Bailey’s stardust

Disappointing exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery of works by David Bailey.

I was really looking forward to this show but I was unimpressed! I’m sorry I feel like I am bucking against the trend and the hype but I have to say it. When I realised how big the show was I thought I’d be there for hours but in fact I did it in about half an hour as I found there was very little I wanted to linger over and in some places there was just too much to look at such as in the room on his wife where one wall was thickly hung with small pictures. It had the effect on me of just not wanting to invest time in each image.

In the end I came away feeling it had been an exhibition about celebrity and ego more than about the works as art! Generally I would have liked a little more description both of the sections and of each work, maybe some context about when and why the pictures were taken. In the end I found I liked pictures of people who I like and admire already but  just dismissing people I didn’t know or like. The works did not engage me enough to make we want to find out more about anyone.

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