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Stephen, Russell and David Page, c. 2000

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2004

Stephen and Russell Page, 1993 (printed 2011)

Gift of Robert Rosen 2012

Russell Page in Venice, 1997

Purchased 2002

Russell Page in Venice

Russell Page in Venice

Russell Page in Venice

Some lads #1, 1986

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

The New Arrivals at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, 1941

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Bequest of Lady Maisie Drysdale 2001

Sir Clive McPherson, early 1950s

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Marion Orme Page 2016

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

Gift of the Estate of Marion Orme Page 2016

Russell Drysdale

Recorded 1960

The artist Marc Clark, 2019

Peter Russell-Clarke

Peter Russell-Clarke on colour in painting and cooking.

Russell Drysdale, c. 1945

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

Russell Drysdale, 1960

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2004
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Self portrait, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Peter Russell-Clarke

Recorded 2022

Russell Goward, Westmex,

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001

Tim Fairfax AC, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by The Calvert-Jones Foundation 2018

Russell Sands, n.d.

Purchased 2011

Russell Crowe, 1995 (printed 2016)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Russell Crowe, 2001 (printed 2004)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005

Russell Drysdale, Woollahra, Sydney, 1964 (printed 2000)

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

Russell Drysdale, Tallow Beach, New South Wales, 1969 (printed 2000)

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

Sir Walter Crocker, 1995

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dr Robert Crocker 2003

Inspiration + Realisation: John Singer Sargent

Katherine Russell examines the art of Australian artist Paul Newton, referencing the portraiture of John Singer Sargent.

Steve Waugh, 2001

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2002

Inspiration + Realisation: Peter Wegner

Peter Wegner's approach to portraiture could be considered a visual record of the rapport, the dynamic space between artist and subject.

Henry Chamberlain Russell and family at Sydney Observatory, c. 1895

Gift of Joanna Russell Maher (née Windeyer) 2018

Rada Penfold Russell, n.d.

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

Russell Drysdale and Peter Sculthorpe, Tallow Beach, New South Wales, 1969 (printed 2000)

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

Lady Flo, 2011

Be bold

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

Lord John Russell, 1844

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Australian Princess

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

Woburn Sheepshearing, 1811

Purchased 2018

Russell Hopkinson (You Am I), 1995

Gift of the artists 2003

Stephen Ridgeway and Stephen Russell, c. 2000

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2004

The Sands Brothers, c. 1940s

Purchased 2011

David Potts reflected in a magazine page, c. 1949 (printed 2000)

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

Bangarra brothers: songman, storyteller, dancer

Creative kin

Francis Russell Nixon, c. 1845-1855

Purchased 2009

Tim Fairfax, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by The Calvert-Jones Foundation 2018

Scrapbook page featuring portraits of Fred Lowry and Frank Gardiner, c. 1863

Purchased 2008

'The Australian Cricketers' from The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News June 1882, page 2

'The Australian Cricketers' from The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News June 1882, page 1

Adela Russell Walker, 1864

Purchased 2022

Maria Windeyer, c. 1860s

Gift of Joanna Russell Maher (née Windeyer) 2018

Maisie, 1938-1939

Bequest of Lady Maisie Drysdale 2001

Voyage de Découvertes aux Terres Australes folio atlas (second edition), 1824

Purchased 2017

Album of cartes de visite and cabinet card photograph including a portrait of John Tebbutt, c. 1870s

Gift of Mike MacPhail 2010

The Chameleon IV, 2015

The Movie Star (David Gulpilil), 1985

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

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

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

Tommy Woodcock and Reckless, 1977 (printed 2010)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by James Bain AM and Janette Bain 2010

Famous

Australian photographer Karin Catt has photographed world leaders, a host of rock stars and Oscar-winning compatriots Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, and Cate Blanchett.

Alfie Sands, c. 1940s

Purchased 2011

George Sands, c. 1940s

Purchased 2011

Clem Sands, c. 1940s

Purchased 2011

Jacob Nash, 2017

Gift of the artist 2020. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Renew your membership

Renew your Circle of Friends membership online, over the phone or in person.

