In the early 1900s, the painter Tom Roberts 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 Gallery's first exhibition was launched in Old Parliament House. It was a further four years before the appointment of Andrew Sayers as inaugural Director signalled the establishment of the NationalPortrait Gallery as an institution in its own right, with a board, a budget and a brief to develop its own collection. 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 $87 million building was provided in the 2005 Federal Budget and Sydney-based architectural firmJohnson 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.
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’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 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 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.
The permanent collection
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.
The Gallery’s National Photographic Portrait Prize is a highlight of the Australian arts calendar. Judges select 40 to 50 finalists from thousands of entries from across the nation, with these comprising the annual NPPP exhibition. 2020 also sees the arrival of the inaugural for painted portraits, featuring a AUD$75,000 winner’s prize. The Darling Prize exhibition’s March opening means it joins the NPPP in the Gallery’s autumn calendar, with the two exhibitions presented in tandem as the Gallery’s inaugural ‘National Portrait Prizes’. The inaugural prize was awarded to Anthea da Silva for her portrait of dancer and choreographer Elizabeth Cameron Dalman.
Previous exhibitions
Some of the temporary exhibitions displayed at the National Portrait Gallery include:
