich serenade

Passion

If music be the food of love

The Iconoclasts

In Gallery Three

Current exhibition

Australian portraiture of the mid-twentieth century was rich with the influence of European modernism, exemplified by the work of artists including Arthur Boyd, Judy Cassab and Clifton Pugh.

Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (future Queen Elizabeth II)

Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (future Queen Elizabeth II), 1942-1943

Charles Wheeler

Purchased 2019

Martha Mary Robertson with her child William St Leonards Robertson

Martha Mary Robertson with her child William St Leonards Robertson, c. 1865

Portrait, ambrotype, hand coloured

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

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

Jeremiah Ware

Portraiture. Power. Influence.

Jeremiah Ware (1792–1878) arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in 1822 with his wife, Mary (née Brooks, c.

1 portrait in the collection

Ralph Heimans

Current exhibition

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.

William and Martha Mary Robertson and their children [William St Leonards, Eliza, John, William St Leonards on a horse, Beatrice and Ida]

William and Martha Mary Robertson and their children [William St Leonards, Eliza, John, William St Leonards on a horse, Beatrice and Ida], 1860s-1870s

Various

Portrait, eight carte de visites, hand coloured, contained in a red leather presentation case

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

Portrait 49

Winter 2015

Magazine

This issue features Jude Rae, Arthur Boyd, Darren McDonald, John Singer Sargent, Tom Wills the 'inventor' of Australian Rules Football and more.

King George V

George Frederick Ernest Albert, The Duke of Cornwall and York and later King George V (1865-1936), was the son of Edward VII, the man for whom the Edwardian era was named.

4 portraits in the collection

Keith Laught, 1951

Geoffrey Shedley

December 2005 - February 2006

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Mary Shedley, Mrs Christine Moriarty, Mrs Josephine Lawrence and Mrs Helen Beare 2010

Portrait 18

Magazine

This issue of Portrait Magazine features Daddy Cool, HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, the exhibition Glossy 2, Aldo Giurgola, Fiona Wood and more.

Melbourne Spurr

Now on display in Gallery Three

Melbourne Spurr, born in Decorah, Iowa, arrived in Hollywood around 1917.

2 portraits in the collection

The Iconoclasts

Archived media releases 2015

Australian portraiture of the mid-twentieth century was rich with the influence of European modernism, exemplified by the work of artists including Arthur Boyd, Judy Cassab and Clifton Pugh.

Portrait Gallery benefits from generous Boxer bequest

8 April 2015

Canberran and modernist art collector Alan Boxer has generously bequeathed two works by artists Arthur Boyd and Jenny Sages to the National Portrait Gallery.

John Shortland

John Shortland (1739-1803), naval officer, was a member of a family of which six members were associated with the colonisation of Australia and New Zealand.

1 portrait in the collection

George Lambert

George Lambert (1873–1930), artist, was born in St Petersburg and lived in Germany and England before coming to Australia with his family at the age of fourteen.

7 portraits in the collection

William John Pickett Bedford

William John Pickett Bedford (1805–1869) was the eldest of three children of Anglican clergyman, William Bedford (1781–1852), and his wife, Eleanor, and came to Van Diemen’s Land with his family in 1823 following the appointment of his father to a chaplaincy in the colony.

1 portrait in the collection

Dr Brenda Niall AO

Portrait Sculpture in Australia

Brenda Niall AO (b. 1930), writer, academic and reviewer, is one of Australia's foremost biographers.

1 portrait in the collection

Decorative portrait – Len Lye, c.1925 by Rayner Hoff (1894-1937)

Presence and Absence

Previous exhibition, 2003

This exhibition focuses on exploring national and communal identity through sculptural production in Australia, from the early decades of settlement through to the present day

Reverend William Bedford junior, c. 1846

Thomas Griffiths Wainewright

Portrait, watercolour on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2013

Rudolph Buchner

Little is known of Rudolph Buchner, a Sydney photographer whose parents lived in Manly.

2 portraits in the collection

Mortality

More about In the flesh

In Western religious art a Pietà, also called a ‘lamentation’, is an image of the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Christ.

Portrait of Bennilong, a Native of New Holland

Portrait of Bennilong, a Native of New Holland, c. 1810

Purchased 2014

The Seekers

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2016

Recorded 2013

Boyd to man

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

Honour board

Support your Portrait Gallery

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges and thanks all its supporters.

Dame Annie Florence Cardell-Oliver DBE

Dame Annie Florence Cardell-Oliver DBE (1876–1965), politician, grew up in Melbourne before marrying David Sykes Boyd, a wool buyer, and returning with him to England.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait of Bennilong, Native of New Holland

Portrait of Bennilong, Native of New Holland, c. 1798

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2008

Captain W Kinghorne, 1834

Thomas James Lempriere

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

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

Lan Wang, Xini, Jiawei Shen and Billy, 2010

Purchased 2012

Amandus Julius Fischer

Previous exhibition, 2002

Amandus Julius Fischer (1859-1948) began his art studies in Sydney before proceeding to the Westminster School of art in London, and the Académie Julian and the Atelier Colarossi in Paris.

1 portrait in the collection

Angela Belgiorno-Zegna, 2001 by Salvatore Zofrea

Intimate Portraits

Intimate Portraits is an exhibition of paintings, drawings and prints that explore the less public side of portraiture

Shen Jiawei

Explore The Popular Pet Show

Shen Jiawei was born in China. During the Cultural Revolution he laboured in the Great Northern Wilderness, but even as he worked there, he gained recognition as an artist.

Sir Edgar Barton ‘EB’ Coles

Sir Edgar Barton ‘EB’ Coles (1899-1981) was the longest-serving chief executive of the Coles retail group.

2 portraits in the collection

George A. Highland

George A Highland (1874-1954), theatrical producer, grew up in England, where, as a choirboy, he came to the attention of Arthur Sullivan.

1 portrait in the collection

Favourite portraits

National Portrait Gallery staff introduce their favourite portraits from the exhibition.

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

Tim Burstall

Tim Burstall (1927-2004) set up Eltham Films in the early 1950s, when the local film industry was moribund.

2 portraits in the collection

Mr John Eason, 1838

W. B. Gould

Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2013

Portrait 53

Winter 2016

Magazine

Experience the art of rock music; attend to the neglected aspects of Lord Kitchener's work; and say farewell to the inimitable Bob Ellis.