PROMO

This exhibition goes behind-the-scenes and into the spotlight with professional photographers and the stars of Australian television, music and comedy. Whether negotiating the logistics of a big publicity shoot or quietly capturing moments on set during filming, the photographers' stories are intriguing and compelling.

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Charmed by the Rose

Anthony Browell reminisces about meeting Rose Lindsay, the wife of Australian artist Norman Lindsay.

Humour’s warm refuge

Angus Trumble pays tribute to John Clarke.

Join the Circle of Friends

Sign up online, by mail or in person to receive all the benefits of being a member of the Circle of Friends.

Self, titled, 2013

Finalist, MDPA 2013

Self portrait, Cyprus, 1953

Purchased 2001

The Last Paul Mumme Work, 2015

Finalist, DPA 2016

Milestones

This month I turn fifty, soI am just now looking rather more closely than usual at Fiona Foley, Steven Heathcote, Brenda Croft, Russell Crowe, Jeff Fenech, Akira Isogawa, Lee Kernaghan, My Le Thi, Shona Wilson and Mark Taylor AO, mindful that they too were 1964 arrivals. 

Gladys Moncrieff album,

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Paul Haefliger, 1974

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

Sketches and sermons

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

Peter Sculthorpe, c. 1969

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1998

David Malouf

Recorded 2016

Sam Haskins

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

Paul Beadle, c. 1950

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

Rudy Komon, c. 1970

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

Polly Borland on Germaine Greer

Recorded 2017

Eric Thake

Recorded 1961

Children of the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2016

Senses, movement and imagination in portraits of children from the 2016 Prize. For Year 1 - 3 students.

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

Gift of Anne and Brennan Keats 2009

Ivy Shore, 1961

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Harvey and Russell Shore 2014

Self portrait, 1949

Gift of Dr Gene Sherman AM and Brian Sherman AM 2012. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Ann Mary Windeyer, 1847

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

Artists' space

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.

Dave Sands, c. 1940s

Purchased 2011

Margaret Olley, 1995

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of The Hammond Care Group 1999

Dillon Kombumerri, c. 2000

Gift of the artist 2004

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

Purchased 2014

Guy Pearce, 2000 (printed 2004)

Purchased 2005

David Gulpilil, c. 1981

Gift of the artist 2005. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Social media and community guidelines

Portrait of Alan Marshall, 1955

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999

Peter Elliott, 1964

Gift of Richard Elliott 2016. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Elaine Haxton, c. 1940s

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

The Bushranger Tragedy (from The Australasian Sketcher, 23 November 1878), 1878

Purchased 2003

Dame Mary Gilmore, c. 1938

Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2001

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

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

Megan Gale, 2002

Gift of the artist 2006

Leisel Jones, 2015 (printed 2021)

Purchased with funds provided by the Annual Appeal for Contemporary Australian Photography 2021

Margaret Olley, 1998

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

Steve Kilbey, 1981 (printed 2018)

Purchased with funds provided by Wayne Williams 2018

Thomas and John Clarke, bushrangers, photographed in Braidwood Gaol, 1867

Purchased 2019

Steven Heathcote, 2007

Gift of the artist 2008

No shirt, no service

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

Sketchbook journal for the commission portrait "The Dance - David McAllister", 2016

Commissioned with funds provided by The Stuart Leslie Foundation 2016

2012-13 Acquisition Fund

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

Gulpilil (David) Dreaming - Kakadu 2006, 2006

Gift of the artist 2008

Andy Kent (You Am I), 1995

Gift of the artists 2003

Tim Rogers (You Am I), 1995

Gift of the artists 2003

David Gulpilil, Arnhem Land, 1981 (printed 2000)

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

David Williamson

Recorded 1976

Yang Na

Born 1983, Chongqing, Sichuan Province. Lives and works in Beijing.

Icons Syndicate

Richard Tognetti, n.d.

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

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Glossy - Faces Magazines Now

Magazines are the portrait galleries of the 90s... Glossy is about magazines. The exhibition presents the work of eight photographers, Australian by birth or long-term residency, who are producing portraits for publication in magazines around the world.

