Inspiring People


Preview evening for members at the National Portrait Gallery to show us the Gallery’s plans for their new project, Inspiring People.

After a nice glass of wine there was a presentation by Director of the Gallery Nicholas Cullinan and the project’s architect, Jamie Fobert. At the heart of the project are plans to redevelop the building to create entrance at the north of the building next to Leicester Square and new galleries in the East Wing which is currently used as offices. They stressed it was not just about building work but also about building audiences and improving learning facilities.

It was fascinating to see the ideas for the new entrance and the architect talked eloquently about the original designs and how this builds on and enhances them. All decisions seem to have gone back to these plans.

It was interesting to hear plans for rehanging the whole collection and a relief to hear they would stick to a chronological approach. Cullinan outlined periods of history which are currently badly represented such as the 1960s and plans to interweave paintings and photographs in the later galleries to make sure they tell a rounded story.

My personal plea is to get the poor café team a bigger kitchen! The team currently work in a very small space behind the counter which includes the big dishwashers opening into the space.

It felt a real privilege to hear these plans the night before they were released to the press and to then see an interview with Cullinan in the Times as part of this launch the next morning. I’ll certainly be looking out to see how this progresses although I don’t look forward to the inevitable disruption to one of my favourite galleries.

Review
Times


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