When a portrait communicates determination and individuality as boldly as these do, it has the potential to become an iconic image. For the Gallery’s 20th birthday this display brings together a group contemporary photographic portraits of inspiring women and men.
In ancient Greece an eikōn was a likeness of an exemplar, someone whose labours and deeds inspired our own striving. Later, medieval icon paintings depicted saints and deities.
Two-thirds of the Gallery’s 2,600 portraits are photographs. Since its invention by French scientist Nicéphore Niépce two centuries ago, photography has become the dominant portrait medium of our time.
Collection: Icons Volume 2 opens on 7 June.
Dr Christopher Chapman (curator)
Angus and the arbiters talk (photo) shop for the National Photographic Portrait Prize.
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.
Australian photographer Rod McNicol has consistently analysed the passing of time through the evidence of the photographic portrait. At once confronting and tender, McNicol’s portrait photographs are bold and intimate.