Australians in Hollywood

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

The World of Thea Proctor

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

Portrait of David Dridan, 1992

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of David Dridan OAM 2017

Headspace 7

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

J.C. Williamson, c. 1913

Gift of the family of Aimée Viola Horsley, daughter of J.C. Williamson 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Masters of Fare

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

Ed Murrow, New York, 1956 (printed 2000)

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

Time and light

This sample of 56 photographs takes in some of the smallest photographs we own and some of the largest, some of the earliest and some of the most recent, as well as multiple photographic processes from daguerreotypes to digital media.

Contact us

Find a contact at the National Portrait Gallery.

9 lives of Karin Catt

Australian photographer Karin Catt has shot across the spectrum of celebrity, her subjects including rock stars, world leaders and actors.

Dancer

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

Xavier Herbert, early 1980s (printed 2018)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

The Winner of the Digital Portraiture Award 2016 is...

The winner of the Digital Portraiture Award 2016 has been announced. Congratulations to Amiel Courtin-Wilson for his submission titled Charles.

David Cossini

Godfrey's amazing man. I've known him for four years now. He has a very tough story.

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Open Air

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

Illuminating history

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

Nicholas Harding

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

Mugshots

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

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2024

The National Photographic Portrait Prize is an annual event intending to promote the very best in contemporary photographic portraiture by both professional and aspiring Australian photographers.

A Captured Moment

The acquisition of David Moore's archive of portrait photographs for the National Portrait Gallery's collection.

The Burke and Wills Monument, 1869

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

National Portrait Gallery unveils twenty new portrait commissions to celebrate twenty years

The National Portrait Gallery has unveiled twenty new portrait commissions of Australian leaders and individualists as part of its twentieth birthday celebrations in a new exhibition, 20/20: Celebrating twenty years with twenty new portrait commissions.

Judy Cassab

The artist's diary profiles six decades of Cassab's work, from the early portrait commissions of the 1950s to later paintings that have helped confirm her eminent place in the canon of Australian portraiture.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2020

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

Charles Summers, late 1860s

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

Australians in Hollywood

The exhibition Australians in Hollywood celebrated the achievements of Australians in the highly competitive American film industry.

Missing Persons

Desperately seeking Woolner medallions

Richard Tognetti #1510, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Peter Weiss AO 2018

Sideshow Alley

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

The Story So Far...

A reflection on the National Portrait Gallery's first four years.

Restoring histories

Photographic conservation practices and the restoration of the Barbara Blackman photographic portrait.

Penn on paper

Michael Desmond discusses Irving Penn's photographic portrait of Nicole Kidman.

Uncommon Australians

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

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

Gift of the artist 2011

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022

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

Fang Lijun

Born 1963, Handan, Hebei Province China. Lives and works in Beijing.

Australian Visit

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

Indexing, the art of

The first index I created was for my first book, and, to my astonishment, that was almost twenty-five years ago.

The Destruction of the Kelly gang (from The Australasian Sketcher, 17 July 1880), 1880

Purchased 2017

Beguiling impressions

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

To Look Within

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

Catholic clergymen from the Diocese of Adelaide, c. 1862

Purchased 2018

Australian of the Year

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

A quiet moment

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

Portrait Donors

Velasquez Touch

Former NPG Director, Andrew Sayers, explores the creative collaborations between four Australian artists living in Paris during the first years of the twentieth century.

Insightful

Henri-Cartier-Bresson invented the grammar for photographing life in the 20th century.

The personal and the historical

Where do we draw a line between the personal and the historical? Although she died in Melbourne in 1975, when I was not quite eleven years old, I have the vividest memories of my maternal grandmother Helen Borthwick.

Small worlds

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

Relaxed mornings

Access support for a visiting the Gallery before the general 10:00am opening time.

Key Outcome Area 2

Creating liveable communities for people with disability is more than modifying the physical environment.

Announcing.... In their own words

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

Happy New Year

This year (in March) we will celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the formal establishment of the National Portrait Gallery. In the life of institutions, twenty years is not a long time.

