The National Portrait Gallery (NGPA) in
Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
is a public
art gallery
An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...
containing
portrait
A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this ...
s of prominent Australians. It was established in 1998 and moved to its present building on King Edward Terrace in December 2008.
History
In the early 1900s, the painter
Tom Roberts
Thomas William Roberts (8 March 185614 September 1931) was an English-born Australian artist and a key member of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism.
After studying in Melbourne, he travelled to Europe ...
was the first to propose that Australia should have a national portrait gallery, but it was not until the 1990s that the possibility began to take shape.
The 1992 exhibition ''Uncommon Australians'' – developed by the gallery's founding patrons, Gordon and
Marilyn Darling – was shown in Canberra and toured to four state galleries, igniting the idea of a national portrait gallery. In 1994, under the management of the
National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "maint ...
, the gallery's first exhibition was launched in
Old Parliament House. It was a further four years before the appointment of
Andrew Sayers
Andrew George Sayers (29 June 1957 – 11 October 2015) was an Australian curator and painter, who was the first director of Australia's National Portrait Gallery from 1998 to 2010, and director of the National Museum of Australia from 2010 to ...
as inaugural Director signalled the establishment of the National Portrait Gallery as an institution in its own right, with a board, a budget and a brief to develop its own collection.
The collection was established in May 1998, and until 2008 was housed in Old Parliament House and in a nearby gallery on
Commonwealth Place. The opening of displays in the refurbished Parliamentary Library and two adjacent wings of Old Parliament House in 1999 endorsed the gallery's status and arrival as an independent institution.
While the spaces of Old Parliament House proved adaptable to the National Portrait Gallery's programs, its growing profile and collection necessitated the move to a dedicated building. Funding for the A$87 million building was provided in the 2005 federal budget and
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...
-based architectural firm Johnson Pilton Walker was awarded the job of creating the gallery, with construction commencing in December 2006. The new National Portrait Gallery opened to the public on 4 December 2008 on King Edward Terrace, beside the
High Court of Australia
The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Australia's Constitution.
The High Court was established following passage of the '' Judiciary Act 1903''. ...
– by prime minister
Kevin Rudd
Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...
.
The permanent collection
The portrait gallery contains portraits of prominent Australians (by birth or association) who are important in their field of endeavour, or whose life sets them apart as an individual of long-term public interest.
In 2020, the National Portrait Gallery’s permanent collection stands at approximately 3000 portraits across a range of mediums – including photography, painting, drawing, multimedia, sculpture and textiles – and continues to grow through an acquisition and commissioning program tied to a judiciously applied collection criteria.
Prizes
There are two exhibitions presented as the gallery's "National Portrait Prizes".
National Photographic Portrait Prize
The gallery’s
National Photographic Portrait Prize
The National Photographic Portrait Prize is an annual portraiture competition held at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, Australia.
The major sponsor of the prize in 2022 is the gallery itself, which awards to the winner, while Canon p ...
(NPPP) is an annual award for Australian photographers, worth .
Darling Portrait Prize
In March 2020 the inaugural Darling Portrait Prize for
painted portraits, featuring a winner’s prize, was established in honour of
L. Gordon Darling AC CMG (1921-2015), who was a key founder of the National Portrait Gallery.
This is a biennial prize.
[
;Winners
*2020: Anthea da Silva, for her portrait of dancer and choreographer ]Elizabeth Cameron Dalman
Elizabeth Cameron Dalman (born 1934) is an Australian choreographer, teacher, and performer. She founded Australian Dance Theatre and was its artistic director from 1965 to 1975. She is also the founding director of Mirramu Dance Company.
Ear ...
*2022: Jaq Grantford, for her self-portrait[
]
The building
Won through an open international design competition by Johnson Pilton Walker in 2005, the building provides exhibition space for approximately 500 portraits in a simple configuration of day-lit galleries.
The external form of the building responds to its site by using the building's geometry to connect with key vistas and alignments around the precinct. A series of five bays, each more than long, are arranged perpendicular to the Land Axis referring to Walter Burley Griffin
Walter Burley Griffin (November 24, 1876February 11, 1937) was an American architect and landscape architect. He is known for designing Canberra, Australia's capital city and the New South Wales towns of Griffith and Leeton. He has been cr ...
’s early concepts for the National Capital.
The National Portrait Gallery features a sequence of spaces leading from the Entrance Court defined by the two large cantilever
A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cant ...
concrete blades on the eastern side of the building, through the foyer to the fantastic gallery spaces. Each gallery receives controlled natural light from translucent glazed clerestory
In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both.
Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper l ...
windows and views to the outside.
In April 2019, the gallery was closed for several months for rectification work to maintain the integrity of its building. The gallery reopened in September 2019.
Governance
The gallery is an Australian Government
The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Governmen ...
agency, governed by the Board of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia (NGPA).[ the board is chaired by Penny Fowler.][
Karen Quinlan was appointed director with effect from December 2018. She was formerly director of ]Bendigo Art Gallery
Bendigo Art Gallery is an Australian art gallery located in Bendigo, Victoria. It is one of the oldest and largest regional art galleries.
History
The gallery was founded in 1887.
The gallery's collection was first housed in the former Bendigo ...
for 18 years, and curator for three years before that.[ At the time of her appointment she was also Professor of Practice at the ]La Trobe Art Institute
La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria and ...
at Bendigo. Quinlan was made a Member of the Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Go ...
in the 2019 Australia Day Honours
The 2019 Australia Day Honours are appointments to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by Australian citizens. The list was announced on 26 January 2019 by the Governor General of Australia, Sir Peter Cosgrove.
The Aus ...
list, "for her significant service to the visual arts and to higher education". In August 2022 Quinlan was appointed chief executive of Arts Centre Melbourne
Arts Centre Melbourne, originally known as the Victorian Arts Centre and briefly called the Arts Centre, is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the central ...
, with the new role starting on 3 October 2022. Trent Birkett took over as acting director.
References
External links
*
{{authority control
Museums in Canberra
Art museums and galleries in Australia
1998 establishments in Australia
Infrastructure completed in 2008
Art museums established in 1998
Portrait galleries
Australia Portrait