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Brolga

Go find your costume box and get ready to shake your tail feathers at Brolga, this year’s iteration of the National Portrait Gallery’s 18+ late-night event!

A Performance of Portraiture

School portraits

Inga Walton sheds light on a portraiture collection usually only seen by students and teachers at Melbourne University.

Dancer

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

Kate Beynon’s transcultural life and art

Phoebe Lupton profiles artist Kate Beynon, whose contemplative self portrait features in Archie 100: A Century of the Archibald Prize.

The Board

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

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.

200 Years of Portraiture

To celebrate his family bicentenary, Malcolm Robertson looks at the portraiture legacy left by his ancestors.

Frocked up

The selection of works in Frocked up richly demonstrates the interconnectedness of costume and portraiture – and the many ways in which artists have employed the representation of dress to powerful, insightful effect.

Aretha Brown

Gumbaynggirr artist Aretha Brown talks street art, collaboration and ghost stories with First Nations Curator and Meriam woman, Rebecca Ray.

A potpourri of portraits

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

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2023

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.

Aunty Helen

blood/memory: Brenda & Christopher I (Gurindji/Malngin/Mudburra; Mara/Ngarrindjeri/Ritharrngu; Anglo-Australian/Chinese/German/Irish/Scottish) 2021, 2022 (printed 2023)

Purchased 2023

Men of High Degree: Kev Carmody (Bundjalung/Lama Lama Peoples), 2023

Purchased 2023

The last word

David Hansen’s tribute to his close friend, prince of words and former National Portrait Gallery director, the late Angus Trumble.

Off her own bat

Joanna Gilmour profiles Violet Teague, whose sophisticated works hid her originality and non-conformity in plain sight.

Past directors

Directors of the National Portrait Gallery from 1998 to today.

Wicked but Virtuous

Faith Stellmaker shares pioneering artist and restaurateur Mirka Mora’s lasting legacy on Melbourne’s art, dining and culture.

Fiona McMonagle

Irish-born, Naarm/Melbourne-based artist Fiona McMonagle pushes the limits of watercolour portraiture to address women’s experiences.

Baby Guerrilla

Baby Guerrilla is a street artist based in Naarm/Melbourne. Her exquisite large-scale drawings of figures made into paste-ups celebrate humanity.

Mia Boe

Mia Boe is a Narrm/Melbourne-based artist known for her haunting and evocative painting practice, informed by her Butchulla and Burmese ancestry.

Atong Atem

Atong Atem is an Ethiopian-born, South Sudanese artist and writer living in Narrm/Melbourne. Her work explores migrant narratives and postcolonial practices in the African diaspora.

Angus Trumble

Members of the Board, Foundation and staff of the National Portrait Gallery are deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Angus Trumble.

WHO ARE YOU

Featuring 130 works across painting, film, photography, screen printing, sculpture, and then some – it explores our inner worlds, outer selves, intimacy, isolation, celebrity and more.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (1926–2022)

The National Portrait Gallery is deeply saddened by the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning monarch in British history. Throughout her 70-year reign, Her Majesty represented graciousness, humanity and stability during times of enormous social change.

NPG Announces departure of Director, Karen Quinlan AM

National Portrait Gallery Chair Penny Fowler announced today that NPG Director Karen Quinlan will leave the Gallery in September to take up a new position as Chief Executive Officer of Arts Centre Melbourne.

You are who?

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

Cool cool world

Penelope Grist unpacks photographs by David Parker, who captured the phenomenal emergence of the 1970s and 80s Melbourne music scene.

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.

Selected images

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

Women make history

Jennifer Higgie uncovers the intriguing stories behind portraits of women by women in the National Portrait Gallery’s collection.

Unboxed

Sandra Bruce explores a new acquisition that has within it a story of interconnectivities in the Australian art world.

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.

Neilma Gantner, c. 1990

Purchased 2022

COVID Self portrait 2

Concession and discount policy

Members ticket discounts, accepted concession cards and special entry.

New Chair of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia Board

The Morrison Government has appointed Mrs Penny Fowler as Chair of the Board of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia (NPGA) for a 3 year term, commencing on 1 January 2022.

Birds of a feather

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

Give me five

National Portrait Gallery director Karen Quinlan AM nominates her quintet of favourites from the collection, with early twentieth-century ‘selfies’ filling the roster.

Wunderkind lost

Inga Walton on the brief but brilliant life of Hugh Ramsay.

Announcing... Jonathan Jones Bogong Cluster: Physically distant, socially connected

A new light installation by Jonathan Jones reflects on the importance of community through the lens of his Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi heritage, whilst also acting as a prompt for gallery visitors to maintain social distancing.

Australian Love Stories

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

Dr Joseph Brown with Two Typists, 1996

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

Her Majesty, The Queen, Elizabeth II (Blue), 2001

Purchased 2021

Neil Finn and Paul Hester, 1987 (printed 2021)

Gift of the artist 2021

Self portrait, 1900

Gift of Rosemary Neilson 2021

Mary Chomley, 1909

Purchased with the assistance of funds provided by Jillian Broadbent AC 2021

Robert Jacks, 1961-1962

Gift of the artist 2021

Paul Hester, 1987 (printed 2021)

Gift of the artist 2021

Isaiah Firebrace – reflect, reset, rejuvenate

Artists in residence – Carlos, Jono and Lazy Susan

The Wobbly Wizard - Isolation Portrait

Lauren

Wombat and goats

Murray Bail, c. 1990

Gift of an anonymous donor 2021

David Beckham

The Honourable Margaret Lusink AM, 2019

Gift of The Honourable Margaret Lusink AM 2021

William Morris

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.