Joy Hester

Joy Hester (1920-1960) was the only female member of the Angry Penguin movement, which included artists Tucker, Sidney Nolan and Arthur Boyd.

1 portrait in the collection

Karl Duldig

Karl Duldig (1902-1986) studied art in Vienna between 1923 to 1933, interrupted by his success in sport, first as a soccer international, then as a tennis player and finally as a table-tennis title holder.

1 portrait in the collection

John Perceval painting 'Veronica and the Conspirators'

John Perceval painting 'Veronica and the Conspirators', 1967

Mark Strizic

A Portrait of Colonial Australia

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999

Bungaree, late chief of the Broken Bay tribe, Sydney

Heads of the People

Previous exhibition, 2000

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

Kiffy Rubbo

Previous exhibition, 1999

Kiffy Rubbo (1944-1980) was director of the Ewing and George Paton Gallery at the University of Melbourne from 1973 to 1980.

1 portrait in the collection

A Tribute to William Dobell

Adapted from A Tribute to William Dobell an exhibition presented by the Australian National University's Drill Hall Gallery in association with the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation, The National Gallery of Australia, and the Australian War Memorial. Dobell is of course, celebrated for his achievements in portraiture, winning the Archibald prize (1943, 1948 and 1959), the Wynne Prize (1948), and representing Australia at the 1954 Venice Biennale. Curator Mary Eagle concludes her essay in the catalogue of the exhibition thus, "Overall I see a dissonance in Dobell’s art and life

Carl Cooper

Portrait, pencil, pen and ink on paper

Carl Cooper (1912-1966), ceramic decorator, contracted poliomyelitis in his twenties.

1 portrait in the collection

Bob Croll of the AAA Vic., 1916

David Low

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Schulim Krimper

Schulim Krimper (1893-1971), furniture designer and cabinetmaker, was born in the Austro-Hungarian province of Bukovina.

1 portrait in the collection

Sarah Tuckfield

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

1 portrait in the collection

John Tindale

John Tindale was born in Warwickshire in 1809 and came to Sydney in 1820 to join his father, a convict who had been transported to NSW in 1812 and who received a free pardon in 1816.

1 portrait in the collection

Marcia Hines

Marcia Hines (b. 1953) sang in church choirs while growing up in Boston, Massachusetts and had her first solo singing engagement at the age of seven.

1 portrait in the collection

Ursula Hoff AO OBE

Portrait, pastel on paper

Ursula Hoff AO OBE (1909–2005) was a curator, art historian and academic.

1 portrait in the collection

The Colonel (Portrait of Walter Withers)

The Colonel (Portrait of Walter Withers), 1896

David Davies

Purchased 2009

Rudy Komon

Rudy Komon (1908-1982) was an art dealer and gallery director. After working as a journalist in Czechoslovakia, where he served with the Czech resistance during the war, he emigrated to Sydney and opened an antique store.

3 portraits in the collection

Hal Hattam

Harold 'Hal' Hattam (1913-1994), doctor, artist and art collector, came to Australia from his native Scotland at the age of seven.

1 portrait in the collection

Captain John Hunter

John Hunter (1737-1821), naval officer and governor, came to Sydney as second captain of the Sirius, the flagship of the First Fleet.

3 portraits in the collection

Self portrait

Angelica Kauffmann

Schulim Krimper, 1968

Mark Strizic

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2004

Philip Gidley King

Philip Gidley King (1758-1808), naval officer and governor, joined the navy in late 1770 and served in the East Indies and American waters.

1 portrait in the collection

Joshua Smith

Joshua Smith studied sculpture with Rayner Hoff and took classes in drawing and painting at Julian Ashton's Sydney Art School.

5 portraits in the collection

Ursula Hoff, 1994

Francis Reiss

Purchased 2004

Tom Roberts, 1920

Alice Mills

Gift of Gerard Vaughan 2001

Ben Baker

Portraits & Other Stories

Born in Adelaide and raised in Darwin, Ben Baker currently resides in New York City and works internationally.

1 portrait in the collection

Sam Haskins

Previous exhibition, 2006

Haskins is known for his poetic combinations of images and this exhibition of 'extended' portraits builds on this approach.

Robert Henderson Croll

Robert Henderson Croll (1869-1947), author, worked as a clerk in the Victorian public service for over 40 years, but is better remembered for his books and journalism.

2 portraits in the collection

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

Madame Praeger

Portrait, oil on masonite

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

Hal Hattam, 1960

Fred Williams

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Hattam family in memory of Hal and Kate Hattam 2006
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

The Right Honourable Charles Lord Hawkesbury, Chancellor of the Duchy and County Palatine of Lancaster

Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool

Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool (1729–1808), statesman, was educated at Oxford and entered parliament in 1761.

1 portrait in the collection

Captain John Hunter, Governor New South Wales, 1801

William Ridley

Previous exhibition, 2006

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Ted and Gina Gregg 2012

Portraits for Posterity

Drawn from some of the many donations made to the Gallery's collection, the exhibition Portraits for Posterity pays homage both to the remarkable (and varied) group of Australians who are portrayed in the portraits and the generosity of the many donors who have presented them to the Gallery.

Henry James

John Singer Sargent

John Shirlow, c. 1937

Julian Smith

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

David Davies

William Skelton after J. Wright

David Davies began studying art at the School of Mines and Industries in his birthplace, Ballarat.

1 portrait in the collection

Lieutenant King, 1789

Portrait, duo-tone print on photographic paper

Purchased 2010

Peter Dombrovskis, 1996

Liz Dombrovskis

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005

George and Jemima Billet with family, c. 1852

C.H.T. Costantini

Portrait, watercolour on paper

Purchased 2016

The Merioola Group, 1940s

Alec Murray

Portrait, oil on cedar panel

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

Portrait of George Selth Coppin, c. 1895-1899

Tom Roberts

Purchased with funds provided by Mary Isabel Murphy 2004

The Right Honourable Charles Lord Hawkesbury, Chancellor of the Duchy and County Palatine of Lancaster, 1788

John Murphy after George Romney

Portrait, mezzotint on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Rev. Fred Nile, Festival of Light, Sydney