Copyright and reproductions

Request a digital copy of an image for publication

Off the wall

2023 Annual Appeal

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

Drawn from life

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

Paper, boy

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

The National Photographic Portrait Prize turns ten

It is now a little more than 178 years since the French Academy of Sciences was made aware of the invention of the daguerreotype process.

The selfie stick

Last week ABC Television came to interview me about selfie sticks. The story was prompted by the announcement that the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has lately prohibited the use of these inside their galleries. So far as I am aware we have not yet encountered the phenomenon, but no doubt we will before too long.

Myself and Eye

Magda Keaney speaks with Lewis Morley about his photographic career and the major retrospective of his work on display at the NPG.

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.

All in the Family

In 2000, Barbara Blackman donated a portrait of her close friends - poet Judith Wright, her husband Jack McKinney and their daughter Meredith - painted by Charles Blackman.

Visiting the National Portrait Gallery

Access support for a general visit to the Gallery.

Seeing stars

Joanna Gilmour explores photographic depictions of Aboriginal sportsmen including Lionel Rose, Dave Sands, Jerry Jerome and Douglas Nicholls.

The real Thea

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

You are who?

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

High & Bligh

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

Arianne McNaught

An interview with the photographer.

Corporate Characters

A collection of thirty-seven caricatures by the artist Joe Greenberg capture the heroes and villians of Australian business in the 1980s.

International issue

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

The story of us

Gallery directors Karen Quinlan and Tony Ellwood talk to Penelope Grist about the NPG and NGV collaborative exhibition, Who Are You: Australian Portraiture.

The Philosophy of Teapots and Ducks

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

Painting writing

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

Top shot that

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

Portraits and other stories

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.

Hyperversity

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

Nadiah Bamadhaj

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

Waiting for Godot

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

The play’s the thing

Penelope Grist charts an immersive path through Stuart Spence’s photography.

Something old, something new

Andrew Mayo considers the changing face of modern wedding photography through the eyes of two of its finest exponents, Dan O’Day and Kelly Tunney.

The Lawrence lustre

Angus Trumble salutes the glorious portraiture of Sir Thomas Lawrence.

In the galleries

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

Good, bad and the ugly

Michael Desmond explores what makes a portrait subject significant.

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.

No Laughing Matter

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

Giving a dam

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

Terms and conditions

These terms and conditions govern entries to the National Portrait Gallery’s Darling Portrait Prize 2024.

Rock star

Jennifer Coombes explores the lush images of Picnic at Hanging Rock, featuring Anne-Louise Lambert’s Miranda, the face of the film. 

It's a Mora!

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

Rock art

Andrew Mayo talks to three of Australia’s most prominent and prolific music photographers — Martin Philbey, Kane Hibberd and Daniel Boud — about the challenges and inspiration behind their craft.

Heartfelt

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

The importance of being bearded

Joanna Gilmour discovers that the beards of the ill-fated explorers Burke and Wills were as epic as their expedition to traverse Australia from south to north.

The life of Bryant

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

Embrace your inner nerd

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

Shiny, happy people

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

Friends and Acquaintances

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

Money for Myth

Australian character on the market by Jane Raffan.

Big bouquet of Blackmans

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

Cultural kaleidoscope

The complex connections between four creative Australians; Patrick White, Sidney Nolan, Robert Helpmann and Peter Sculthorpe.

What price self?

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

Terms and conditions

Lucy Culliton

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

Flash mob

Sarah Engledow trains her exacting lens on the nine photographs from 20/20.

20/20 launch speech

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

The catechist and the cricketer

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

Naked nostalgia

Penelope Grist reminisces about the halcyon days of a print icon, before the infusion of the internet’s shades of grey.

Regarding Henrys

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

Portraiture in a Bleak House

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

Petal to the mettle

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

The silent partner

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

All the way with K of K

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

Inner Worlds and psychoanalysis

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

The art of Inner Worlds

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

Rick Amor: 21 Portraits

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

Nicholas Harding: 28 Portraits

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