Stuart Pearson Wright at the Riflemaker Gallery in London

LONDON.- Stuart Pearson Wright’s second solo exhibition at Riflemaker features a series of meticulously-crafted works whose technical virtuosity flirts with high mannerism and heroic realism. The scene is set somewhere between Bow, Dagenham, Ancient Greece and William Shakespeare’s Denmark. Painting the human figure in an era when it was not always seen as a legitimate part of contemporary art, and a winner the BP Portrait Award (2001) aged just twenty-six , Wright (b. Northampton 1975) has spent much of his career attempting to [...]

National Portrait Gallery, London announces Call For Entries for the BP Portrait Award 2012

LONDON.- The National Portrait Gallery announces the Call for Entries for the BP Portrait Award 2012, the world’s most prestigious open competition for portrait painting. The Portrait Award, now in its thirty-third year at the National Portrait Gallery and twenty-third year of sponsorship by BP, is an annual event aimed at encouraging artists to focus upon and develop portraiture in their work. The BP Portrait Award 2012 exhibition will run at the National Portrait Gallery from 21 June to 23 September 2012. Holly [...]

Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2011 winners announced in London

LONDON.- The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2011 has been won by Jooney Woodward, 32, for her portrait, Harriet and Gentleman Jack. The portrait of 13-year-old Harriet Power was taken in the guinea pig judging area at the Royal Welsh Show. Woodward says: ‘I found her image immediately striking with her long, red hair and white stewarding coat. She is holding her own guinea pig called Gentleman Jack, named after the Jack Daniel’s whisky box in which he was given to [...]

David LaChapelle portrait of Alexander McQueen and his ‘Muse’ Isabella Blow acquired by National Portrait Gallery

LONDON.- ‘Burning Down the House’, a portrait by David LaChapelle of the late Alexander McQueen and his ‘muse’ Isabella Blow has been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery. This is the first portrait by LaChapelle to enter the Gallery’s Collection and will be exhibited in the United Kingdom for the first time from Friday 14 October 2011. The double portrait of McQueen and Blow was originally published in the March 1997 ‘Swinging London’ edition of Vanity Fair. Shot at Hedingham Castle in [...]

National Portrait Gallery announces Lucian Freud portraits exhibition in February 2012

LONDON.- The last work of the late Lucian Freud will go on show for the first time at the most ambitious exhibition of the artist’s work for ten years, opening at the National Portrait Gallery, London, in February 2012. The inclusion of Portrait of the Hound 2011, the unfinished nude painting of Freud’s assistant David Dawson with his dog Eli, will enable exhibition visitors for the first time to see the artist’s most important portraits from the earliest in the 1940s to [...]

Shortlist announced for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2011

LONDON.- For the first time ever, five photographers have been shortlisted for the £12,000 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, the major international photography award. Firmly established as the leading showcase for new talent in portrait photography, the prize is sponsored by international law firm Taylor Wessing. The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2011 will showcase the work of some of the most talented emerging young photographers, alongside that of established professionals, photography students and gifted amateurs. Selected anonymously from an open competition, [...]

First painted portrait of American Vogue’s Anna Wintour acquired by the National Portrait Gallery

LONDON.- The National Portrait Gallery, has acquired American artist Alex Katz’s bold portrait of Anna Wintour, Editor in Chief of American VOGUE. The painting, which was unveiled at the Gallery in 2010, is the first painted portrait of British-born Wintour. It is also the first work by influential American artist Katz to enter the Gallery’s Collection. The portrait will be on show from 13 September to coincide with London Fashion Week. Anna has been acquired for a special net price of £125,000, [...]

National Portrait Gallery marks the 400th anniversary of the birth of the artist William Dobson

LONDON.- A new display at the a National Portrait Gallery marks the 400th anniversary of the birth of the artist William Dobson. Considered the most important British painter of his generation, Dobson was a hugely significant witness to the English Civil War but his career was tragically short. This display is part of a wider celebration of Dobson’ s anniversary year which sees the launch of a special Dobson Art Trail created by The Sunday Times art critic Waldemar Januszczak. The four oil [...]