Rev. Fred Nile, Festival of Light, Sydney, 1981

John Williams

Portrait, montage of gelatin silver photographs

Purchased 1999

Rudy Komon, c. 1970

Lewis Morley

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

Portrait of Harriet Swan, c. 1842

Portrait, watercolour on ivory

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC 2013

Portrait of Julia Swan, c. 1842

Portrait, watercolour on ivory

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC 2013

Terry Snow and China, 2017

Jude Rae

Ludwig Lang after Johnstone O'Shannessy & Co

Commissioned with funds provided by Dr Justin Garrick and Ms Dharini Ganesan Rasu, Mr Dino Nikias & Mrs Dimitra Nikias, Mr Jim Windeyer, Ms Claudia Hyles, Mrs Sotiria Liangis OAM and Mr John Liangis, Justice Mary Finn, Mr Bill Farmer AO and Mrs Elaine Farmer, Mr Tim Efkarpidis, Mr Bob Nattey and Mrs Charlotte Nattey, Ms Jennifer Bott AO, Mr Keith Bradley, Dr Sam Whittle and Mrs Heather Whittle 2017

Lowe Kong Meng, c. 1887

Portrait, tinted lithograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

A charming prospect

Nearest & Dearest

Family fortunes

Lt. A.R.Cutler VC, 1943

Dora Toovey

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Cutler family 2017
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Buckley discovering himself to the early settlers

William Buckley

William Buckley (1780-1856), known as 'the wild white man', was transported for life in 1802 for receiving stolen cloth.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Conder, Stella Maris Condor and Florence Humphrey at les Petites Dalles, Normandy

Charles Conder, Stella Maris Condor and Florence Humphrey at les Petites Dalles, Normandy, 1902

associated with Nicholas Hilliard

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Queen Elizabeth I

Portrait, oil on primed masonite

Self portrait at 85, 1990

Joshua Smith

Gift of the late May Ralph 2019

H. Walter Barnett

Frederick George Reynolds

H. Walter Barnett (1862-1934) was a leading portrait photographer of the late Victorian, Edwardian and interwar periods.

12 portraits in the collection

Robert Henderson Croll, 1927

Portrait, oil on canvas on board

Gift of Grietje Croll in memory of her late husband Robert Devereaux Croll and with the endorsement of his daughter Helen Croll 2013. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

The God-shaped hole

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2010

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

Buckley discovering himself to the early settlers, 1869

S Calvert, Gibbs, Shallard and Co after O.R. Campbell

Portrait, colour wood engraving on paper

Purchased 2009

Linda Jackson

Linda Mary Jackson (b. 1950) is a fashion designer and artist. Having studied fashion design at Emily McPherson College and photography at Prahran Technical College, she travelled to New Guinea, through Asia and Europe, and worked for Parisian couture house Mia-Vicky.

1 portrait in the collection

Peter Dombrovskis

Peter Dombrovskis, photographer and environmental activist, was born of Latvian parents in a refugee camp in Wiesbaden at the end of World War 2.

1 portrait in the collection

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

Jiawei Shen, 2006

Pierre Langlume after Jacques Etienne Victor Arago

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

'Timbere sauvage de la nouvelle galles du sud en grand costume (Relache au Port Jackson)'

'Timbere sauvage de la nouvelle galles du sud en grand costume (Relache au Port Jackson)', 1822

Portrait, lithograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

The Surgeon (Dr Julian Smith), 1934

Harold Cazneaux

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Self portrait, 1948

Klaus Friedeberger

Gift of Julie Friedeberger 2021

Peter Allen

More about In the flesh artists

Peter Allen (1944–1992), singer/songwriter and entertainer, was born Peter Allen Woolnough in Tenterfield, NSW.

1 portrait in the collection

Jan Nelson

Jan Nelson was born in Melbourne. She graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 1983 and has been exhibited her work in both solo and group exhibitions throughout Australia since that time including at the MCA, Sydney, National Gallery of Victoria, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane and the Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide.

Portrait of Captain John Hunter, 1792

Daniel Orme after Robert Dighton

Portrait, stipple engraving on paper

Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2008

Society of Artists Selection Committee, 1907

Henry King

Purchased 2008

Jack Charles

Giovanni Vendramini, T Cadell & W Davies after William Evans, Sir William Beechey

Recorded 2022

George Rose, 1811

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Li Cunxin AO

Li Cunxin AO (b. 1961) is the artistic director of the Queensland Ballet.

1 portrait in the collection

Maritime disaster leaves poignant picture

Devotion

Absence rends the heart asunder

Peter Thomson, c. 1960

Louis Kahan AO

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mary Thomson 2017

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

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

A Portrait (Kate Hattam), 1956

Clifton Pugh AO

Portrait, oil on board

Purchased 2006

Deidre But-Husaim

Deidre But-Husaim (b. 1959), based in Adelaide, South Australia, undertook her formative art study at the Adelaide Central School of Art, where she has since taught painting.

2 portraits in the collection

King Henry VIII

Unknown artist

Bernard Fanning

Bernard Fanning (b. 1969) is the frontman of Queensland band Powderfinger.

1 portrait in the collection

Sarah and Ann Jacob, c. 1866

Townsend Duryea

Purchased 2018

Walter Withers

Walter Withers (1854-1914), painter, interior designer and teacher, trained at the Royal Academy in London before coming to Australia at the end of 1882.

1 portrait in the collection

Robin Sellick

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on cabinet card

Robin Sellick (b. 1967), photographer, is well known for his distinctive portraits of Australian actors, musicians, politicians and athletes.

17 portraits in the collection

Sir John Hay, 1887

Freeman Brothers

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

The Lawn at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day

The Lawn at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day, c. 1889

Goupil & Cie after Carl Kahler

Portrait, photogravure on paper

Purchased 2009

Fay Bottrell, 1981

David Campbell

Portrait, oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Gift of Elizabeth Campbell-MacKenzie on behalf of the family of David Campbell 2012

Nlle. Holland Port Jackson: Sauvages des environs de Sydney: Nani, Taran, Abinghou, Broten, Timbere

Nlle. Holland Port Jackson: Sauvages des environs de Sydney: Nani, Taran, Abinghou, Broten, Timbere, 1825

Jean Coutant after Jacques Etienne Victor Arago

Portrait, line engraving on paper

Purchased 2015

Tim Burstall, Andamooka (filming of the Last of the Knucklemen), c. 1979

Rennie Ellis

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2006

Prue Acton, 2012

David Roberts

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V)

Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V), 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015

Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V), 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015

Practising the Minuet (Miss Hilda Spong)

Practising the Minuet (Miss Hilda Spong), 1893

Tom Roberts

Photographic Portraits from 19th Century Australia

Purchased with funds provided by the Ian Potter Foundation 2008

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and his wife Theresa

Husbands and Wives

Previous exhibition, 2010

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

Girl (portrait of Barbara Blackman), 1969

Charles Blackman OBE

Portrait, charcoal on paper

Purchased 2009

Ralph Heimans AM

Portrait, oil on masonite

Sydney-based painter Ralph Heimans AM (b. 1970) is one of the world's foremost contemporary portraitists, having created a body of work that has expanded and redefined the possibilities of what is sometimes perceived as an inflexibly traditional genre.

