Search / valerie taylor

Ron and Valerie Taylor, n.d.

Gift of Valerie Taylor and Ron Taylor AM 2006

Valerie Kirk

Born: 1957, Dumfriesshire, Scotland
Works: Canberra

Boobook, 2016

Robert, 2010

Sebastien Malone, 2014

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

Mark Taylor, 1999

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 1999

Howard Taylor, 1988 (printed 2001)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Howard Taylor, 1988 (printed 2001)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Noah Taylor, 1994 (printed 2010)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2010

Taylor Cooper, 2021

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

Paul Taylor 1, 1984, 1984 (printed 2012)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

The first Australian first-class cricket team to tour England and North America, 1878

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

Taylor Square, 2009

Taylor, Shorncliffe, 2008

The Unbreakable, 2018

Album of portraits of family of William Taylor Macpherson, c. 1880

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

Annual Appeal

Contributing artists

Find out more from each of the artists reinterpreting and reimagining elements of Australian history.

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.

2012-13 Acquisition Fund

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

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2024

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.

Portrait 54

Explore an Indian treasure trove, photography by Robert McFarlane and Nan Goldin, Michael Taylor's expressionist paintings, the Great War portraits, and more!

Living landscape

Gillian Raymond ponders landscapes as self-portraiture in Michael Taylor’s intimate expressionism.

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. 

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.

Self portrait, 2006

Gift of Dr Phillip Dutton and Valerie Dutton 2013. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Radclyffe Hall

2022 Annual Appeal

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.

2015-17 Acquisition Fund

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.

From riot to revelry

Pride, protest, panache

Guy Pearce, 2000 (printed 2004)

Purchased 2005

Tony Bilson, c. 2005

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Tony Bilson 2008

Animated

Animated is the National Portrait Gallery's first online exhibition.

Steve Waugh, 2001

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2002

So Fine

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.

Cecil Beaton

Accomplished illustrator, painter, writer and diarist, set designer and one of the most distinguished photographers of the twentieth century, Cecil Beaton is renowned for his portraits of well known faces from the worlds of fashion, literature, and film.

Selected images

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

Robert Oatley AO

The National Portrait Gallery mourns the loss of one our most generous benefactors, Robert Oatley AO.

Sporting Archibald

TW Edgeworth David and Vilhjalmur Stefansson, 1924

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

The Board

The Board oversees the Gallery's strategic directions, objectives and governance.

Headspace 1

Headspace showcases portrait art produced by secondary students from Year 7 to Year 12 in Government, Catholic and Independent schools in Canberra and its surrounding regions extending to Wollongong, Deniliquin, Leeton, Crookwell, Bombala, Narooma and Albury

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

2020 Annual Appeal

In 2020 the Annual Appeal was focussed on Sally Robinson's remarkable portrait of author Tim Winton.

Natural born stiller

Penelope Grist speaks to Robert McFarlane about shooting for the stars.

Australian of the Year

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

Being Cate

A moving portrait of Cate Blanchett unfolds as an inspired pairing of medium and subject.

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.

Making Portraits

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

Glamour vs grunge

Christopher Chapman examines the battle of glamour vs. grunge which played out in the fashion and advertising of the 1990s.

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.

The aviatrix

Joanna Gilmour explores the extraordinary life of Australian female aviator Nancy Bird Walton AO OBE

So Fine

The National Portrait Gallery is pleased to announce its winter exhibition is So Fine: Contemporary women artists make Australian history. It will open to the public from 29 June 2018.

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.

Star signs

Barry York charts the course from childhood request to autographed celebrity portrait anthology.

Forum participants

Biographies of participants in the Writing lives, revealing lives forum.

Portrait of a patron

A new painting by Jiawei Shen captures the vision and resolve of the Gallery's founder, L. Gordon Darling AC CMG.

So Fine

Ten women artists explore the possibilities of portraiture as a contemporary art form; and reinterpret and reimagine Australian history in the Portrait Gallery’s new exhibition So Fine: Contemporary women artists make Australian history.

Portrait Donors

Hottie's Snifter to port

Peter Jeffrey trips the hound nostalgic.

Why do painted portraits still matter?

Lecture by Sandy Nairne, Director, National Portrait Gallery, London, given at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra on 28 April 2006.

The life of Bryant

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

Look who's coming to dinner

Michael Wardell’s personal insight into Jacques van der Merwe’s New Arrivals.

Generous Janice

Dr Sarah Engledow puts four gifts to the National Portrait Gallery’s Collection in context.

International issue

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

Safe space

Amy Middleton on the power of portraiture in promoting inclusivity and connecting with intersectionality and diversity in all its forms.

The more things change

National Photographic Portrait Prize curator, Sarah Engledow, finds reward in a difficult task and ultimately uncovers the essence of portraiture.

Stubbs and the horse

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.”

Fine and dandy

Whether the result of misadventure or misdemeanour, many accomplished artists were transported to Australia where they ultimately left a positive mark on the history of art in this country.

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.

Dupain detective

Johanna McMahon revels in history and mystery in pursuit of a suite of unknown portrait subjects.

Worth her salt

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

Hard truths

Jennifer Higgie reveals how Alice Neel reinvigorated 20th century portraiture with her honest and perceptive depictions of the human experience.

Eating the seasons

Anne Sanders imbibes Tony Bilson’s gastronomic revolution.

Take thy face hence

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

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.

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.

Out of the shadows

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

The more things change...

Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2017 Prize.

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.

Uncommon Australians

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