Lovely Lillie and Dirty Bertie

Royal romps: illicit liaisons

Portrait Allsorts

Offering portraiture in all its flavours: painting, photography, drawing, textiles, printmaking and sculpture, this exhibition is a feast for minds and eyes.

Spring exhibition program

The following on-line and physical exhibitions are planned to open at the National Portrait Gallery in coming months. For those who can’t travel at present, selected works from all exhibitions will be included online

Back track

Penelope Grist finds photographer Matt Nettheim re-visiting a formative and fulfilling career tram stop.

Thinking of England

Truly, madly, deeply

Of Pansy, plastiques and prudes

Near-naked subversion

A charming prospect

Family fortunes

The courage of their convictions

Trust the women

Giving a dam

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

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.

The National Portrait Prizes

The National Portrait Gallery today announced finalists for the inaugural Darling Portrait Prize, a national new $75,000 prize for Australian portrait painting, and released selected images from the final prize pool for the popular National Photography Portrait Prize.

Mother’s muse

Inga Walton traces the poignant path of photographer Polixeni Papapetrou, revealed in the NGV’s summer retrospective.

The latest portrait of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, c. 1896

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020

A nation mourns the loss, c. 1861

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020

Queen Victoria in mourning, with a portrait of Prince Albert, c. 1862

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020

Queen Victoria, 1860-1865

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020

Her Majesty seated, 1860

Purchased 2020

Her Majesty, 1860

Purchased 2020

Portrait of Sarah Bernhardt as Marguerite Gautier in 'La Dame aux Camélias', 1891

Purchased 2020

Justin Tjungurrayi, 2007

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2020. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

The Hon. Alex Chernov AC KC, 2019

Gift of twenty members of the Victorian Bar 2020

Some prime ministers

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

Primed

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

Portrait 63

Rod McNicol's method and motivation, 19th century Indigenous peoples, Barrie Cassidy on Bob Hawke, five generations of the Kang family from Korea and more.

Prima facie

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

Eating the seasons

Anne Sanders imbibes Tony Bilson’s gastronomic revolution.

Portrait 62

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019, the iconoclastic Japanese figures Yukio Mishima and Tamotsu Yato, Angélica Dass’ Humanæ project and more.

The Royal she

Traversing paint and pixels, Inga Walton examines portraits of select women in Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits.

Agnes enigma

Karen Quinlan considers the case of Agnes Goodsir, whose low profile in Australia belies her overseas acclaim.

Queen of cartes

Joanna Gilmour discusses the role of the carte de visite in portraiture’s democratisation, and its harnessing by Victoria, the world’s first media monarch.

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.

Textiles Scientist Voted the People’s Favourite

The black and white portrait of an elderly woman with sidelong glance and irreverent, contemplative smile has taken out the people’s choice award in this year’s National Photographic Portrait Prize.

The National Portrait Gallery's Director, Karen Quinlan, receives Australia Day Honour

The newly appointed Director of the National Portrait Gallery Karen Quinlan, was today recognised in the Australia Day Honours list for her significant service to the visual arts and to higher education.

Sibly irresistible

Alexandra Roginski reveals a forceful feminist figure in the colonial period’s slippery science, phrenology.

Jeanne Pratt at home, 2015

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Alana Landsberry and Bauer Media Australia 2019

Edmund Capon, c. 1986 (printed 2019)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2019

Portrait of Brenda Niall, 1997

Gift of Dr Brenda Niall AO 2019. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Elizabeth Read (née Archer), c. 1853

Purchased 2019

Portrait of Patricia Piccinini, 2019

Gift of an anonymous donor 2019

Christmas Island

This is my last Trumbology before, in a little more than a week from now, I pass to my successor Karen Quinlan the precious baton of the Directorship of the National Portrait Gallery.

Carte-o-mania!

Drawn from the NPG’s burgeoning collection of cartes de visite, Carte-o-mania! celebrates the wit, style and substance of the pocket-sized portraits that were taken and collected like crazy in post-goldrush Australia.

New exhibition tells big stories through pint-sized portraits

The National Portrait Gallery is bringing the Victorian era back to life in a special exhibition exploring the colour and character of post-goldrush Australia. 

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.

What the tree saw: David Foster, 2018

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

Richard Tognetti #1510, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Peter Weiss AO 2018

Study in scarlet

Angus Trumble reflects on the force of nature that was Helena Rubinstein.

Material culture

The Rajah Quilt’s narrative promptings are as intriguing as the textile is intricate.

A guy from Paris

Sarah Engledow on a foundational gallery figure who was quick on the draw.

Ms Karen Quinlan appointed to lead the NPGA

The Board of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia is delighted to announce the appointment of Ms Karen Quinlan as its incoming Director.

Michelle Simmons, 2018

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

Andrew Gaze, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Trent Birkett 2018

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.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018 winner announced

Finalists have been eagerly awaiting the announcement of the Winner and Highly Commended for the National Photographic Portrait Prize since December. It is our pleasure to announce the Winner for 2018 is Lee Grant for her portrait titled Charlie and Highly Commended has been awarded to Filomena Rizzo for her portrait titled My Olivia.

Forum participants

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

Harold David Takes out the People’s Choice Award for this year’s National Photographic Portrait Prize

The votes are in and the National Portrait Gallery is pleased to announce The Honourable Bob Hawke savouring a strawberry milkshake by Harold David is the people’s choice for the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018.

Collection: Icons

The second instalment of a display featuring bold contemporary portraits drawn from the collection. For the Gallery’s 20th birthday this display brings together a group contemporary photographic portraits of inspiring women and men.

Carol McGregor

Born: 1961, Hastings, New Zealand
Works: Brisbane

Presence and absence

The art of Australia’s colonial women painters affords us an invaluable, alternative perspective on the nascent nation-building project.

Hope for kindness

Sarah Engledow arrives at the junction of fate and hope in Sarah Ball’s poignant Immigrants series.

