Search / tom roberts

Portrait of Mrs Tom Roberts, 1910

Purchased with the assistance of funds provided by the Circle of Friends 2013

Thirty Three Weeks, 2013

Opening of the first Parliament of the Australian Commonwealth, 9th May 1901, 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Penny Amberg and Andrew Bond 2001
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Hera Roberts, 1936

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

Ian Roberts (after Coypel 1709), 2003

Gift of the artist 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Tom Roberts, 1920

Gift of Gerard Vaughan 2001

Practising the Minuet (Miss Hilda Spong), 1893

Purchased with funds provided by the Ian Potter Foundation 2008

Sir William Charles Windeyer, 1892

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

Go Figure!

Claire Roberts interviews Swiss art collector Uli Sigg.

Sketch portrait of Sir Alex Onslow, 1896

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2006

James T. Donovan, 1892

Purchased 2015

Ben Roberts-Smith, 2017

Commissioned in 2018 with funds raised through the 2020 project

Miss Elizabeth Roberts, 1830

Purchased 2013

Rhoda Roberts, c. 2000

Gift of the artist 2004

Julian Burnside AO KC, 2004 (printed 2012)

Purchased 2012

Prue Acton, 2012

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Cardinal George Pell, 2007 (printed 2012)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Sir James Reading Fairfax, 1898

Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Portrait of George Selth Coppin, c. 1895-1899

Purchased with funds provided by Mary Isabel Murphy 2004

Super League

The portrait of Ian Roberts by Ross Watson.

Professor Brian Schmidt, 2015

Commissioned 2015

An actress and her fans

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.

Picture this...

This edited version of a speech by Andrew Sayers examines some of the antecedents of the National Portrait Gallery and set out the ideas behind the modern Gallery and its collection.

H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh and Suite in Mining Costume after descending the Band of Hope Gold Mine, Ballarat, Australia, 1867

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020

Annie Roberts, 1878

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Reg, Lesley, Glen and Paul Thoms 2011

Charles Warman Roberts, 1878

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Thoms family 2011

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.

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.

Who is Lillie Roberts?

Talented wife for a talented husband

Bob Croll of the AAA Vic., 1916

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Ben Roberts-Smith, 2018

Commissioned in 2018 with funds raised through the 2020 project

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

Purchased 2001

Arthur Streeton, c. 1890

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Practising the Minuet

Broadway star Miss Hilda Spong was painted by Tom Roberts in 1893.

Duchess of Cornwall and York (later Queen Mary), 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

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

Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V), 1901

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015

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

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Robert Henderson Croll, 1927

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.

Yang Na

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

Liu Wei

Born 1965 in Beijing. Lives and works in Beijing.

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.

The Cosmopolitans

Spanning the 1880s to the 1930s, this collection display celebrates the innovations in art – and life – introduced by the generation of Australians who travelled to London and Paris for experience and inspiration in the decades either side of 1900.

Rong Rong

Born Li Zhirong 1968, Zhangzhou, Fujian Province. Lives and works in Beijing.

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

A Life in Service

Artist Mandy Martin describes the creation of her portrait of Aldo Giurgola, principal architect of Australia's Parliament House.

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.

Fang Lijun

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

About the exhibition

Portraits from the Sigg collection, from 1979 to the present including painting, sculpture, photography, video and installation.

Henry Fullwood (Uncle Remus), 1919

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

Zhang Xiaogang

Born 1958, Kunming, Yunnan Province. Lives and works in Beijing.

Grow the Portrait Gallery of Australia

The Portrait Gallery is calling for contributions to support in the acquisition of superb portraits for the national collection.

Self portrait, Cyprus, 1953

Purchased 2001

The Colonel (Portrait of Walter Withers), 1896

Purchased 2009

Yu Hong

Born 1966 in Beijing, China. Lives and works in Beijing.

Heads of the People

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

Chinese Art

A short overview of modern Chinese art from 1949 to the present.

Barbara Robison, 1935

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

References

About the exhibition curator Claire Roberts, and writers Eugene Wang and Zhang Letian.

