One Ticket. Two Extraordinary Exhibitions.

Posted on 2 March, 2020

“This fascination with the human face has never left me…

“Every face I see seems to hide and sometimes, fleetingly, to reveal the mystery of another human being…” said Philippe Halsman, renowned photographer and fellow collaborator of Salvador Dali during the ‘40s and ‘50s.

Many of us share this fascination with faces, which is one of the reasons why the National Photographic Portrait Prize is enjoying its thirteenth successive year, with record crowds once again expected.

“The National Photographic Portrait Prize, or NPPP as we call it, was instituted in 2007, back in the days when the National Portrait Gallery was located at Old Parliament House. And an exciting addition to this year’s exhibition is the inaugural Darling Portrait Prize for painted portraits,” says Joanna Gilmour, the Gallery’s Curator Collection and Research.

Gordon Darling AC CMG was the founding patron of the National Portrait Gallery. In 1991, he and his wife Marilyn established the Gordon Darling Foundation, which provides funding and staff development opportunities for public art institutions Australia-wide.

The same year, they sponsored a touring exhibition of portraiture. This proved so popular that, along with the Darlings’ lobbying of two prime ministers, it led to the establishment of the National Portrait Gallery, now in its own building at King Edward Crescent, Parkes.

“This year, our visitors will be able to enjoy these two major prize exhibitions at the same time. You only need to buy one ticket to see these two really exciting shows, both running from Friday 6 March until Sunday 10 May,” says Joanna.

“The NPPP is a portrait prize open to any Australian resident photographer over the age of 18. All photographers are encouraged to enter. You can be just out of art school or an established photographer with a prominent reputation,” she adds.

It is no small feat to be selected as a finalist from the thousands of entries submitted from the national field of aspiring and established photographers.

This year there are 48 finalists, with the winner to be announced at the official launch of the exhibition on 13 March.

Eileen Kramer by Hugh Stewart.

“It’s a great project for us to work on, but visitors really love it too and I think that’s because this exhibition is different to the rest of the Gallery.

“The works that we acquire for the permanent collection are portraits of people who are historically significant or who have made significant contributions to Australian society or culture. We get much more of a diverse cross-section with the NPPP,” says Joanna.

Subjects for NPPP photographs represent the breadth of Australian society, however, they don’t need to be Australian.

Previous NPPP winners have included a pregnant woman in her kitchen, a shepherd boy in Afghanistan, an Indigenous Elder and actor, and siblings climbing a tree—demonstrating the beauty in the ordinary and the everyday.

Megan Wilding by Wendy Sharpe.

“There are images of the people closest to the artists, so family, friends and partners often feature. In other years, there’s been a strong bent towards guys with beards or gnarly guys with lots of tattoos,” laughs Joanna.

“Often we will also see issues in the media bubble up through the artists’ work. Usually each year, we’ll receive images that reflect Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers. This year the themes are very much about Indigenous pride and connection to country,” says Joanna.

Rory by Michael Murchie.

Joanna has also been a judge of the NPPP. Whether she’s judging or considering an acquisition for the Gallery’s collection, Joanna’s rule of thumb is to look for the strength of the transaction between the artist and sitter.

“Portrait artists, whether they’re painters, sculptors or a photographer, will tell you the best results will happen when there’s a strong connection between the artist and the subject, when someone is making a conscious effort to reveal something of themselves,” explains Joanna.

This conversation about the National Portrait Gallery is possible thanks to the vision and generosity of Gordon and Marilyn Darling, and their continuing contribution to the visual arts scene in Australia.

Tommy by N Kohler.

When Gordon passed away in 2015, he left money in his will for the Gallery to establish a major portrait prize in his name. The Darling Portrait Prize honours his place in the National Portrait Gallery and recognises his work in raising the profile of portraiture in Australia.

The prize also comes with a generous $75,000 for the winner, who will be announced on 5 March.

The new Darling Portrait Prize attracted 350 entries, which were narrowed down to a shortlist of 40 for the exhibition.

Writing on the Wall 2019 by Dr Christian Thompson AO.

Shortlisted portraits range from household names such as Mia Wasikowski, Tommy Little, Tim Winton and Ita Buttrose, to portraits of everyday Australians from a variety of cultural backgrounds.

“We have a range of stylistic diversity too. Some paintings are hyper-real—they look like a photograph, you almost can’t believe they’re paintings. We also have very abstract portraits and then other paintings that are very evocative of the 19^th century and the Old Masters’ style,” says Joanna.

Little Family by Gene Hart-Smith.

“We are so excited about the Darling Prize, and it can only get bigger from here. These two exhibitions demonstrate that portraiture is alive and well and living in Australia, and that’s exactly what Gordon and Marilyn Darling wanted,” says Joanna.

One ticket. Two extraordinary exhibitions. Tickets available now from National Portrait Gallery Canberra.

This editorial was created in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery. For more information on sponsored partnerships, click here.