Rock star

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

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.

Portrait Donors

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.

Andrew Gaze, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Trent Birkett 2018

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

Gift of Joanna Russell Maher (née Windeyer) 2018

Edward Henty, late 19th century

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Tim Clark 2018

Ben Roberts-Smith, 2017

Commissioned in 2018 with funds raised through the 2020 project

The Explorers & Early Colonists of Victoria, 1872

Purchased 2018

William St. Leonards Robertson, c. 1869

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

Margaret Robertson, c. 1863

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

William Robertson, 1866

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

William Robertson and Martha Mary Robertson, 1863

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

Martha Mary Robertson, 1866

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

William St Leonards Robertson and the Oxford boat race crew, early 1880s

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

Charles Blondin, 1874

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Laurie Carmichael, 1981 (printed 2018)

Purchased 2018

An Ex-Treasurer. "Ultra-Protection!" [Graham Berry, Premier of Victoria], 1874

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Vice-Royalty. "A Quoter of Poetry" [George Bowen, Governor of Victoria], 1873

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

A Politician. "He is a Terror to Dummies' [Sir William Foster Stawell, Chief Justice of Victoria], 1873

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Portrait of Susan Crennan, 2017

Gift of the Hon. Susan Crennan AC KC 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Clara Crosbie, aged 12 years, now on exhibition at the Australian Waxworks, c. 1885

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John McPhee 2018

Lillie Langtry, c. 1885

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

Barry Tuckwell, 1991

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of David Tuckwell 2018

Murray Bail, c. 1980 (printed 2018)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Xavier Herbert, early 1980s (printed 2018)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Leonard French, 1980s (printed 2018)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Queen Victoria, 1901

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Barry Sullivan, c. 1863

Purchased 2018

The Payne family, 1888-1889

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John McPhee 2018

Conduct becoming

Penelope Grist speaks to Bill Henson and Simone Young to discover the origins of the artist’s stunning photographic triptych.

In and out of focus

Gael Newton looks at Australian photography, film and the sixties through the novel lens of Mark Strizic.

Ralph Kenke and Elmar Trefz win Digital Portraiture Award with Selfie Factory

The National Portrait Gallery is pleased to announce Mr Ralph Kenke and Mr Elmar Trefz are the winners of the Digital Portraiture Award 2017 for their submission Selfie Factory.

Maria Caroline Brownrigg

At first glance, this small watercolour group portrait of her two sons and four daughters by Maria Caroline Brownrigg (d. 1880) may seem prosaic, even hesitant

Starstruck

Striking, beautiful portraiture comes out of the most thoroughly documented creative process there is – filmmaking. In a ground-breaking collaboration the National Portrait Gallery and National Film and Sound Archive invite you into this captivating realm between real and fictional worlds. 

The Rothschilds, the Montefiores, and the Victorian Gold Rush

Some years ago my colleague Andrea Wolk Rager and I spent several days in the darkened basement of a Rothschild Bank, inspecting every one of the nearly 700 autochromes created immediately before World War I by the youthful Lionel de Rothschild.

Queen Victoria

Last Sunday I had the privilege of appearing at the Canberra Writers’ Festival in conversation with Julia Baird. The subject of our session was Julia’s recent biography, Victoria the Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman who Ruled an Empire.

Nicholas Harding: 28 Portraits

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

Progressive pictures

Athol Shmith’s photographs contributed to the emergence of a new vision of Australian womanhood.

Humour’s warm refuge

Angus Trumble pays tribute to John Clarke.

Unknown drawer

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

Dempsey's people

Dempsey’s people: a folio of British street portraits 1824–1844 is the first exhibition to showcase the compelling watercolour images of English street people made by the itinerant English painter John Dempsey throughout the first half of the nineteenth century.

Street fare

The late Georgian and early Victorian working classes often bought their food in ale-houses, chop-houses and ‘penny pie shops’, or purchased their meals day after day in the streets.

The more things change...

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

Costantini's convictions

Jo Gilmour uncovers endearing authenticity in the art of a twice-transported Tasmanian.

Great Scots

Diana O’Neil samples the tartan treats on offer in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Back in black

Krysia Kitch reviews black chronicles at the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Audacity, audacity, audacity

Angus delves into the biographies of two ambitious characters; Sir Stamford Raffles and Sir John Pope-Hennessy.

Lt. A.R.Cutler VC, 1943

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Cutler family 2017
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

An evening at Yarra Cottage, Port Stephens, 1857

Purchased 2017

Portrait of David Dridan, 1992

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of David Dridan OAM 2017

Richard Divall OBE in the church mantle of the Order of Malta, 1999

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Bequest of Richard Divall AO OBE 2017

Portrait of Professors Margaret Gardner and Glyn Davis, 2017

Commissioned with funds provided by Jim and Barbara Higgins, Sir Roderick Carnegie AC, Rupert Myer AO and Annabel Myer, Louise and Martyn Myer Foundation, Peter and Ruth McMullin, Diana Carlton, Professor Derek Denton AC, Harold Mitchell AC, Peter Jopling AM KC, Andrew and Liz Mackenzie, Patricia Patten, Tamie Fraser AO, Bruce Parncutt and Robin Campbell, Lauraine Diggins, Steven Skala AO and Lousje Skala 2017

Portrait of an Artist (Self portrait), 1944

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2017

Alan Marshall, n.d.

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

Harold Holt, n.d.

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

Sir John McEwen, n.d.

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

Sir John McEwen, n.d.

