Brilliant Women: 18th-Century Bluestockings - From Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Germaine Greer, influential women and early feminists have lamented their lack of foremothers. A major new exhibition Brilliant Women: 18th Century Bluestockings at the National Portrait Gallery, London, aims to show how a remarkable group of creative and intellectual women in eighteenth-century Britain were celebrated as icons of patriotic pride and came to symbolise the progress of a civilised and commercial nation. Publicly celebrated in their time, these women, who met together in salons and were known as 'bluestockings', invented a new kind of informal sociability and nurtured a sense of intellectual community among the writers, artists and thinkers who attended their 'conversation parties'. Active in art, literature and even political thought, the bluestockings were not just brilliant - they were exceptional, both for their individual accomplishments and for collectively pushing the boundaries of what women could undertake or achieve. Until 15 June.

Jazz in London: Photographs by Walter Hanlon - New photographic display documents the jazz scene of 1950s Britain. To mark the National Portrait Gallery's recent acquisition of a selection of photographs by Walter Hanlon, this display brings together his atmospheric portraits of the jazz scene in London in the 1950s. Including portraits of the most popular UK and US players of the period - amongst them Sir John 'Johnny' Dankworth, Humphrey Lyttelton and Cab Calloway - the display opens in advance of the publication of Walter Hanlon's book, 1950s Jazz in London and Paris (Tempus, February 2008, £15.99).

One of the key venues in the 1950s was the 'London Jazz Club' at 100 Oxford Street, renamed the '100 Club' in the 1960s to encompass a broader musical remit. Originally a restaurant, live music was first played at this venue by Victor Feldman and his band in 1942. American servicemen, some who were well known jazz musicians, such as Glenn Miller, visited the club and its reputation grew during the war. In 1948, the club was renamed the London Jazz Club and later in the 1950s, was briefly known as 'The Humphrey Lyttelton club'. In 1952, Walter Hanlon staged an exhibition of his work at the London Jazz Club, and this display includes photographs of the private view in full swing, as well as portraits of some of the many artists that performed at the club, including Wally Fawkes, Steve Race and Joe Harriott. Until 20 July.

Wyndham Lewis portraits - An important new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London, will show the striking portraits of the great British modernist artist and writer Wyndham Lewis (1882-1957), bringing together for the first time a unique visual record of some of the most important cultural figures of the first half of the twentieth century. 58 portraits ranging from delicate drawings to large oil paintings assembled from collections worldwide will chart Wyndham Lewis's range and achievements as a portraitist. Among the highlights of the exhibition will be his now iconic renderings of his fellow 'Men of 1914,' credited with revolutionising 20th-century literature, the writers Ezra Pound, T S Eliot and James Joyce. From 3 July until 19 October.

Eamonn McCabe: Artists and their studios - Providing us with rare insights into what are usually intensely private realms, photographer Eamonn McCabe has produced an extensive portfolio of portraits of writers' rooms and artists' studios. For admirers of their work, these glimpses into private working lives are a revelation - an apparently erratic author's study is immaculate, sketches on the walls of artists' studios provide invaluable insight into their working practice. The portraits have been and continue to be published weekly in the Guardian Saturday Review, where they reach a wide public. Now going one-step further, McCabe is releasing a series of portraits that locate the artists in their working environments. Published collectively in the book Artists and their Studios, the series documents the working lives of the most innovative artists of our time. In the same way that the important 1965 book Private View by critic John Russell and curator Bryan Robertson, which featured photographs by Lord Snowdon, depicted the leading artists of the 1960s, Artists and their Studios, including text by arts critic Michael McNay, continues in the same spirit of documentation and reportage. Broad in its scope, the series of 32 portraits features artists working in a variety of media, including senior artists such as Howard Hodgkin, Peter Blake and Bridget Riley as well as the younger stars of contemporary art such as Tracey Emin, Chis Offili and Simon Starling. From 16 June until 19 October.

National Portrait Gallery opening hours:

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday: 10am – 6pm

(Gallery closure commences at 5.50pm)

Late Opening: Thursday, Friday: 10am – 9pm

(Gallery closure commences at 8.50pm)

Recorded information: 020 7312 2463

General information: 020 7306 0055

Map

www.npg.org.uk