In Conversation Roy Strong: Self-Portrait as a Young Man

Fun evening at the National Portrait Gallery with Sandy Nairn, the current director of the gallery interviewing Roy Strong who was director from 1967-73 and changed its direction.

The reason for the interview was that Strong had published a memoir of his early life and it was a witty and interesting discussion. He painted a wonderful picture of what the gallery had been like when he first arrived in 1959 with no-one really talking to each other and very little emphasis on the pictures and who their audience might be. It was fascinating to hear how iconic exhibitions where put on which changed how galleries engaged with the public during this period of great social change.

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