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

Paul Capsis, 2004

Gift of the artist 2017

Ellyse Perry, 2016

Purchased 2017

The Kelly Gang (from The Australasian Sketcher, 17 July 1880), 1880

Purchased 2017

Madame Sibly, Phrenologist and Mesmerist, c. 1870

Purchased 2017

Queen Rose of the Wathaurung People, c. 1876-1877

Purchased 2017

Akira Isogawa, 2003 (printed 2005)

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

Nick Cave, 2001 (printed 2014)

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

William Robertson junior, c. 1857

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2017

Bessie Lee, c. 1890

Purchased 2017

Rosie Batty, 2017

Commissioned with funds provided by the Circle of Friends 2017

Natural, artistic and unselfconscious

Angus Trumble gazes at the once bright star of photographer Ruth Hollick.

It's a Mora!

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

Showing character

Joanna Gilmour on Tom Durkin playing with Melbourne's manhood.

Final frame

Karl James reflects on soldier portraiture during the Great War.

Awesome Achievers

Celebrate and be inspired by talent, passion and achievement – and triumph over adversity. This exhibition features major portraits drawn from the National Portrait Gallery collection and supplemented with works from private and institutional sources.

Crème Valaze

Helena Rubinstein (1872‒1965) was the first self-made millionairess of modern times, and created the first publicly-listed global cosmetics corporation. 

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. 

Janet Dawson

When soulmates Janet Dawson and Michael Boddy moved from Sydney to a property, Boddy was clear about why: ‘Our marriage is one long conversation - we moved to the bush so we could talk to each other without so many interruptions.’

Darren McDonald

The wild balancing act of McDonald’s home décor (is that there as a joke? where do I actually sit down? is this ironic or what? what a lovely photo of Darren and Robin in Europe!) is reflected in his own personality.

Fiona McMonagle

Fiona aims to create a dangerous situation with a flood of water on the paper, forcing each work to the point where it can fail, and then rescuing it. 

Graeme Drendel

I like talking about Drendel’s pictures as if they expressed dreams of my own.

The family scene

Traudi Allen discovers sensitivity, humour and fine draughtsmanship in the portraiture of John Perceval.

Dissections: Layered portraits from the collection is now open

Dissections, showcases the hyper-realist sculptural self-portrait of artist Sam Jinks, Divide, alongside the painted portrait of philosopher David Chalmers by Nick Mourtzakis, which was commissioned by the Gallery in 2011.

Of jumpers and river gums, red

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

The mystery of Enoch Arden

Tennyson's Enoch Arden was inspired by a story that Thomas Woolner passed on to him – but whose story and of whom?

Strutt your stuff

Matthew Jones on the upshot of a St Kilda Road outrage.

Self-effacing

Michael Wardell samples the fare in the University of Queensland National Self-portrait Prize.

Rozalind Drummond

The photographs in Tough & tender by Rozalind Drummond evoke individual freedom and personal reflection. 

Bonfire of the vanities

Australian Galleries Director Stuart Purves tells the story of two portraits by John Brack.

Mysterious eyes

Boyd’s self-portrait at age 25 is joined by his equally emotive portraits of those around him.

Younger Australians more engaged with arts and history

The second annual brand-awareness snapshot of the National Portrait Gallery is again positive, with indicators moving in the right direction – for the Gallery and for Australia’s cultural engagement.

On the passage and pace of time

In shock it fluctuates and with age, accelerates. Remembering the First World War and the Easter Rising.

Diamond Doll

Karen Vickery delights in a thespian thread of the Australian yarn.

Risky business

John Zubrzycki lauds the characters of the Australian escapology trade.

At easel

Tim Bonyhady recalls his experience as sitter for his close friend and former National Portrait Gallery Director, the late Andrew Sayers.

Bill and Ted's excellent portrait.

Sarah Engledow on Messrs Dobell and MacMahon and the art of friendship.

Prison and death in the 19th century

These books include sixteen inmates including Ned Kelly, Captain Moonlite and Frederick Deeming and twelve sketches of the deceased, including several children. For Year 7 – 9 students.

Top of the pops to golden guitars

The Seekers, John Farnham and Lee Kernaghan

All the world's a stage

Joan Sutherland, Robert Helpmann and Raigh Roe

The sensational denouement of the case

The 'Yarra Boot Trunk Tragedy' unfolded a week before Christmas 1898, when some neighbourhood boys noticed a wooden box floating in the river at Richmond. 

Leigh Bowery, 1984

Gift of Claudia Hyles, Dr Christiane Lawin-Bruessel, Gwenda Matthews, Gael Newton, Anne O'Hehir, Susan Smith and Dominic Thomas in memory of our friend, Robyn Beeche 2016

Edith Ellen Williams, c. 1871

Gift of Ross and Judy O'Connell 2016

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, 2013 (cast 2016)

Gift of the artist 2016

Sir Hartley Williams, c. 1871

Gift of Ross and Judy O'Connell 2016

Lord Kitchener, n.d.

Purchased 2016

A Goldfields Member "The Dove of Ararat" [The Hon. William McLellan M.L.A], 1874

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

A Chief Secretary "Blunt, but Honest" [The Hon. James Goodall Francis], 1874

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

The Member of the Upper House "One of the Olden Time" [The Hon. John Alston Wallace M.L.C.], 1874

Purchased 2016

A Vanquished Knight "Wroth with Kilmore" [The Hon. John O'Shanassy, K.C.M.G.], 1874

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

A Victorian Knight "Thrice Chief Secretary" [Sir James McCulloch K.C.M.G.], 1874

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

A Commissioner of Customs "Faithful to Francis" [The Hon. Edward Cohen M.L.A.], 1874

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

A Collins Street Surgeon "Patients and Diamonds" [Dr Beaney F.R.C.S.], 1874

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Sketch of Clifton Pugh painting John Perceval, 1985

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2016

Fleeing figure, 1988

Gift of David Archer 2016

Self portrait, c. 1982

Gift of David Archer 2016

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

Gift of the Estate of Marion Orme Page 2016

The outlaws coolly disported themselves

'Each man arrayed himself in a new rig from head to foot, and even such luxuries as soaps and perfumery were not despised'

Getting a head

Alexandra Roginski gets a feel for phrenology’s fundamentals.

