Simon Schama’s Face of Britain

Interesting exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery curated by Simon Schama looking at how portraiture reflects the history of Britain and it’s people.

I liked the themes of the show, power, love, fame, self and people, and the fact it was shown in rooms scattered around the gallery which made you look at the other works in the rooms around it. However in the end I’m not sure it said anything new. I’d  had seen most of the works before so there were few surprises. Maybe if I’d watched the TV series which goes with I’d have got more from it.

It felt like a show with a celebrity name to entice in people who wouldn’t normally come to the gallery. For that reason I applaud it but it didn’t have the same kick as the Greyson Perry show earlier in the year which did a similar thing.

Pictures which did stand out for me included the Annie Leibovitz of John Lennon just hours before his death, a portrait by an unknown artist of the Hobson of Hobson’s Choice and the John Kay etching of Edinburgh figures which I’d not come across before.

An interesting touch was that in the introduction area with one picture to represent each theme Schama had chosen Duncan Grant’s portrait of George Mallory under the Love heading. Haven’t we come a long way that a complex relationship between two men can represent love in a public gallery! Maybe the show is more a reflection of our times and concerns than the faces of the past it is showing.

Reviews
Telegraph
Evening Standard

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thomas Becket: Murder and Making of a Saint

Image
Stunning exhibition at the British Museum on the life and afterlife of Thomas Becket. I studied Becket both at A Level and at university so I was really looking forward to this show and it did not disappoint. From walking in to see an old friend, the early Limoges casket showing the murder from the Victoria and Albert Museum, I was gripped. The show told the story well using fantastic objects and led you through his life, the murder, the political aftermath, his sainthood and miracles, and how Canterbury became a major pilgrimage site. It is hard to pick out the best objects as so many were wonderful. I loved that they had early copies of some of the five eyewitness accounts of the murder which made you fell you were almost touching the event. I liked the manuscript on his time in exile which was almost like a comic strip. How wonderful to get a 13th century font from Sweden which shows how far and how quickly the news that Henry II had integrated the murder spread. I think my...
Read more

Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year Exhibition 2019

Image
Delightful exhibition at Clarendon Fine Art showing pictures from the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year TV series. I had loved the series which had set nine artists, both professional and amateur, to paint one of three celebrities. It then had a semi-final and final with them all looking at one sitter and in the final they also took on a commission. I loved the way you watched a picture build and how some were then made or spoiled by one stroke of paint.   Finding these pictures I knew so well in the flesh was therefore fascinating. None of them disappointed. My favourite artist from the final, Tom Mead, works looked just as good in real life if not better as you could see the detail. The show included his impressive self-portrait which he submitted to enter the competition, a wonderful fragmented picture of his reflection in a mirror giving a sense of movement. I loved that it included a large version of him and a miniature. His commission for the final of Jazzie B...
Read more

The Renaissance Nude

Image
Beautiful exhibition at the Royal Academy looking at the nude in Renaissance art. The show was gently themed but mainly let the pictures speak for themselves. It began by looking at the subjects, both religious and secular, which include nude figures then examined techniques and models used in these works, finishing by looking at more personal pictures. This is a period I’ve studied a lot so there were a lot of old friends and it was quite fun predicting what might appear. There were a few surprises too such as the rather surprising drawing of the Ecstatic Christ. I liked the fact the show included lots of different art forms not just paintings including sculpture, etchings, drawings and illuminated manuscripts. There were some fascinating hangs to draw comparisons particularly two sets of pictures by Giovanni Bellini and Hand Memling from almost exactly the same date. These were shown back to back in a display cabinet down the middle of one room. My favourite work was ...
Read more