Face: Australian Portraits 1880-1960

Featuring 54 portraits by 34 artists, Face takes a fresh look at Australian portraiture from the 1880s late colonial period to the mid-1960s and the move into abstraction.

Face considers the international influences upon Australian portrait painting and the more distinctive turns that Australian portraiture has taken in its own right. Australian artists have often challenged the possibilities of portraiture, rejected the predictable and pushed boundaries in both their choice of subject and their painterly approach.

Artists include Tom Roberts, George W. Lambert, Rupert Bunny, Margaret Preston, Grace Crowley, Napier Waller, Albert Tucker, Sidney Nolan, Russell Drysdale, and John Brack.

Anne Gray is head of Australian art and senior curator of Australian painting and sculpture before 1920 at the National Gallery of Australia.