The National Portrait Gallery is only just over three-years-old but it has already welcomed its two millionth visitor while also adding another major acquisition to its almost 2000-piece collection.
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Engaged couple Edmund Jiang and Vicki Ma, who are moving from Perth to Sydney, wandered through the gallery doors yesterday as the electronic counters ticked over to two million visitors, the pair were delighted to be presented with a gallery membership and place in the history of the still-young institution.
It was a significant milestone for the portrait gallery whose new, purpose-built $87 million home was opened in December 2008 after the institution had been formally established 10 years earlier at Old Parliament House.
Gallery director Louise Doyle said the institution now had a benchmark of 500,000 visitors a year compared to the 250,000 to 300,000 visitors at its previous location just across the Parliamentary Triangle.
''We're very much on track for that,'' she said, adding that people were becoming more interested in portraiture.
''They're able to take photographs with their Smart phones that present quality images and I think people really want to learn more about the history of Australia and they can do it through the Portrait Gallery,'' she said.
The gallery's latest acquisition is the oil on canvas Portrait of Tam Purves 1958 by John Brack, purchased at auction at Deutscher and Hackett in Melbourne last month.
The gallery has declined to reveal the price. It was listed in the catalogue with an estimate of $400,000 to $600,000 but was bought after auction.
''The value for us is having a significant subject painted by a significant Australian artist,'' Ms Doyle said.
The elegant, austere style of Brack is already present in the gallery which has Portrait of Kym Bonython, Portrait of Joan Croll and a charcoal Self-Portrait.
Thomas Purves, known as Tam, with his wife Anne pioneered professional dealing in Australian contemporary art, promoting the careers of artists including Sidney Nolan, Jeffrey Smart and Brett Whiteley. Ms Doyle said Brack captured the essence of his subject.
''They appear formulaic but they're really specific in relation to each subject. He manages to elicit a very personal response. They're very poignantly framed within the composition and we really get a sense of Tam Purves being a very strong and very focused art dealer of the day,'' Ms Doyle said.
