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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

Search / roslyn lawson

Roslyn Oxley

Biography

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

1 portrait in the collection

The boys, 2006

by Roslyn Oades

Image

Roslyn, 2016

Sally Ross

Portrait, oil on linen

Purchased 2017

Henry Lawson

Biography

Henry Lawson (1867-1922), one of Australia's defining authors, is best known for his short stories and ballads depicting the hardship of bush life.

6 portraits in the collection

Destination Dissociation

Perri Lawson

Image

Henry Lawson,

Joe Greenberg

Portrait, watercolour, crayon, coloured pencil, gouache and fibre-tipped pen on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001

Henry Lawson, c. 1915

William Johnson

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Henry Lawson, c. 1915

William Johnson

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Henry Lawson, 1915

William Johnson

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Purchased 2009

Henry Lawson, c. 1919

Lionel Lindsay

Portrait, pencil, charcoal, pen and ink on paper

Purchased 2010

Henry Lawson, 1919

Lionel Lindsay

Portrait, etching on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Ted and Gina Gregg 2011

Regarding Henrys

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2015

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

Life mask of John Bell, c. 1980

an unknown artist

Portrait, cast plaster

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Roslyn Lawson 2013

The Lawson

Moustaches

It’s curious that one of the writers most associated with the toughness of Australian bush life was himself not an exponent of the matted, rugged bushman sort of beard.

Tony Clark

Biography

Canberra-born artist Tony Clark moved to London with his family in 1960.

1 portrait in the collection

Nelson Illingworth

Biography

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

3 portraits in the collection

Sir George Reid, c. 1895

Nelson Illingworth

Portrait, cast plaster, painted

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

The mahi-mahi, 2019

Rob Palmer

Image

Dan the man

Magazine article by India Bednall, 2015

Martin Philbey’s portrait of Dan Sultan.

William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp

Biography

William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp (1872-1938), governor, was appointed to the position of Governor of NSW in 1899.

1 portrait in the collection

Dame Mary Gilmore DBE

Biography

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

Robert T. Carter

Biography

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

2 portraits in the collection

The Hoff

Moustaches

The image of a hairy swag-wielding bushman might be one popularly associated with Australia in the late nineteenth century.

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

Milligan Bros (Studio)

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

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

Self portrait, 1999/2005

Tracey Moffatt

Portrait, black and white photograph, pen, and hand coloured photograph on paper

Purchased with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AM 2013

Alphonse Pellion

Biography

Alphonse Pellion, artist and naval draughtsman, was a midshipman aboard l'Uranie on Louis de Freycinet's three-year scientific and ethnographic expedition around the world in 1817-1820.

2 portraits in the collection

Tom Thompson

Biography

Tom Thompson (b. 1953) is a publisher and writer. During the 1980s he worked as a journalist at the Sydney Morning Herald and as publishing coordinator of the Encyclopedia of the Australian People (for the Australian Bicentennial Authority) before moving to Collins, for which he developed the Imprint label in 1988.

2 portraits in the collection

Noel McKenna

Biography

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

2 portraits in the collection

John Le Gay Brereton

Biography

John Le Gay Brereton junior (1871–1933), writer and academic, was born in Sydney, the son of a doctor, also John, who had emigrated to Australia in the late 1850s.

1 portrait in the collection

Little Darlings Youth Portrait Prize 2023

Previous exhibition, 2023

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

Sauvages Des Montagnes-Bleues from de Freycinet, Louis - Voyage autour du monde, Paris

Sauvages Des Montagnes-Bleues from de Freycinet, Louis - Voyage autour du monde, Paris, c. 1822

Forget after Alphonse Pellion

Portrait, engraving on paper

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

Senator Bonner, 1990

Robert Campbell Jnr

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Purchased with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2008

The Movie Star (David Gulpilil), 1985

Tracey Moffatt

Portrait, type C photograph on paper

Gift of the artist 1998. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

New South Wales (Earl Beauchamp), 1899

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.

'The crimson thread of kinship' Henry Parkes

'The crimson thread of kinship' Henry Parkes, c. 1898

Nelson Illingworth

Portrait, painted terracotta

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2012

Portrait of Nell #15, 2009

Richard Larter

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint, gesso, binder medium, gel and glitter on canvas

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2014

The sculptor (George Lambert and Arthur Murch)

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

Harold Cazneaux

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Purchased 2015

Some lads #1, 1986

Tracey Moffatt

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Gift of the artist 1998. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Alfred George Stephens

Biography

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

1 portrait in the collection

Dame Mary Gilmore, c. 1938

Lyall Trindall

Portrait, oil on canvas

Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2001

Portrait of Henry Kendall, c. 1890-1894

S. Milbourn Jnr

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on cabinet card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

George Lambert

Biography

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

Robert Campbell Jnr

Biography

Robert Campbell Junior, urban Aboriginal artist, was a Ngaku/Dhunghutti man who grew up in Kempsey, New South Wales.