The portrait writ large

Karen Vickery on Chang the Chinese giant in Australia.

Fugue in Yellow

Roger Benjamin explores the intriguing union of Lina Bryans and Alex Jelinek.

Lauded legacy

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

Joan Alone

Julia Gillard pays poignant tribute to her friend and mentor, the late Joan Kirner, Victoria’s first and only female premier.

Confessional conversations

Fiona Gruber investigates the work of Australian painter Kristin Headlam.

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 Parlour

The Victorian era has been described as one wherein death was a part of everyday experience. People died at home having been nursed in their final illnesses by family members. 

The Freak Show

Many performers availed themselves of the services of photographic studios, posing for carte de visite portraits that served as souvenirs and as instruments in the making of renown and notoriety.       

An Australian in Paris

This week it is impossible not to contemplate the ways in which France has touched many Australian lives.

Sideshow Alley: Infamy, the macabre & the portrait

Bushrangers, oddities, true crime and scandal come together in this modern day cabinet of curiosities.

Missing Persons

Desperately seeking Woolner medallions

A colourful story from Sideshow Alley

From infamous bushranger to oyster shop display, curator Jo Gilmour explores the life of George Melville.

The Bare story

Curator, Penny Grist, reveals how this exhibition came to be

Longest reign

Queen Elizabeth II is now the longest-reigning British sovereign

Getting bare

How seven portraits within Bare reveal in a public portrait parts of the body and elements of life usually located in the private sphere.

Winners announced: Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award 2015

The winners of the Macquarie Digital Portraiture Awards will be announced tomorrow morning at 10.00am at the National Portrait Gallery.

Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award 2015 finalists announced

The National Portrait Gallery have selected the finalists for the Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award 2015.

Portrait 50 hits the shelves

With contributions from Julia Gillard, Fiona Gruber, and Dr Karl James, the National Portrait Gallery’s 50th edition of Portrait has something for everyone.

Sitter still

Jaynie Anderson reflects on her experience as sitter for Reshid Bey’s 1962 portrait.

Enigma

Grace Carroll contemplates the curious case of Christian Waller.

Secure the shadow ere the substance fade

The tragic tale of Tom Wills, the ‘inventor’ of Australian Rules Football.

Waterloo and Mrs. Moore

Beyond the centenary of the ANZAC landings at Gallipoli, a number of other notable anniversaries converge this year. Waterloo deserves a little focussed consideration, for in the decades following 1815 numerous Waterloo and Peninsular War veterans came to Australia.

No small wonder

Joanna Gilmour describes how artist Sam Leach works on a small scale to grand effect.

A real Pratt

The death of a gentlewoman is shrouded in mystery, a well-liked governor finds love after sorrow, and two upright men become entangled in the historical record.

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.

Foundation Members

Chairman Sid Myer AM, Hayley Baillie, Tim Bednall, Jillian Broadbent AC, Patrick Corrigan AM, Marilyn Darling AC, Tim Fairfax AC, Penny Fowler AM, John Liangis, Dr Helen Nugent AC and Nigel Satterley AM.

Private and public ancillary funds

Information Sheet for private and public ancillary funds donating to the National Portrait Gallery.

Pen power

Politics and personae in the portraiture of TextaQueen by Jane Raffan.

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.

Uncommon Australians

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

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.

Edward Hargraves, c. 1884

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Sir Oswald Brierly, c. 1870

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Yellow portrait (portrait of Alex Jelinek), 1955

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Paul and James Bryans 2015. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

A Cimiez. Promenade matinale (Queen Victoria), 1897

Purchased 2015

Paul Boston, 1995

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Rick Amor and Meg Williams 2015
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Round the World (Thomas Brassey), 1877

Purchased 2015

Painter John Brack with Professor Alex Mitchell and Sir Garfield Barwick, c. 1977

Gift of the Jozef Vissel 2015

Caroline Chisholm, 1853

Purchased 2015

Julian Ashton Life Class, 1920

Purchased 2015

George Langley, 1918

Gift of Pat Lesslie (née Langley), in memory of George Langley and Rob Lesslie 2015

Self portrait, 1870

Purchased 2015

Matthew Burnett, c. 1865

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Patrick Dodson, 2004

Gift of the Lingiari Foundation 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

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

Discussion between Bob Hawke and Yunupingu, Burunga Festival, Northern Territory, 1988 (printed 2015)

Purchased 2015

Dame Elizabeth Couchman, n.d.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Susan Webster, step-granddaughter of Dame Elizabeth Couchman, 2015

Alan Goldberg, 2014

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Wayne Williams 2015

Jan Senbergs, 2015

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Wayne Williams 2015

Self portrait, n.d.

Gift of Dr Penny Olsen, Peter Woollard and Artemis Georgiades 2015

Helena Rubinstein in a red brocade Balenciaga gown, 1957

Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC, Tim Fairfax AC and the Sid and Fiona Myer Family Foundation 2015

Michael Peck

Born in Melbourne in 1977, Michael Peck has a Bachelor of Fine Art (honours) (Painting) from Monash University. He has exhibited as a solo artist since 1998, when he won the National Gallery of Victoria’s Trustees Award.

Juan Ford

Juan Ford received a Master of Art, by research, from RMIT University in 2001. His many commissions include the National Gallery of Victoria’s interactive work You, me and the flock for Melbourne Now 2013/2014 and a project for Hotel de Immigrantes, a project in Manifesta 9, the European Biennale in 2012.

