Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting online talk from the National Portrait Gallery outlining how they have moved over 400,000 objects out of the building for its refurbishment as part of their Inspiring People Project. I have done smaller scale but similar projects and realise the planning needed before you even start so was fascinated to hear Ed Purvis, Head of Collection Services, talk about the stages of the project. The depth of the planning was impressive including making sure that all the pieces were in a condition to be moved back and hung so any conservation work was done at the time of moving them. They did 330 hours of conservation checks. He spoke about how Covid-19 meant they had to work out new ways of doing thing to minimise handling but he said he felt in many cases they had found better ways of doing things. He went on the speak about the delivery stage and how the pictures were taken down, checked and then packed by room. I loved a photo of the 18th century room with the pictures off the ...

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 hist...