National Portrait Gallery

"A National Portrait Gallery looks at and celebrates lives that are interesting and achievements which are lasting", says Andrew Sayers, Director of the National Portrait Gallery.

The National Portrait Gallery's collection features portraits of the people who have shaped our nation. Works range across time: from figures in colonial history such as Governor and Lady Grey and Bungaree, the Aboriginal Cricket team of 1886 (Australia's first touring side), to contemporary icons such as Deborah Mailman and Ian Thorpe; and across media: including paintings, photographs, sculpture, cartoons and drawings, ceramics and textiles. A selection of 224 images are digitised and available on Picture Australia.

Commissioning portraits is also an important strategy for building the collection and demonstrating portraiture as a significant aspect of contemporary art. Howard Arkley's portrait of Nick Cave was one of the last paintings completed by the artist before his death in 1999. The Arkley work had become one of the Gallery's signature images.

Works in media other than paint consistently attract interest. The Victorian Tapestry Workshop's tapestry portrait of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, eX de Medici's vast and complex drawing on vellum of the band Midnight Oil, the lenticular print of renowned entomologist Douglas Frew Waterhouse by Robyn Stacey among them.

Whilst there are many historical figures in the collection, the National Portrait Gallery is not only a 'memorial'. There are many great living subjects as well - Germaine Greer, Peter Doherty, Dawn Fraser, David Williamson, Barry Humphries, Peter Carey, Joan Croll, Eva Cox, Rolf Harris, Peter Garrett, Cathy Freeman and Justice Kirby to name a few.

The National Portrait Gallery aims to increase the understanding of the Australian people - their identity, history, creativity and culture - through portraiture.

The Gallery seeks to:

  • Develop a representative collection of portraits of subjects who have made a major impact upon Australia;
  • Enhance the cultural value of portraiture through access, display, exhibition, research and interpretation;
  • Make a wide range of portraits accessible to the public through strongly focussed and innovative exhibitions, displays and via the Internet;
  • Foster enquiry, research, discussion and interpretation or portraiture and undertake programs that reflect the culture, history and diversity of Australia.

Requests regarding the reproduction of works should be made in writing to:

Bruce Howlett
Registrar
National Portrait Gallery
Old Parliament House
King George Terrace
PARKES ACT 2600
email bruce.howlett@dcita.gov.au
web http://www.portrait.gov.au/content/menu.htm

National Portrait GalleryAndy Thomas, an award winning engineer and inventor
by Montalbetti+Campbell
Photograph from the National Portrait Gallery collection