The Cosmopolitans

Spanning the 1880s to the 1930s, this collection display celebrates the innovations in art – and life – introduced by the generation of Australians who travelled to London and Paris for experience and inspiration in the decades either side of 1900.

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.

Aldo Giurgola, 2005

Gift of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects 2005

Society of Artists Selection Committee, 1907

Purchased 2008

Empire records

Celebrates the centenary of the first national art collection, the Historic Memorials Collection, housed at Australia's Parliament House.

Icons and Identities

It’s often thought that foremost among portraiture’s many functions is the documentation of individuals who are celebrated and familiar, or who best exemplify the temper and identity of a certain place at a certain time.

The considered life

Andrew Sayers asks whether a portrait can truly be the examination of a life.

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.

Self portrait as Sarah Wisse, Transported, 1996

Gift of the Karmel family in memory of Lena and Peter Karmel 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

A Captured Moment

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

Max Dupain

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

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.

Husbands and Wives

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

Go Figure! Contemporary Chinese Portraiture

Exhibited simultaneously at the two locations, Go Figure! is drawn from the Sigg Collection, the largest and most significant collection of contemporary Chinese art anywhere in the world.

Lord Kitchener

Once central to military strategy and venerated in patriotic households, Lord Kitchener is now largely forgotten.

Vanity Fair Portraits

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

The Fairfax Gift

This article examines the portraits gifted to the National Portrait Gallery by Fairfax Holdings in 2003.

Tribute: Mary Isabel Murphy

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

Australian Love Stories

A major new exhibition celebrating love in all its guises. Opening 20 March 2021.

Worth her salt

Jerrold Nathan's portrait of Jessie Street shows the elegant side of a many-faceted lady.

2021 Annual Appeal

In 2021 the Annual Appeal was focussed on Peter Brew-Bevan's portraits of athletes Turia Pitt, Leisel Jones OAM and Ellie Cole OAM.

Blow Back, 2018

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

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.

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.

Harriet Schwarzrock: spaces between movement and stillness

To celebrate the new exhibition Australian Love Stories, renowned Australian glass artist Harriet Schwarzrock has been commissioned to make a large-scale installation reflecting on the role the heart plays as our emotional centre.

To Look Within

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

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.

Illuminating history

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

In the galleries

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

All dressed up

Jane Raffan asks do clothes make the portrait, and can the same work with a new title fetch a better price?

Private virtues public lives

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

Kiwi magpie

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

Be frank

Close encounters are the genesis for Graeme Drendel’s enticing portraiture.

Annual Appeal

Where the wild things are

Michael Desmond explores the complex portrait of Dr Bob Brown by Harold 'The Kangaroo' Thornton.

Support Crew

Portraits of philanthropists in the collection honour their contributions to Australia and acknowledge their support of the National Portrait Gallery.

Judicial portraits

Leslie Moran investigates the portraits of judges in the National Portrait Gallery's collection.

Conflicting images

Michael Desmond reveals the origins of composite portraits and their evolution in the pursuit of the ideal.

Vintage Max

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

Small worlds

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

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.

Arcadia: Sound of the sea

One night in the spring of 1970 in an old house in Whale Beach, north of Sydney, John Witzig, Albe Falzon and David Elfick put together the first issue of Tracks, playing Neil Young’s album Harvest over and over again as they pasted up galleys of type.

Money and swat

Andrew Sayers discusses the real cost of George Lambert's Self portrait with gladioli 1922.

The Multifarious Career of George Selth Coppin

George Selth Coppin (1819-1906) comedian, impresario and entrepreneur, was a driving force of the early Australian theatre.

Petal to the mettle

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

You are who?

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

Splendid, many-splendoured

Sandra Bruce gazes on love and the portrait through Australian Love Stories’ multi-faceted prism.

Everybody, look serious

Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2014 Prize.

Lauded legacy

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

Money for Myth

Australian character on the market by Jane Raffan.

Out of the shadows

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

The Vanity model

Vanity Fair Editor David Friend describes how the rebirth of the magazine sated our desire for access into the lives of celebrities and set the standard for the new era of portrait photography.

History

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

Love my way

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

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.

Regarding Henrys

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

Portrait Donors

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.

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.

Some prime ministers

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