19 portraits in the collection

Self portrait, 1965

Jean Appleton

Gift of the Estate of Nicolaas van der Waarden 2013

Jane Windeyer

Jane Windeyer (1865–1950) was the second eldest daughter of politician and judge Sir William Charles Windeyer (1834–1897) and his wife, Mary (née Bolton, 1837–1912), a leading campaigner for women’s rights.

2 portraits in the collection

William St Leonards Robertson and the Oxford boat race crew

William St Leonards Robertson and the Oxford boat race crew, early 1880s

Hills & Saunders

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

Wes Walters

Wes Walters (1928-2014), painter, studied architecture in Geelong and art at the Ballarat School of Mines before embarking on a successful career as a freelance commercial artist in 1950.

3 portraits in the collection

Self portrait, 1900

Agnes Goodsir

Gift of Rosemary Neilson 2021

Therese Desmond

Portrait, watercolour and gouache 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

Sketch for Prime Minister Robert Menzies

Sketch for Prime Minister Robert Menzies, 1960

Sir William Dobell OBE

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 1999

The Hon. John Howard OM AC

The Hon. John Howard OM AC (b. 1939) was Prime Minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007.

1 portrait in the collection

Olegas Truchanas, 1971

Ralph Hope-Johnstone

Purchased 2005

Klaus Friedeberger

Klaus Friedeberger (1922-2019) fled Germany for England at the age of sixteen, and the next year found himself on the Dunera bound for internment in Australia.

3 portraits in the collection

Patrick Francis Moran

Patrick Francis Moran (1830-1911), orphaned at 11, was sent from his native Ireland to Rome, where a relative was rector of the Irish College.

2 portraits in the collection

Grazia Gunn, 2014

Jacqueline Mitelman

Purchased with funds provided by Wayne Williams 2015

Kate Hattam

Kathleen 'Kate' Hattam (1923–2004), stylesetter and art collector, was born in London and served with the Women’s Royal Air Force during the Second World War, stationed in radar at Beachey Head.

1 portrait in the collection

Patrick Ryan

Patrick Ryan (d. 1990) and Tim Burstall set up Eltham Films in the early 1950s, when the local film industry was moribund.

1 portrait in the collection

May Wirth, c. 1921

Daguerre Studios

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Li Cunxin, 2018

Jun Chen

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2018

Charles Chauvel

Charles Chauvel (1897-1959), actor and film-maker, worked on the sets of Snowy Baker films as a young man, and followed the great action hero to Hollywood in 1921.

1 portrait in the collection

Richard Windeyer

Richard Windeyer (1806-1847), journalist, barrister and politician, was the eldest of the ten children born to Charles Windeyer and his wife Ann Mary and remained in England when the rest of his family went to New South Wales.

3 portraits in the collection

Alex Mitchell

Alexander George Mitchell (1911-1997), academic, studied English literature and language at the University of Sydney and the University of London before joining the English department of the University of Sydney, where he assumed the McCaughey Chair of Early English Literature and Language in 1947.

1 portrait in the collection

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

Captain Robert Clark Morgan

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

Agnes Goodsir

John Young after Gilbert Stuart

Born in Portland in south-west Victoria, Agnes Goodsir (1864–1939) initially painted still life before applying herself to the challenge of portraiture.

1 portrait in the collection

Lord Viscount Sydney, c. 1790

Portrait, mezzotint on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Alfred George Stephens

Alfred George Stephens (1865–1933), editor, journalist and publisher, was born and educated in Toowoomba.

1 portrait in the collection

William St Leonards Robertson, c. 1865

Portrait, ambrotype, hand coloured

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

Barbara Blackman, 2008

Gorgi Dimcevski

'Self Portrait with Gladioli'

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Barbara Blackman 2009

George Lambert

Portrait story

An examination of the life and times of George Lambert through the gesture and pose in his self portrait.

The Possibilities of Portraiture

Previous exhibition, 1999

What does 'portraiture mean at the end of the 20th century? At the outset of building a national portrait collection it seems an appropriate question to investigate.

Rayner Hoff

George Rayner Hoff (1894-1937), sculptor, was born in England and trained at the Royal College of Art, London.

2 portraits in the collection

Dr Joan M Redshaw AM, 1982

Barbara Tribe

Portrait, terracotta

Purchased 2016

Jane Windeyer, n.d.

Madame Praeger

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Windeyer family 2012

HV (Doc) Evatt, 1935

Arnold Shore

Gift of Elizabeth Evatt and Penelope Seidler 1998. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

The fat of the land

Sir Sidney Kidman (1857-1935) is inscribed in Australian legend as the ‘Cattle King’.

Portrait of Brenda Niall, 1997

Judy Cassab AO CBE

Gift of Dr Brenda Niall AO 2019. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Who's that?

Michael Desmond discusses the iconic picture of two Rugby League players which became known as 'The Gladiators'.

Barbara Blackman AO

Portrait, watercolour on paper

Barbara Blackman AO (b. 1928), writer, poet and arts patron, was only fifteen when the ABC Weekly published one of her poems.

5 portraits in the collection

Therese Desmond, 1919-1920

James Burnside

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Madeleine Howell 2013

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

Jiawei Shen

Jiawei Shen (b. 1948), artist, was born in China in 1948 and began to gain recognition as a painter during the Cultural Revolution.

13 portraits in the collection

Elizabeth Walford

Magazine article by Dimity Goldie, 2003

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

Portrait of a Modernist

The National Portrait Gallery acquired the self-portrait by Grace Cossington Smith in 2003.

2013-14 Acquisition Fund

This 1910 portrait of Elizabeth Sarah (Lillie) Roberts by Tom Roberts was brought into the Gallery's collection with the assistance of the Acquisition Fund in 2013.

