The Companion is the ultimate record of the National Portrait Gallery’s outstanding collection, serving the collection’s purpose – to assist Australian’s understand their identity, history, culture, creativity and diversity.
The Companion is a fine object, a good read, a reference work, and appealing to all. The Companion is not just an anthology of significant faces, but a detailed, lively compendium documenting the history of portraiture and the various ways – formal or informal, public or private, doting or irreverent – in which the genre has been explored in Australia.
Works of art from recent years in The Companion include portraits in new media: Warwick Thornton’s 2013 portrait of musician Paul Kelly, and David Rosetzky’s video depiction of actor Cate Blanchett. There are so many more … reflecting, reminding, inspiring Australians.