Patricia Piccinini

Patricia Piccinini was born in Sierra Leone and grew up in Canberra. She received a BFA from the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne in 1991. In 1994 she initiated The Basement Project Gallery in Melbourne, which she coordinated until 1996. Her 2003 exhibition We Are Family represented Australia at the 50th Venice Biennale.

Sam Jinks

Born in Bendigo, Victoria, Sam Jinks’ work can be found in various public collections that include the Kiran Nader Museum of Art, Dehli, India and the Museo Escultura Figurativa Internacional Contemporaenea (MEFIC), Portugal.

Natasha Bieniek

Born in Melbourne, Natasha Bieniek began her formal artistic training at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2002.  Bieniek’s When the music’s over (2006) won the Nino Sanciolo Art Prize, a painting scholarship to study at the Accademia d’Arte in Florence, where she learnt the ancient technique of egg tempera.

Jan Nelson

Jan Nelson was born in Melbourne. She graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 1983 and has been exhibited her work in both solo and group exhibitions throughout Australia since that time including at the MCA, Sydney, National Gallery of Victoria, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane and the Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide.

Rick Amor

Rick Amor, noblest yet most unaffected of contemporary Australian portraitists, is also a painter of enigmatic, ominous landscapes, seascapes and cityscapes that haunt the viewer like dreams, dimly-recalled.

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.

Arcadia media information

Press releases and image downloads for media.

King Edward Terrace

King Edward Terrace was named in honour of King Edward VII (1841-1910)

Remembering Ursula

I first knew Dr. Hoff when in 1986, long after retiring from the National Gallery of Victoria, she taught a graduate seminar on Rembrandt.

Architecture

Natural light and human proportions – the design by Johnson Pilton Walker

History

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

Paul Kelly and The Portraits media information

Paul Kelly & The Portraits presents a multifaceted image of the performer over the course of his career.

George Trott (George Henry Stevens (Harry) Trott, member of the 1896 Australian Cricket Team), 1896

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2014

Sarah Simpson, c. 1866

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2014

Governor Sir Robert Duff with Lady Duff, Lord Hopetoun and Vice-Regal Party, 1893

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

The Australian Tom Thumb (John David Armstrong), c. 1880

Purchased 2014

Master Johnny Day, Australian Champion Pedestrian, c. 1866

Purchased 2014

Mary Ware, c. 1854

Purchased with funds provided by Mary Isabel Murphy and Rosalind Blair Murphy 2014

Lady Barkly, 1863

Purchased 2014

Wally (Wouter) De Backer, 2013 (printed 2014)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Sir Henry Barkly KCB, Governor of the Colony of Victoria (Plate 1), 1858

Purchased 2014

Dr. Arthur Martin a'Beckett, 1845

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Dr. Arthur Martin a'Beckett, c. 1840

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Dame Mabel Brookes, c. 1955

Gift of Rodney Davidson AO OBE 2014. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Ivy Shore, 1961

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

Tom Wills, c. 1857 (printed c. 1905-1910)

Gift of T S Wills Cooke 2014. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

William Clark Haines, Premier of Victoria (Plate 12), 1857-1858

Purchased 2014

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.

Out of the shadows

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

Elle on wheels

Lucy Quinn compares the approaches of three photographers lured to the action and culture of roller derby.

Melanie Faith Dove

I had been watching Agnes with intrigue, her face and profile were so mesmerizing. On our final day together I pulled her aside and convinced her that she had such an amazing face that I needed to get a photograph for myself. It was very spontaneous in that I decided quickly how it would best look and shot it in only two frames.

Janet Tavener

Mikala is the eldest of my three daughters. I have photographed her on many an occasion. Needless to say we are both extremely at home with the practice.

First Ladies

First Ladies profiles women who have achieved noteworthy firsts over the past 100 years.

Generous Janice

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

What price self?

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

Citizen Kenne

April Thompson explores an exhibition of Ingvar Kenne’s global portrait project.

Imagination

Dr Sarah Engledow tells the story of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee portrait by Australian artist Ralph Heimans.

Seeing stars

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

Nikki Toole

An interview with the photographer.

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.

Portrait of Henry Hopkins, c. 1845

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2013

Australian Cricket (George John Bonnor), 1884

Purchased 2013

Reverend Nathaniel Kinsman, c. 1880

Purchased 2013

Edmund Capon, 2011

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2013
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

"Poet of the Hawkesbury" Robert Adamson, 2012

Gift of the artist 2013. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Portrait of Mrs Tom Roberts, 1910

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

Sue Ford 1980-2006, 1980-2006 (printed 2013)

Purchased 2013

Edward 'Weary' Dunlop, River Kwai, Thailand, c. 1987 (printed 2003)

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2013. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Henry Wade, c. 1841

Gift of the Wade and Hannah families 2013

Julia Gillard, 2013

Gift of the artist 2013

Ginger Riley at the Limmen River, Northern Territory, 1992 (printed 2013)

Gift of Helga Leunig 2013

Michael Leunig, 1995 (printed 2013)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Helga Leunig 2013

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

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

The Right Honourable Lord Viscount Melbourne, 1839

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, c. 1890

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

Opening of the First Legislative Council of Victoria by Governor Charles Joseph LaTrobe at St Patrick's Hall, Bourke Street West, Melbourne November 13th 1851, 1883

Purchased 2013

Lost in thought, 2008

Bruce Pascoe, 2008

The heart that is theirs, 2008

The shield, 2009

The Kinghorne

aka substantial sideburns extending to the lower jaw, paired with a clean-shaven chin and upper lip – was a standard look for gents in pre-Victorian times.

The Burke

A big daddy of a beard; long; bushy; rugged, but not unkempt; typically found on the faces of explorers or bushrangers.