Hilda Spong

Hilda Spong (1875-1955), actress, came to Australia with her family when she was thirteen.

1 portrait in the collection

D.A.S. Campbell (David Alexander Stewart Campbell)

D.A.S. Campbell (David Alexander Stewart Campbell), 1963

Sir William Dargie CBE

Previous exhibition, 2007

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dr Mary Newlinds and Sheena Simpson in memory of their father, D.A.S. Campbell, 2014

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.

Harold Parker

Harold Parker (1873-1962), sculptor, came to Brisbane with his English parents as a three-year old.

1 portrait in the collection

Peter Elliott AM

Peter Elliott AM (1927–2014) was an obstetrician, gynaecologist and gynaecological oncologist as well as a significant art collector and patron.

6 portraits in the collection

Johann Zoffany

Johann Zoffany, painter of portraits and conversation pieces, grew up in the court of the Prince von Thurn und Taxis in Germany, where his father was employed.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas Townshend, Lord Viscount Sydney

Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney PC (1733-1800) was British Home Secretary in the Pitt Government, given responsibility for devising a plan to settle convicts at Botany Bay.

1 portrait in the collection

2012-13 Acquisition Fund

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

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

John Perceval, 1985

Rick Amor

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

David Naseby

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2008

David Naseby (1937–2022) was born in England and studied in the United Kingdom before coming to Australia in 1953.

8 portraits in the collection

Alexander Pearce
executed for murder
July 19th 1824

Public hanging

As a convict Thomas Bock was required to sketch executed murders for science; as a free man, fashionable society portraits.

Annie May Moore

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

Leanne Benjamin AM OBE

Leanne Benjamin AM OBE (b. 1964) was Principal Dancer with the Royal Ballet between 1993 and 2013.

1 portrait in the collection

James Robert M. Robertson

James Robert M. Robertson (1844-1932), mining engineer and coal magnate, was the son of a Scottish surgeon and colliery owner, and qualified in medicine himself before opting for a career in mining.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Haddon Chambers

Self Portraits in Australia

Charles Haddon Chambers (1860-1921), playwright and dramatist, grew up in Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

To Look Within

Previous exhibition, 2004

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

Philippe Mora

Philippe Mora (b. 1949), filmmaker, artist and writer, is the eldest son of artist Mirka Mora and restauranteur and gallery owner Georges Mora.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir John Hay

Sir John Hay (1816-1892), pastoralist and politician, graduated in law in his native Scotland before emigrating to New South Wales with his new wife, Mary, in 1838.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas Bock

Thomas Bock, artist, printmaker and photographer, is believed to have been born at Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham, in 1790.

3 portraits in the collection

2014-15 Acquisition Fund

Kristin Headlam's portrait of Chris Wallace-Crabbe was acquired with the support of the Circle of Friends in 2014.

John Richard Tindale, 1841

Maurice Felton

Previous exhibition, 2010

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

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.

William Hardy Wilson

William Hardy Wilson (1881-1955) - or Hardy Wilson, as he styled himself - is regarded as one of the most significant and visionary Australian architects of the twentieth century.

1 portrait in the collection

Nancy Menetrey

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2018

Nancy Menetrey (née Wilkinson) was born in Sydney in 1924. After serving with the Australian Women's Land Army, formed during the Second World War to address labour shortages in the agricultural sector, she travelled overseas in the early 1950s, living and working in London for a number of years.

1 portrait in the collection

The artist and her family, c. 1854 by Martha Berkeley

Presence and absence

The art of Australia’s colonial women painters affords us an invaluable, alternative perspective on the nascent nation-building project.

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

In the mirror: self portrait with Joy Hester, 1939

Albert Tucker

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, sepia toned on cardboard

Gift of the artist 1999. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

David Low, 1917

Rudolph Buchner

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

A G Stephens, c. 1910 (printed later)

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, selenium toned on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Howard Taylor, 1988 (printed 2001)

John Austin

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Howard Taylor, 1988 (printed 2001)

John Austin

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, selenium toned on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Richard Fitzgerald

Richard Fitzgerald (1772-1840), convict, public servant and settler, spent four years of his seven-year sentence imprisoned (probably on a floating 'hulk') at Portsmouth before arriving in Sydney in 1791, along with his private assets.

1 portrait in the collection

David Collins

David Collins (1756–1810), lieutenant-governor, began his career in the British Navy, rising to the rank of captain before being returning to dry land and being placed on half-pay in late 1783.

1 portrait in the collection

Donald Friend

Donald Friend (1915-1989), painter, writer and diarist, studied at the RAS and Dattilo-Rubbo’s school in Sydney before spending 1935 and 1936 at the Westminster School in London.

2 portraits in the collection

Henry Fullwood (Uncle Remus), 1919

George Lambert

Gift of Denis Savill 2017. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

William Charles Windeyer, c. 1857

Portrait, daguerreotype

Gift of the Windeyer family 2009

L. Gordon Darling AC CMG, 2006

Purchased with the assistance of funds provided by the Mundango Charitable Trust and Claudia Hyles 2006

Blue Mountain, Owner, Trainer, Jockey, James Scobie

Sure thing

Magazine article by Stuart Purves, 2016

Blue Mountain, Owner, Trainer, Jockey, James Scobie 1887 by Frederick Woodhouse Snr. is a portrait of James Scobie, well known jockey and eminent horse trainer.

Supporters

$5,000 - $9,999

Honour board

Bonfire of the vanities

Australian Galleries Director Stuart Purves tells the story of two portraits by John Brack.

Robert Neill

Robert Neill arrived in Van Diemen’s Land from Edinburgh in 1820 with his free-settler parents and two siblings.

1 portrait in the collection

Olegas Truchanas

Olegas Truchanas (1923-1972) was born in 1923 in Siauliai, Lithuania.

1 portrait in the collection

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, 1899 by Carl Pietzner

The Archduke

The immediate chain of events that led to the outbreak of the First World War began 100 years ago on June 28.

Tom Roberts

Tom Roberts (1856–1931), artist, came to Australia from England at the age of 13, but returned eight years later to study art in London.

9 portraits in the collection

Angus Trumble with Self portrait at easel by Fred Williams

Autumn in Canberra

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

Donald Friend, 1987

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

2022 Annual Appeal

Portrait, ink and charcoal on paper

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.