National Portrait Gallery Acquires Rare Picture of Society Beauties as Macbeth’s Witches

LONDON.- As it launches a major exhibition of actress portraits, the National Portrait Gallery has announced the acquisition of a large and rarely seen picture of three of eighteenth-century society’s most glamorous and notorious women – as the three witches from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire and Elizabeth Lamb, Viscountess Melbourne – the most famous political hostesses and society beauties of their day – are shown gathered around the witches’ cauldron alongside their friend, the sculptor Anne Seymour Damer. The [...]

Previously Unseen Portraits of Susan Boyle and Tony Blair Go on Display at National Portrait Gallery

LONDON.- Previously unreleased portraits of singer Susan Boyle, former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and art historian and museum director Sir Roy Strong, form part of a new display at the National Portrait Gallery. The display highlights 16 portraits recently acquired for the Gallery’s Collection by acclaimed photographer John Swannell. The portraits on display range from previously unseen photographs taken in the last year, to portraits taken at the start of his career in the early 1970s. The display, Now and Then: [...]

Only Connect: Unconventional New Display at the National Portrait Gallery in London

LONDON.- Opening this weekend, Only Connect is an unconventional new display at the National Portrait Gallery presenting a web of portraits connecting sitters across three centuries. Comprising paintings, sculpture, photographs, engravings, drawings, miniatures and works in other media from the National Portrait Gallery’s holdings, the display uses musical connections to explore new ways of looking at the Collection. Eric William Fenby Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin by Unknown photographer 1970s. © National Portrait Gallery, London. The display proposes a network of threads [...]

National Portrait Gallery Marks the Centenary of Sir William Schwenck Gilbert’s Death

LONDON.- A new display at the National Portrait Gallery marks the centenary of Sir William Schwenck Gilbert’s death in 1911. Gilbert alongside Sir Arthur Sullivan made up the famous partnership of Gilbert and Sullivan that revolutionized Victorian theatre with comic operas such as HMS Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. Sir William Schwenck Gilbert by Francis Montague, oil on canvas, 1886. ©: National Portrait Gallery, London. Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836 –1911) worked as a civil servant, a [...]

First Museum Exhibition in 50 Years Devoted to Ida Kar at the National Portrait Gallery

LONDON.- A new exhibition of portraits by the twentieth-century pioneering photographer Ida Kar opened at the National Portrait Gallery today, Thursday 10 March. Ida Kar: Bohemian Photographer, 1908-74 highlights the crucial role played by this key woman photographer at the heart of the creative avant-garde. With striking portraits of artists such as Henry Moore, Georges Braque, Gino Severini and Bridget Riley, and writers such as Iris Murdoch and Jean-Paul Sartre, this exhibition offers a fascinating insight into the cultural life of [...]

Thomas Lawrence Retrospective Showcases Dazzling Portraits of High Society in Regency London

NEW HAVEN, CT.- The Yale Center for British Art is the only North American venue for a landmark retrospective of the great Regency painter, Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830). On view from February 24, 2011 through –June 5, 2011, Thomas Lawrence: Regency Power and Brilliance showcases outstanding works by the most important British portrait painter of his generation. It also explores the development of Lawrence’s career as one of the most celebrated and influential artists in Europe in the early nineteenth century. [...]

National Portrait Gallery Announces a Touring Exhibition “The Queen: Art and Image”

LONDON.- To mark The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012, the National Portrait Gallery will stage an innovative touring exhibition bringing together 60 of the most remarkable and resonant images of Elizabeth II spanning the 60 years of her reign – some on public display for the first time. The Queen: Art and Image will tour to British venues before being shown in London, opening in Edinburgh in June, Belfast in October and Cardiff and London in 2012. From Beaton and [...]

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