The 1850s to the 1880s

The restrained and cultivated facial hair fashions evident through the first decades of the 1800s were on the wane by the middle of the century, when hirsute faces became mainstream.

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.

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.

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.

Nusra Latif Qureshi

Nusra Latif Qureshi was born in Pakistan in 1973 and originally trained in the traditional art of Mughal miniature (musaviri) paintings.

Lucky Day, 2011

George Lambert

An examination of the life and times of George Lambert through the gesture and pose in his self portrait. 

Sir Henry Barkly

An interview with former National Portrait Gallery Director, Andrew Sayers, who describes the portrait of Sir Henry Barkly by Thomas Clark.

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch

An interview with Victorian Tapestry Workshop artists Sue Walker and Christopher Pyett.

Elegance in exile

Elegance in exile is an exhibition surveying the work of Richard Read senior, Thomas Bock, Thomas Griffiths Wainewright and Charles Rodius: four artists who, though exiled to Australia as convicts, created many of the most significant and elegant portraits of the colonial period.

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.

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.

Real close

Peter Ciemitis breached regulations when creating the portrait of the polymath environmental scientist George Seddon.

Emblems of beauty

Keith Christiansen introduces the exhibition The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Vanity fair

Ashleigh Wadman rediscovers the Australian characters represented with a kindly touch by the British portrait artist Leslie Ward for the society magazine Vanity Fair.

Frances Perry, c. 1863

Purchased 2012

Gideon Obarzanek, 2012

Purchased 2012

Raimond Gaita, 2012

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Study for "Barry Humphries in the character of Mrs Everage", 1969

Gift of Timothy Fairfax AC 2012. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Sir Robert Gibson, 1934

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of The Australian Industry Group 2012

Sir Ernest Fisk, n.d. (after 1937)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Jane Fisk 2012

William Lamb, Baron Melbourne, 1832

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

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

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Robert Rooney, self portrait December 1978, 1978 (printed 2012)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Chrissy Grishin, c. 1996 (printed 2012)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Claudia Hyles 2012

Maisie, 1938-1939

Bequest of Lady Maisie Drysdale 2001

Kerry Walker, c. 1979

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

Ina Gregory, c. 1895

Purchased 2012

Charles Perry, c. 1863

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Cardinal George Pell, 2007 (printed 2012)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Stanley Argyle, 1924

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Edmund Jowett, 1917

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Self portrait with scarf, c. 1930s

Gift of Philip Bacon AM 2012. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Julian Rossi Ashton, 1933

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Philip Bacon AM 2012

Observation point

Artist Kate Beynon reflects on the place of portraiture in her artistic career.

Brothers on farms

Malcolm Robertson tells the family history of one of Australia's earliest patrons of the arts, his Scottish born great great great grandfather, William Robertson.

More cash than dash

Joanna Gilmour describes how colonial portraitists found the perfect market among social status seeking Sydneysiders.

Observation point

Zhong Chen's paintings of boys on Chinese zodiac animals and kung fu images reflect his identity as a Chinese-Australian artist.

Beautiful bones

Sarah Engledow reflects on the shared life and writing of Dorothy Porter and Andrea Goldsmith.

Man of the year

Exhibition curator Christine Clark introduces the work by Indonesian artist Agus Suwage created for Beyond the self: Contemporary portraiture from Asia.

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.

The inner voice

Dr Christopher Chapman, curator of Inner Worlds: Portraits & Psychology looks at Albert Tucker's Heidelberg military hospital portraits.

Between Light and Shadow

The late Australian photographer Stuart Campbell produced superb photographs of Australian actors of stage and screen.

True fella

Michael Desmond profiles the Australian songwriter and performer Neil Murray and his contribution to Australian music.

The essence of you

Lee Tulloch remembers her great friend NIDA-trained actor turned photographer Stuart Campbell.

Creature from the Black Platoon starring Gary Foley 2011, 2011

Purchased 2011

Frank Lowy, 1998 (printed 2011)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

John Shirlow, c. 1937

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Great Suffragette demonstration in London, 1911

Purchased 2011

First High Court of Australia, c. 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Sketch portrait of David Aspden, 1975

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

William Westall, 1854

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Mick Fanning at Snapper Rocks, 2010

Purchased 2011

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

Gift of the artist 2011

William St Leonards Robertson, c. 1865

Gift of Fiona Turner (née Robertson) and John Robertson 2011. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

William Robertson jnr, c. 1852

Gift of Fiona Turner (née Robertson) and John Robertson 2011. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Margaret Robertson, c. 1852

Gift of Fiona Turner (née Robertson) and John Robertson 2011. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

William Robertson, c. 1852

Gift of Fiona Turner (née Robertson) and John Robertson 2011. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Suave

Charles Haddon Chambers the Australian-born playboy playwright settled permanently in London in 1880 but never lost his Australian stance when satirising the English.

Small worlds

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

The Saint and the merchant

Emanuel Solomon gave shelter to the Sisters of St Joseph upon the excommunication of St Mary MacKillop.

Portrait of the artist as a young man

Dr Sarah Engledow explores the early life and career of John Brack.

You beauty

Joanna Gilmour explores the fact and fictions surrounding the legendary life of Irish-born dancer Lola Montez.

Finest quality

Joanna Gilmour explores the life of Chinese-Australian businessman and philanthropist Quong Tart.

Around the grounds

Anne Sanders writes about the exhibitions Victoria & Albert: Art & Love on display at the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace and the retrospective of Sir Thomas Lawrence at the National Portrait Gallery, London.

National Youth Self Portrait Prize

An annual event, the National Youth Self Portrait Prize seeks to encourage young people to embrace self portraiture and its expressive possibilities.

The considered life

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

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.

Figurative foundation

Joanna Gilmour explores the life and art of the Australian artist Janet Dawson.