Donald Friend at Owl Creek, 1983

Lawrence Daws

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Lawrence Daws 2012
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Open Air

Portraits in the Landscape

Previous exhibition, 2008

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

Portrait of Dr Johann Reinhold Forster and his son George Forster

Portrait of Dr Johann Reinhold Forster and his son George Forster, c. 1780

Jean Francois Rigaud

Thomas Morris, M N. Bates, Joseph C. Stadler after George Garrard

Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family, the Ian Potter Foundation and John Schaeffer AO 2009

Woburn Sheepshearing, 1811

Portrait, aquatint with stipple and etching and engraving, hand coloured on chine colle on paper laid down on cotton stretched over wooden strainer

Purchased 2018

Herbert John Louis Hinkler

Herbert John Louis (Bert) Hinkler (1892-1933), aviator, worked with a photographer and in sugar mills before joining the Queensland Aero club and taking a correspondence course in mechanics.

1 portrait in the collection

Neil Armfield, 2010

Adam Cullen

Archived media releases 2016

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2010

Gallery unveils Portrait of Mark Ella

12 May 2016

Last night in Sydney, the National Portrait Gallery unveiled a newly commissioned portrait of Australian sporting legend Mark Ella AM.

Thomas Gainsborough, c.1758-59 by Thomas Gainsborough

Keep it in the family

Magazine article by David Solkin, 2019

David Solkin ponders the provocations and inspirations of the enigmatic Thomas Gainsborough.

Remembering Ursula

Magazine article by Bradley Vincent, 2022

I first knew Dr. Hoff when in 1986, long after retiring from the National Gallery of Victoria, she taught a graduate seminar on Rembrandt.

dumb & dumber from The Imponderable Archive, 2013 Samuel Hodge

Everything, everyqueer, all at once

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

Right Rev Dr Lawrence Bonaventure Sheil OSF

Right Rev Dr Lawrence Bonaventure Sheil OSF, c. 1872

Bardwell's Royal Studio

Portrait, albumen silver carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

May Emmeline Wirth

Previous exhibition, 2023

May Emmeline Wirth (1894–1978), circus performer, was once described as the ‘greatest lady bareback rider of all time’.

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.

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

Black and white history

Previous exhibition, 2003

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

Max Dupain

The Vintage Years

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

Prime Ministers

On the day before the Hon. E. G. Whitlam, AC, QC, died last month, at the great age of 98, there were seven former prime ministers of Australia still living, plus the incumbent Mr. Abbott – eight in all.

Friends and Acquaintances

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

Sir William Francis Drummond Jervois, Governor of South Australia

Sir William F. Jervois

Sir William Francis Drummond Jervois (1821-1897), governor, attended the Royal Military Academy before being commissioned to the Royal Engineers in 1839.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas Griffiths Wainewright

Thomas Griffiths Wainewright (1794-1847) is one of the most intriguing and talented figures in colonial Australian art.

4 portraits in the collection

W. B. Gould

Liverpool-born William Buelow Gould (1803-1853) had worked as a draftsman for the London printmaker, Rudolph Ackermann, and as a painter for a Staffordshire pottery before being transported to Van Diemen’s Land for theft in 1827.

1 portrait in the collection

Emile Sherman

Emile Sherman (b. 1972), film producer, graduated from the University of New South Wales before beginning his career with a documentary about his great-great-uncle Chatzkel, a Lithuanian Jew who lived through both world wars and the Bolshevik revolution.

3 portraits in the collection

Australian Tapestry Workshop

The Australian Tapestry Workshop (formerly the Victorian Tapestry Workshop) was established in 1976, following two years of planning and research on the part of its founding patrons, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch and Lady Joyce Delacombe.

2 portraits in the collection

Marcia Hines, c. 1981

Lewis Morley

Contemporary women artists make Australian history

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

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

So Fine

Previous exhibition, 2018

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

Australian of the Year

Inspiring a Nation

Previous exhibition, 2010

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

Li Cunxin, 2017–2018

by Jun Chen

Magazine article by Inga Walton, 2019

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2018

Lady Jane Grey, c.1590-1600 (also known as The ‘Streatham’ portrait) Artist unknown

The Royal she

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

Australian Visit

Previous exhibition, 2006

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.

William Walford

1 portrait in the collection

Andrew Sayers AM

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, selenium toned on paper

Andrew Sayers AM (1957–2015) was inaugural Director of the National Portrait Gallery.

1 portrait in the collection

Andrew Sayers, 2012

Mark Mohell

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2013

Mark Strizic

A Journey in Photography

Previous exhibition, 2004

This exhibition traces the creative output of nearly 50 years by one of Australia's landmark living photographers.

Gustavus Brooke, c. 1865

Burman and Son

Portrait, albumen silver carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

The Window Seat, 1907 by Frances Hodgkins

Kiwi magpie

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2018

Penelope Grist finds inspiration in pioneering New Zealand artist, Frances Hodgkins.

Uncommon Australians

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

Previous exhibition, 2015

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

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

Geoffrey R. Robertson AO KC

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2006

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

Giving and getting

The exhibition Portraits for Posterity celebrates gifts to the Gallery, of purchases made with donated funds, and testifies to the generosity and community spirit of Australians.

Marion Borgelt

Marion Borgelt (b. 1954) grew up on a farm in the Wimmera district in western Victoria and attained her Diploma in Fine Art, majoring in painting, from the South Australian School of Art in 1976.

1 portrait in the collection

Chandler P. Coventry AM

Five Years of National Portrait Gallery Commissions

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

Making Portraits

Previous exhibition, 2004

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

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.

Martin Sharp, 1986

Garry Shead

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2004
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Henry Baynton Somer Gullett AM MC

Previous exhibition, 2005

Henry Baynton Somer ‘Jo’ Gullett AM MC (1914-1999), soldier, politician, ambassador, farmer and author, was the son of Sir Henry Gullett, who was one of the Australian official historians of the First World War.

1 portrait in the collection

Clifton Pugh

Australians

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.

Madame Sibly, Phrenologist and Mesmerist

Madame Sibly, Phrenologist and Mesmerist, c. 1870

James E. Bray

Portrait, albumen silver carte de visite photograph

Purchased 2017

Thomas Pearce, c. 1878

The Photographic Society of Victoria, Melbourne

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite on card

Purchased 2010

C.H.T. Costantini

Charles Henry Theodore Costantini (also Constantine, Constantini and Costantine) was a Paris-born surgeon of Italian descent who was twice transported to the Australian colonies in the 1820s.

