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Charlie's angles

Stephen Phillips talks to neurosurgeon Charlie Teo about his practice, perspectives and the anatomy of hope.

The look and the feel

Editor Stephen Phillips looks at the finalists' photographs through a judge's lens.

Shop Talk

Angus and the arbiters talk (photo) shop for the National Photographic Portrait Prize.

Stephen Ridgeway and Stephen Russell, c. 2000

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2004

Ina Gregory, c. 1895

Purchased 2012

Untitled, 2016

Transition: Nikki & Nick, 2011

Exposed: Voyeurism Surveillance and the camera since 1870

The Tate/SFMOMA exhibition Exposed examined the role of photography in voyeurism and how it challenges ideas of privacy and propriety.

Activating the space

Sandra Phillips on portraits of Indigenous activism from Cairns Art Gallery’s 2019 Queen’s Land Blak Portraiture exhibition.

Erin Phillips OAM, 2022

Gift of the artist 2022

Portrait of Sir Joseph Banks, c. 1814

Purchased 2011

Ellen Stirling, c. 1828

Purchased with funds provided by the Ian Potter Foundation 2008

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

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Sir Joseph Banks, 1840s

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

Captain Sir John Franklin, Kt, KCH, KRG, DCL, FRS & c. Commander of the Arctic Expedition, 1845, c. 1847

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

Osher, 2018

Owen Yalandja, 2009

Woman, child and a parrot, 2012

Stephen Murray-Smith

Recorded 1961

Catholic clergymen from the Diocese of Adelaide, c. 1862

Purchased 2018

Recollections of a sinologist sitter

Professor Stephen Fitzgerald, Australia’s first Ambassador to China, traces the historical course from sino-australian cultural engagement to a maturing Australian identity.

The catechist and the cricketer

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

Adam Cullen, 2008

The existential lens

Stephen Zagala discusses Richard Avedon’s work from an Australian perspective.

Stephen Murray-Smith, 1980

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

"Lao Fei" Stephen FitzGerald, 2003

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dalu Zhao 2011
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Dr Stephen Fitzgerald, late 1970s

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Lily Kahan 2006
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Alfred Stephen, 1885

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Sir Ninian Stephen, 1984

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

Henry Bathurst, Earl Bathurst, 1810

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

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.

Stephen and Russell Page, 1993 (printed 2011)

Gift of Robert Rosen 2012

Stephen, Russell and David Page, c. 2000

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2004

Stephen Dupont, 2018

Stephen and Angelo

Portrait of Louise Forthun in front of a Stephen Bram, 1992

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

John Sumner, 1984

Gift of Professor David Phillips 2023

Bangarra brothers: songman, storyteller, dancer

Creative kin

Sir Charles Nicholson, 1898

Gift of Stephen Scheding and Jim Berry 2015

National Portrait Gallery takes out top gong in MAPDA awards

The National Portrait Gallery is thrilled to be named the winner of the Museums Australasia Multimedia and Publication Design Awards in the category of exhibition major catalogue level B, for our publication So Fine: Contemporary women artists make Australian history.

Steven Heathcote, 2007

Gift of the artist 2008

Sunny day, 2019

Some lads #1, 1986

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

Get Wet series (David Twohill)

Get Wet series (Martin Plaza)

Get Wet series (Peter O'Doherty)

Get Wet series (Reg Mombassa)

Get Wet series (Greedy Smith)

Impressions

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.

Young Mo (Roy Rene), 1977

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

Mr and Mrs Case, 1864

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Portrait of Ruth Cracknell as the Sibyl, 1995

Purchased 2000

Peter Porter, 2004

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2004

Magna Carta

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

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

Purchased 2014

Portrait 64

Marian Anderson, emerging photographer Charles Dennington, piscatorial portraits, and the poignant path of photographer Polixeni Papapetrou and more.

William Barak

David Gulpilil, c. 1981

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

NAIDOC Portraits

Celebrate NAIDOC: Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud and Proud and First Nations portraiture in these live National Portrait Gallery programs for primary students. Bookings via DART.

