© National Portrait Gallery 2024
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196
Observation point
Magazine article by Jude Rae, 2015
Portraits take many forms, from official statements of power and status to deeply personal testaments of affection and insight.
Stigma stigmata
Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2015
Angus Trumble provides poignant context for Aña Wojak’s portrait of Tony Carden.
Way of the body
Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2019
Christopher Chapman reveals the intersection of iconoclastic Japanese figures Yukio Mishima and Tamotsu Yato.
Seduce and Destroy
Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2001
Magda Keaney explores the symbolism in eX de Medici's portrait of Midnight Oil.
Big shots
Magazine article by Djon Mundine OAM, 2017
Djon Mundine OAM brings poignant memory and context to Martin van der Wal’s 1986 portrait photographs of storied Aboriginal artists.
Swimming every day
Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2015
National Photographic Portrait Prize judge Christopher Chapman connects this year’s entries to iconic contemporary american photographers.
Man of war
Magazine article by Tedi Bills, 2016
Tedi Bills talks to George Gittoes about canvassing conflict.
Listomania
Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2013
Sarah Engledow describes the fall-out once Brett Whiteley stuck Patrick White’s list of his loves and hates onto his great portrait of the writer.
Life class
Magazine article by Leonie Hellmers, 2004
Barbara Blackman reflects on her experiences as a life model.
Brothers on farms
Magazine article by Malcolm Robertson, 2011
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.
Cultural kaleidoscope
Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2006
The complex connections between four creative Australians; Patrick White, Sidney Nolan, Robert Helpmann and Peter Sculthorpe.
A.I.
Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2015
Christopher Chapman ponders our digital identity and selfhood.
Activating the space
Magazine article by Sandra Phillips, 2020
Sandra Phillips on portraits of Indigenous activism from Cairns Art Gallery’s 2019 Queen’s Land Blak Portraiture exhibition.
The catechist and the cricketer
Magazine article by Stephen Valambras Graham, 2021
Stephen Valambras Graham traverses the intriguing socio-political terrain behind two iconic First Nations portraits of the 1850s.
Essential portraiture
Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2011
Michael Desmond in conversation with University of Houston professor of philosophy Cynthia Freeland.
Getting bare
Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2015
How seven portraits within Bare reveal in a public portrait parts of the body and elements of life usually located in the private sphere.