1 portrait in the collection

William Henry Harvey

William Henry Harvey (1811-1866), botanist, formed a boyhood passion for natural history which was encouraged at Ballitore School, County Kildare.

1 portrait in the collection

2015-17 Acquisition Fund

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

From 2015 to 2017 the Acquisition Fund was focussed on Reg Richardson AM by Mitch Cairns, a finalist in the Archibald Prize 2014, and a great example of minimalist portraiture.

The spirit of the gift

Former NPG Director, Andrew Sayers celebrates the support given to the Gallery by Gordon and Marilyn Darling.

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

Northern exposure

Magazine article by Phil Manning, 2017

Phil Manning celebrates a century of Brisbane photographic portraiture.

Arnold Shore

Arnold Shore, a lifelong inhabitant of Melbourne, was apprenticed to a stained glass and leadlight company called Brooks, Robinson soon after leaving school at the age of twelve.

2 portraits in the collection

George Brown

Johnstone O'Shannessy & Co

George Brown (1835-1917), clergyman, established numerous Methodist missions in the Pacific from the late 1880s.

1 portrait in the collection

William St. Leonards Robertson, c. 1869

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite

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

Start Your Engines...

Magazine article by Catherine McDonough, 2006

The bronze sculpture by Julie Edgar reflects through both the material and representation the determined and straight-forward nature of Brabham.

First Ladies

Significant Australian Women 1913–2013

Previous exhibition, 2013

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

John Flaus

Portrait, cast plaster, painted

John Flaus (b. 1934) is an Australian broadcaster, actor, script editor and lecturer, known for Mary and Max (2009), Trust Frank (2020) and Tracks (2013).

1 portrait in the collection

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.

Trucaninny [Trukanini], wife of Woureddy [Wurati]

Trucaninny [Trukanini], wife of Woureddy [Wurati], 1836

Benjamin Law

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

2021 Annual Appeal

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2008

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 bright-eyed Mariner

A new colonial portrait brings a zealous captain near.

Catholic clergymen from the Diocese of Adelaide

Catholic clergymen from the Diocese of Adelaide, c. 1862

Stephen Edward Nixon

Purchased 2018

Anna F. Walker

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2006

Anna Frances Walker (1830–1913), botanical artist and collector, was one of the thirteen children of Thomas Walker, a high-ranking colonial public servant, and his wife Anna Elizabeth, the daughter of merchant and landowner John Blaxland.

1 portrait in the collection

Crikey!

Robin Sellick captured a rare moment of quietude from the late conservation star Steve Irwin.

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.

Portrait of a Manchu Noblewoman, 18th-19th C.

Facing East

Magazine article, 2007

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

Artists' space

Magazine article by John McDonald, 2007

Studio: Australian Painters Photographed by R. Ian Lloyd presents 61 of some of Australia’s most respected and significant painters working in the studio environment.

The Writer: Peter Goldsworthy, 2018

by Deidre But-Husaim

Magazine article by Christopher Baker, 2013

Commissioned with funds provided by Jillian Broadbent AO and Dr Helen Nugent AO 2018.

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

30 November 2023

Media

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.

Hot Scots

James Holloway describes the first portraits you encounter when entering the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

It's a Mora!

Magazine article by Tedi Bills, 2016

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

Announcing.... In their own words

24 November 2020

Archived media releases 2020

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

William Shakespeare, c. 1600-1610 associated with John Taylor

Selected images

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2016

Take a peek at a selection of the portraits you can see in the exhibition.

Dr Edward MacMahon, 1959 by William Dobell

Bill and Ted's excellent portrait.

Sarah Engledow on Messrs Dobell and MacMahon and the art of friendship.

Portrait of Kym Bonython/Portrait of Mr Bonython's speedway cap

Somewhere to hang your cap

Magazine article by Beatrice Thompson, 2007

A pair of portraits by John Brack; Portrait of Kym Bonython and Portrait of Mr Bonython's speedway cap combine to create a quirky depiction of their subject.

Take thy face hence

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2022

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

Desert Island Discs

Magazine article by Gareth Knapman, 2017

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.

The Conciliation, 1840 by Benjamin Duterrau

The art of conciliation

Gareth Knapman explores the politics and opportunism behind the portraits of Tasmania’s Black War.

Past directors

History

Directors of the National Portrait Gallery from 1998 to today.

Bon Scott & Angus Young, Atlanta, Georgia

No shirt, no service

Magazine article by Djon Mundine OAM, 2017

Bon Scott and Angus Young photographed by Rennie Ellis are part of a display celebrating summer and images of the shirtless male.

Big shots

Djon Mundine OAM brings poignant memory and context to Martin van der Wal’s 1986 portrait photographs of storied Aboriginal artists.

Little women

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2019

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

Queen Victoria

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2021

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.

Drawn from life

Penelope Grist discovers the rich narratives in Peter Wegner’s series of centenarian portraits.

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.

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

Jozef Vissel

Gift of the Jozef Vissel 2015

Alison Rehfisch

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

Goods and chattels

I have been reading systematically through the ads in the earliest issues of the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, such a rich vein of information about certain aspects of daily life in Regency Sydney.

The mystery of Enoch Arden

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2007

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

Painters' paradise

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

Andrew Sayers AM FAHA

13 October 2015

Archived media releases 2015

The Chairman, Board, Director and staff mourn the loss of the National Portrait Gallery's inaugural director.

Study for Aunty Mary King, 2010 by Mathew Lynn

The animating signature

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2019

Joanna Gilmore delights in the affecting drawings of Mathew Lynn.

Diamond Doll

Magazine article by Karen Vickery, 2016

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

Facing Facts

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

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

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.

Four from the 30s

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

Australia's tradition of sculpted portraits stretches back to the early decades of the nineteenth century and continues to sustain a group of dedicated sculptors.

Louise Whelan

Finalist interviews

I met Kaloti Parmjit the day I took the photo. I first visited the Sikh temple in the suburb of Glenwood to take photos as part of a social documentary project I'm undertaking for the State Library of NSW.

Their brilliant careers

Magazine article by Jenny Gall, 2017

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

Goollabal (Rainbow Serpent), 2018 by Shirley Purdie

Memories

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2003

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

Annual Appeal

Listed by year

Honour board

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.