What the tree saw: David Foster, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by the Sid and Fiona Myer Family Foundation 2018

Yami Lester speaks at Uluru Handback Ceremony, 1985 (printed 2003)

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

Edward Henty, late 19th century

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Tim Clark 2018

Portrait of Alan Marshall, 1955

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999

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

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

George Gregan, 1999 (printed 2001)

Purchased 2001

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

Purchased 2019

The Wonder Years

Sarah Hill introduces the portrait busts of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Captain Charles Ulm by Enid Fleming.

Gulpilil (David) Dreaming - Kakadu 2006, 2006

Gift of the artist 2008

Portrait 65

Hugh Ramsay, the fashion of Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson, Peter Wegner's centenarian series, John and Elizabeth Gould's family connections, Karen Quinlan's top five portraits and more.

Dancer

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

Presence and Absence

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

Jacob Nash, 2017

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

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

Russell Page in Venice, 1997

Purchased 2002

Axe Me Biggie

Australian photojournalist Stephen Dupont's Afghanistan project captures the human experience of a country in reconstruction.

Of Kings and men

This display celebrates 100 years of the Historic Memorials Collection and its role in commissioning portraits of parliamentary and judicial figures in Australia.

Matthew Abbott

An interview with the photographer.

Snap decisions

NPPP judge Robert Cook provides irreverent insight into this year’s fare, and having to be a bit judgemental.

Peter Brew-Bevan Portraits

In this exhibition Sydney based photographer Peter Brew-Bevan brings together an intimate collection of works that highlight his passion for the genre of portraiture over the last 10 years

Country man

Angus Trumble’s tribute to the late Right Honourable Malcolm Fraser.

Finalists announced for National Photographic Portrait Prize

The National Portrait Gallery would like to congratulate the forty finalists for the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018

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

Blow Back, 2018

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

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018

Images for media use will be available from 8 March 2018.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022

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

Prima facie

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

How to be a boy

Christopher Chapman profiles Chris Lilley, actor and creator of Angry Boys.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2009

In its second year at the National Portrait Gallery, and for the first time touring to other venues, the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2009 continues to present surprising perspectives on the nature of contemporary portrait photography.

In a good paddock

Celebrating a new painted portrait of Joseph Banks, Sarah Engledow spins a yarn of the naturalist, the first kangaroo in France and Don, a Spanish ram.

What the tree saw: David Foster, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by the Sid and Fiona Myer Family Foundation 2018

Love my way

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

Duty bound

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

Birds of a feather

Charting a path from cockatiel to finch, Annette Twyman explores her family portraits and stories.

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.

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.

Anthony Anderton

An interview with the photographer.

Arthur as Alyosha?

Patrick McCaughey explores a striking Boyd self portrait.

Alwar Balasubramaniam

Born in 1971 in Tamil Nadu, Southern India, Alwar Balasubramaniam's sculptures, prints and installations challenge our perceptions while creating forms for the invisible and the intangible.

Painting them gently

Penny Grist on motivation, method and melancholy in the portraiture of Darren McDonald.

Paper weight

Joanna Gilmour delves into a collection display that celebrates the immediacy and potency of drawing as an art form in its own right.

The alchemist’s profile

John Zubrzycki meets Australian paint pioneer Jim Cobb.

Small worlds

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

Poison pen

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

Hyperversity

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

A man of superior attainments

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

Adam’s Prize Apples

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

Empirical art

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

Unbuttoning uniforms

Sharon Peoples contemplates costumes and the construction of identity.

Illuminating history

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

Unknown drawer

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

Nicholas Harding

Over the years the young Nicholas Harding got his hands on various mice and guinea pigs, but they served mainly to illustrate the concept of mortality. 

Portrait Donors

Poise and Carats

I keep going back to Cartier: The Exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia next door, and, within the exhibition, to Princess Marie Louise’s diamond, pearl and sapphire Indian tiara (1923), surely one of the most superb head ornaments ever conceived.

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.

Uncommon Australians

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

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.

Faces of war

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.

Less than six degrees of separation

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