Subtle emotion

Christopher Chapman considers photographer Rozalind Drummond's portrait of author Nam Le.

Husbands and Wives

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

Poison pen

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

Starry knight

Aircraft designer, pilot and entrepreneur, Sir Lawrence Wackett rejoins friends and colleagues on the walls of the National Portrait Gallery.

Australian of the Year

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

Thomas Pearce, c. 1878

Purchased 2010

Julia Matthews, c. 1862

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Archie Roach, 2008

Gift of the artist 2010. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Harold Blair, 1948

Purchased 2010

Self portrait, 1909

Purchased with funds provided by Barbara and Jim Higgins 2010

The Aboriginal community of Lake Tyers, Gippsland, c. 1890

Purchased 2010

Carol Jerrems, Paddington, 1976 (printed 2003)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Archie Roach, 1992 (printed 2010)

Purchased 2010

Untitled #21/09 (after Ricci, 1700; featuring Matthew Mitcham), 2009

Gift of the artist 2010. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Marilyn Rowe, 1981

Gift of the family of Graham Thorley in his memory and in tribute to Marilyn Rowe 2010

Sir Cecil Colville, c. 1965

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard Due 2010

In memory of the Rev William Hill, 1869

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Right Rev Dr Lawrence Bonaventure Sheil OSF, c. 1872

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Reverend Daniel Draper, c. 1866

Purchased 2010

Archbishop James Goold, c. 1870

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Mr and Mrs Case, 1864

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Gustavus Brooke, c. 1865

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

George Selth Coppin, c. 1863

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Sir Henry Barkly, c. 1863

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Charles Joseph La Trobe, c. 1857

Purchased 2010

Chang the Chinese Giant with his wife Kin Foo and manager Edward Parlett, c. 1871

Purchased 2010

Self portrait, c. 1948

Purchased with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2010

Mick Dodson, 2010

Commissioned with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2010

Max Walker, 1976 (printed 2010)

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

Nellie Melba, 1898

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Robert Edwards, 2009

Commissioned with funds provided by Art Exhibitions Australia 2009

Idle Hours

Idle hours is an exhibition of luxurious beauty. Paintings, prints and drawings represent subjects in quiet moods and situations arranged according to the time of day they depict - reading, drawing, snoozing, bathing, sewing, gardening, sitting, looking, making love and spending tranquil time with companions. Works in the exhibition range from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present.

Top shot that

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

Fits of delicacy and despair

Henry Mundy's portraits flesh out notions of propriety and good taste in a convict colony.

Like wow

Joanna Gilmour explores the life of female Australian surfing legend Isabel Letham.

To the end of the earth

The portrait of Dr. Johann Reinhold Forster and his son George Forster from 1780, is one of the oldest in the NPG's collection.

Duty bound

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

Home and away

Sir William Dobell painted the portraits of Sir Charles Lloyd Jones and Sir Hudson Fysh, who did much to promote the image of Australia in this country and abroad.

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.

Sure thing

Blue Mountain, Owner, Trainer, Jockey, James Scobie 1887 by Frederick Woodhouse Snr. is a portrait of James Scobie, well known jockey and eminent horse trainer.

Sketches and sermons

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

Heartfelt

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

Barak, respected elder

Dr Christopher Chapman looks at the life of Wurundjeri elder William Barak through the portrait painted by Victor de Pury in 1899.

The fat of the land

Sir Sidney Kidman (1857-1935) is inscribed in Australian legend as the ‘Cattle King’. 

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 house, the horse, the wife and the offspring

Joanna Gilmour writes about the portraiture of the colonial artist William Nicholas.

Handing on the baton

Michael Desmond explores the life of ballerina Irina Baranova through the portrait by Australian artist Jenny Sages.

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.

Peter Rushforth, 1971 (printed 2009)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Lucy Escott, c. 1861

Purchased 2009

Henry Squires, c. 1861

Purchased 2009

Australian Aboriginal Cricketers, 1867

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009

Portrait of Joshua Payne Esq., 1840

Purchased 2009

R O'Hara Burke, c. 1861

Purchased 2009

William John Wills, c. 1861

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Australia (The Hon. Alfred Deakin), 1908

Gift of Ronald A Walker 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Billy Hughes bottle stopper, 1911-1921

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, c. 1870

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

Kate Girard, c. 1885

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

Hattie Shepparde, 1872

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

Richard Henry Horne, mid 1860s

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

Georg von Neumayer, c. 1860

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

Charles Summers, late 1860s

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

William Saurin Lyster, mid to late 1860s

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

Fannie Carandini, mid 1860s

Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Rosina Carandini, mid 1860s

Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Nicholas Chevalier, c. 1867

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

Self portrait, 1971

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Diana de Kessler 2009

The Lawn at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day, c. 1889

Purchased 2009

The Colonel (Portrait of Walter Withers), 1896

Purchased 2009

Portrait of Lady Eyre Williams (Jessie Gibbon), 1833

Purchased 2009

The Rt Rev Barbara Darling, 2008

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Ada Crossley, c. 1900

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Roger Neill 2009

Christos Tsiolkas, 1998 (printed 2009)

Purchased 2009

Christos Tsiolkas, 1998 (printed 2009)

Purchased 2009

Open Air

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

The champs

Two lively portrait photographs reflect the agility of their subjects: world champion Australian sportsmen Lionel Rose and Anthony Mundine.

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.

Form and reality

A photographic portrait by Kerry Dundas captures the contemplative mind of visionary painter Godfrey Miller.

Conflicting images

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

The bright-eyed Mariner

Public hanging

As a convict Thomas Bock was required to sketch executed murders for science; as a free man, fashionable society portraits.

Blue Mountain, Owner, Trainer, Jockey, James Scobie, 1887

Purchased 2008

Melodrama..., c. 1900

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008