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.’

200 Years of Portraiture

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2016

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

Apollo's breath

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

Poets' Portraits

Magazine article by Dr David Hansen, 2022

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

Herra Pahlasari

by Aminudin TH Siregar

Artist essays

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

Unheroic Materialism: little harmless fragments of memory and association: a portrait of Angus Trumble, 2019 Evert Ploeg

The last word

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

Arianne McNaught

NPPP 2012 learning resource

An interview with the photographer.

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.

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

Dempsey's people

Magazine article by Karl James, 2015

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.

Lauded legacy

Karl James gives short shrift to doubts about the profile of General Sir John Monash.

Wicked but Virtuous

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

Home and away

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.

International issue

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2013

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

Out of the shadows

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

Vintage Max

Magazine article by Gael Newton, 2003

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

Top shot that

Magazine article by Gideon Haigh, 2009

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

Portraits and other stories

Magazine article by Christine Clark, 2006

As the National Portrait Gallery opens its exhibition of portrait and figurative work by veteran photographer Sam Haskins, the artist reflects on the highlights of his fifty-year career so far.

Talking heads

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2011

In their own words lead researcher Louise Maher on the novel project that lets the Gallery’s portraits speak for themselves.

Painting mates

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

The silent partner

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2015

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

The personal and the historical

Magazine article by Diana Warnes, 2007

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.

Melbourne experience

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

Be bold

Magazine article by Katherine Russell, 2007

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.

Less than six degrees of separation

Lecture, 28 May 2011

Magazine article by Sandra Phillips, 2020

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

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

Activating the space

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 Inga Walton, 2022

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.

Virginia Woolf, 1902 George Charles Beresford

Love my way

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

Seduce, Amuse, Entertain

NPPP 2007 exhibition essay

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2007

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

Seduce Amuse Entertain

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

Small worlds

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2010

Bess Norriss Tait created miniature watercolour portraits full of character and life.

Girl with Cigarette, c. 1925 by Agnes Goodsir

Agnes enigma

Magazine article by Karen Quinlan AM, 2019

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

Poison pen

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2010

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

An actress and her fans

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2008

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.

Speed demon

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2009

Scott Redford discusses his dynamic portrait commission of motorcycling champion and 2008 Young Australian of the Year Casey Stoner.

Vanity fair

Magazine article by Ashleigh Wadman, 2012

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

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

Unknown drawer

Magazine article by Dr David Hansen, 2017

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

Suave

Magazine article by Richard Ormond, 2015

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

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

A feast of friends

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

Omai, Sir Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, 1775-76

First encounters

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2011

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

Lustre, held by a Groom, ca. 1762 by George Stubbs

Stubbs and the horse

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2015

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.”

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.

Rock Island Bend. Franklin River, South West Tasmania, 1979 by Peter Dombrovskis

Written in Water

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

The stately lotus

Magazine article by The Hon. Dr Kevin Rudd, 2009

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.

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.

Portrait Donors

Listed by year

Honour board

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.

No Laughing Matter

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2002

The biographical exhibition of Barry Humphries was the first display of its kind at the National Portrait Gallery.

Doodles of the Diva

Three tiny sketches of Dame Nellie Melba in the NPG collection were created by the artist who was to go on to paint the most imposing representation of the singer: Rupert Bunny.

Giving a dam

True south #1

Magazine article by Lilly Koltun, 2004

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

Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil de Cavagnial, Marquis de Vaudreuil, ca.1753-55

Canadian identities

An exploration of national identity in the Canadian context drawn from the symposium Face to Face at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2004.

Rethinking foundational histories

Magazine article by Kate Fullagar, 2019

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

Studio portrait of servicewoman Lance Corporal Kathleen Jean Mary (Kath) Walker, c.1942

Past present

Magazine article by Krysia Kitch, 2016

Krysia Kitch celebrates Oodgeroo Noonuccal.

20 20

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2017

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

Revd Dr Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch, c.1795 by Sir Henry Raeburn

Great Scots

Magazine article by Diana O'Neil, 2017

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

Costantini's convictions

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2017

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

The life of Bryant

Magazine article by Tenille Hands, 2018

Tenille Hands explores a portrait prize gifted to the National Screen and Sound Archive.

Women make history

Magazine article by Jennifer Higgie, 2022

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

To the end of the earth

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2011

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 numbers man

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

First-Class Marksman, 1946 by Sidney Nolan

Money for Myth

Magazine article by Jane Raffan, 2015

Australian character on the market by Jane Raffan.

Earth to earth

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2013

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

What price self?

Magazine article by Jane Raffan, 2013

Jane Raffan investigates auction sales of self portraits nationally and internationally.

Getting a head

Magazine article by Alexandra Roginski, 2015

Alexandra Roginski gets a feel for phrenology’s fundamentals.

Sibly irresistible

Magazine article by Alexandra Roginski, 2019

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

Asiel Timor Dei, ca. 1728 by a master of Calamarca

The Viceroyalty of New Spain

Magazine article by Aimee Board, 2017

European painters always enjoyed a good deal of latitude in the representation of angels, those asexual, bodiless, celestial regiments of God, so long as they were young and beautiful.

Progressive pictures

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

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.

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.

History

About us

How the National Portrait Gallery and its unique collection came to be

The Long Awaited, 2008 by Patricia Piccinini

In the flesh

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2015

An exhibition of humanness in ten themes by Penelope Grist.

Rick Amor: 21 Portraits

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2022

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

Portrait of a Pioneer , 1917
Violet Teague

Off her own bat

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

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.

Louise Lovely feeding gulls in a park, 1969 Unknown photographer

Jewelled nights

Magazine article by Dr Anne Sanders, 2017

Anne Sanders celebrates the cinematic union of two pioneering australian women.

Regarding Henrys

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2015

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

Faces of war

Lecture, 14 May 2011

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2013

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.

The shipwright's arms

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

The Right Honourable Sir Ninian Stephen KGAK GCMG GCVO KBE QC, 2006 by Rick Amor

Prima facie

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2019

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

Material culture

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2018

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

Studio portrait of Lord Kitchener, British Secretary of State for War, 1914 by J Russell & Sons

All the way with K of K

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2016

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

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

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.

The art of Inner Worlds

Lecture, 7 May 2011

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

Nicholas Harding: 28 Portraits

Exhibition essay

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

Christmas Island