1 portrait in the collection

Peter Skrzynecki OAM

Biography

Of Polish/Ukrainian descent, Peter Skrzynecki was born in 1945 in Germany and came to Australia with his parents in 1949.

1 portrait in the collection

A blackguard rehearsing - Max Cullen, 2001

David Naseby

Portrait, oil on canvas

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

Henry Kendall

Biography

Henry (Thomas Henry) Kendall (1839-1882) was once regarded as the finest poet Australia had produced.

1 portrait in the collection

George Lambert, c. 1929

Annie May Moore

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Peter Elliott AM

Biography

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

Christopher Brennan

Biography

Christopher Brennan (1870–1932), poet, was born to Irish parents in Sydney.

2 portraits in the collection

Charles Tingwell AM

Biography

Charles 'Bud' Tingwell AM (1923-2009), actor, became the youngest radio announcer in Australia when he was employed at Sydney radio station 2CH as a cadet.

1 portrait in the collection

The 1890s to the 1940s

Mo and beard timeline

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

Maria Kozic

Biography

Maria Kozic (b. 1957), painter and sculptor, and Philip Brophy (b. 1959), film director, composer, performer and curator, collaborated in the avant-garde performance/happening group ??? (spoken as tsk tsk tsk) and other projects between 1977 and the mid-1980s.

1 portrait in the collection

William Charles Wentworth -The Australian Patriot

William Wentworth

Biography

William Wentworth (1790-1872) was a landowner, barrister and statesman.

2 portraits in the collection

A G Stephens, c. 1910 (printed later)

an unknown artist

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Phillip Brophy

Biography

1 portrait in the collection

Maria Kozic and Philip Brophy 1, 1981, 1981 (printed 2012)

Robert Rooney

Portrait, inkjet print on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Arthur Murch

Biography

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

Stephen Murray-Smith

Biography

Stephen Murray-Smith (1922-1988), writer and editor, was educated at Geelong Grammar and the University of Melbourne before serving in New Guinea during World War 2.

1 portrait in the collection

Stephen Murray-Smith, 1980

Fred Williams

Portrait, oil on canvas

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Lyn Williams AM 2011
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

William Charles Wentworth, 1854

Thomas Woolner

Portrait, cast bronze relief medallion

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

Nicholas Harding

28 Portraits

Previous exhibition, 2017

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

Bloodlines

Magazine article by Michelle Fracaro, 2004

Michelle Fracaro describes Lionel Lindsay's woodcut The Jester (self-portrait).

Self-nature is subtle and mysterious - Tree Woman / Woman Tree

Nell

Biography

Born in Maitland, New South Wales in 1975, Nell is a multidisciplinary artist working across painting, sculpture, video and performance.

3 portraits in the collection

Heartfelt

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2009

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

Primed

Some Prime Ministers

Previous exhibition, 2019

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

Time and light

In Gallery Seven

Previous exhibition, 2023

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.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2020

Previous exhibition, 2020

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

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and his wife Theresa

Husbands and Wives

Photographic Portraits from 19th Century Australia

Previous exhibition, 2010

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

To Look Within

Self Portraits in Australia

Previous exhibition, 2004

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

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.

I'm not there

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2008

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

A potpourri of portraits

Magazine article by Natalie Wilson, 2023

Archie 100 curator (and detective) Natalie Wilson’s nationwide search for Archibald portraits unearthed the fascinating stories behind some long-lost treasures.

Of jumpers and river gums, red

Magazine article by Diana O'Neil, 2016

Diana O’Neil on Noel Counihan’s vivid 1971 portrait of Alan Marshall.

Portrait Donors

Listed by year

Honour board

Through thick and thin

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2017

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

The Wentworths – Hidden in Plain Sight

Magazine article by Dr Grace Blakeley-Carroll, 2015

Grace Carroll on the gendered world of the Wentworths.

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.’

Robyn Sweaney

Explore The Popular Pet Show

Robyn's parents had two terriers, Wuff and Snuff. In spite of Snuff’s ominous name and a couple of close shaves – once, he jumped out of a moving car, and another time, on a long road trip, he was accidentally left behind at a petrol station – he outlived Wuff.

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.

Getting a head

Magazine article by Alexandra Roginski, 2015

Alexandra Roginski gets a feel for phrenology’s fundamentals.

Nicholas Harding: 28 Portraits

Exhibition essay

General content

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

Practising the Minuet (Miss Hilda Spong)

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.

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

Petal to the mettle

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2019

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

Some prime ministers

General content

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

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