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Exhibitions currently running:
Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize - The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize presents the very best in contemporary portrait photography, showcasing the work of talented young photographers and gifted amateurs alongside that of established professionals and photography students. Through editorial, advertising and fine art images, entrants have explored a range of themes, styles and approaches to the contemporary photographic portrait, from formal commissioned portraits to more spontaneous and intimate moments capturing friends and family. This year the competition attracted over 6,000 submissions by 2,506 photographers from around the world. The selected sixty works for the exhibition include the five shortlisted images and the winner of the ELLE commission. Until 12 February.
William Dobson 1611 - 46 - A new display at the National Portrait Gallery marks the 400thanniversary of the birth of the artist William Dobson. Considered the most important British painter of his generation, Dobson was a hugely significant witness to the English Civil War but his career was tragically short. The four oil portraits included in the display are of Richard Neville (c 1643), Sir Edward Nicholas (c. 1945), probably Sir Thomas Aylesbury, Bt (c 1642) and probably Nicholas Oudart (c. 1645). These will be shown alongside a selection of prints from the Gallery’s archive, exploring Dobson’s relationship with the printmaker William Faithorne. Until 18 March.
Lucian Freud Portraits - Lucian Freud (1922 – 2011) was one of the most important and influential artists of his generation. Paintings of people were central to his work and this major exhibition, spanning over seventy years, is the first to focus on his portraiture. Produced in close collaboration with the late Lucian Freud, the exhibition concentrates on particular periods and groups of sitters which illustrate Freud's stylistic development and technical virtuosity. Insightful paintings of the artist's lovers, friends and family, referred to by the artist as the 'people in my life', will demonstrate the psychological drama and unrelenting observational intensity of his work. Featuring over 100 works from museums and private collections throughout the world, some of which have never been seen before, this is an unmissible opportunity to experience the work of one of the world's greatest artists.
Sandra Lousada - Work and Performance - A new display at the National Portrait Gallery celebrates the fifty year career of photographer Sandra Lousada. The twenty one portraits on display depict key figures in literature, film and fashion from the early 1960s and form the first display of work by Lousada at the Gallery. The Gallery has recently acquired forty portraits by Lousada and the display will show highlights taken between 1960 and 1964, many of which feature in her book Public Faces Private Places (2008). Lousada captured the leading figures in the arts including actors Sarah Miles, James Fox, Vanessa Redgrave and Hayley Mills, composer Arthur Bliss, writers Richard Hughes and Laurie Lee and sculptor Lynn Chadwick. The display will also include previously unseen portraits of models Jean Shrimpton and Celia Hammond taken on assignment for Queen magazine. Formal commissioned portraits are shown alongside behind the scenes photographs taken on films sets and unguarded portraits of sitters captured at home. Until 20 May 2012.
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
