Marilyn Darling AC (b. 1943) is the Chair of the Gordon Darling Foundation and a member of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia Foundation. Born in Brisbane, she studied science at the University of Queensland and undertook postgraduate study in the Medical School of Monash University. Though she worked as a scientist, her interests encompassed a variety of social and cultural concerns, including art, music and health. In 1989 she married L Gordon Darling AC CMG (1921–2015), whose ambition to create a National Portrait Gallery in Australia soon became the couple's joint project. In 1992 they convened the exhibition Uncommon Australians: Towards an Australian Portrait Gallery, which toured nationally and proved the impetus for this institution's eventual foundation. She was Chair of the Gallery's Board from 2000 until 2008, and under her leadership the institution grew from a small gallery in Old Parliament House to a significant national institution housed in its own dedicated building.
When it came to having her own portrait taken, Darling recollected that she 'hadn't really given any thought to what I would want. I was always thinking about other portraits'. In keeping with her wish that the portrait show the NPG building, Anne Zahalka photographed her in the light-filled Gordon Darling Hall. The sculpture in the left background – James Angus' Geo face distributor (2009) – is among the many acquisitions she has enabled since 1998.
Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2010
© Anne Zahalka
Marilyn Darling, philanthropist and Founding Patron of the National Portrait Gallery, standing inside the Gallery’s entry. The portrait is by Anne Zahalka created in 2010. It is a colour, photographic transparency presented in a backlit light box, with a glossy black frame, measuring 119cm tall by 82cm wide.
An elegant woman in her middle years in a knee-length apricot dress, heels and gold accessories. Marilyn Darling stands slightly left of centre, in the foreground, front on. The sunshine streaming in behind her creating a halo in her short, wavy, platinum blond hair.
Marilyn’s face is tanned, her grey-blue eyes look straight towards us. Her vibrant coral coloured lips are upturned in a closed-mouth smile. ¬
She wears gold hoop earrings, and a chunky bone and gold necklace made up of curving segments linked together, and it rests in a tight, flat ring on her collar bone. The necklace is framed by the collar of her apricot dress. Just beneath the collar, on the right, glints a small gold pin.
Marilyn’s bare arms are folded across her waist. On her left hand is a gold and diamond ring, and on her wrist, a slim gold watch. Her short nails are painted the same coral as her lips.
Marilyn’s dress is knee-length and her slender legs are golden. She centres her weight on her left leg, while her right leg extends out slightly to the side, both feet facing forward. She wears cream, peep-toe high-heels, and her toenails are lacquered with coral polish.
Diagonal shadows are cast by her legs, across the foyer floor, veering to the right lower corner of the portrait.
On Marilyn Darling’s right, inside the gallery doors is a substantial bouquet of brightly coloured Australian native flowers, in magenta, yellow and cream amidst grey-green foliage. The flowers spring from a stainless-steel cylindrical vessel, resting on a waist high, rectangular concrete plinth.
Further on, there is an abundance of architectural detail, she stands just inside the doors. Triangular, pale timber at ceiling height, a line of round air conditioning vents above head height, and thin wooden vertical struts running down over glass to meet the foyer floor. The floor is pale grey stone, glistening with reflected light.
Beyond the doors, the forecourt is flooded with bright white sunshine, and on our left is a large, bright orange sculpture. Past the sculpture is blurred greenery.
Audio description written by Lucie Shawcross and voiced by Rory Walker
Tim Fairfax AC (54 portraits supported)
Drop into the Gallery this Spring for free creative activities inspired by our vibrant exhibition Joan Ross: Those trees came back to me in my dreams.
Do we have a treat for the smaller humans in your life! Little Faces is for babies and toddlers (with their grown up) to play, sing and have fun discovering a portrait together.
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
