News and events archive
Read about our past seminars and workshops here: Portraits and Textiles seminar, 17 January 2012 Annual Seminar, 1 November 2011 Musical and Theatrical portrait collections, London, 20 July 2011 Private family portrait collections in the North East, 9 March 2011 Georgian Faces seminar, 3 February 2011 Contemporary Portrait Practices seminar, 23 November 2010 Annual Seminar, 19 October 2010 Nineteenth century Photographic Portraiture, 7 September 2010 The Bowes Museum workshop, 26 March 2010 Portraits in Oxford workshop, 4 February 2010 Tudor and Jacobean portraiture workshop, 4 December 2009. Annual seminar, 20 October 2009. Workshop in Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, 18 March 2009. Annual seminar, 21 October 2008. If you would like details of your exhibition, publication or event posted on the Understanding British Portraits news page, please email us here.
Read about our past seminars and workshops here: Portraits and Textiles seminar, 17 January 2012 Annual Seminar, 1 November 2011 Musical and Theatrical portrait collections, London, 20 July 2011 Private family portrait collections in the North East, 9 March 2011 Georgian Faces seminar, 3 February 2011 Contemporary Portrait Practices seminar, 23 November 2010 Annual Seminar, 19 October 2010 Nineteenth century Photographic Portraiture, 7 September 2010 The Bowes Museum workshop, 26 March 2010 Portraits in Oxford workshop, 4 February 2010 Tudor and Jacobean portraiture workshop, 4 December 2009. Annual seminar, 20 October 2009. Workshop in Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, 18 March 2009. Annual seminar, 21 October 2008. If you would like details of your exhibition, publication or event posted on the Understanding British Portraits news page, please email us here. 41 records found Courses: the School of Historical Dress 26-30 March and 31 March-1April
The School has announced two new courses taking place soon: Eighteenth Century Women’s Underpinnings: the cut and construction of stays and hooped petticoats (26-30 March), and An Introduction to the Study of Historical Dress c.1500 - 1900 (31 March-1 April). Both are very practical, and student numbers are limited so book early! More Exhibition: The Queen: 60 Photographs for 60 Years, The Drawings Gallery, Windsor Castle until 28 October 2012
This exhibition celebrates Her Majesty’s 60 years as Sovereign, from the early years of her reign in the 1950s to the present day, through a wide-ranging selection of images, illustrating both key events in her remarkable life and more informal family occasions. More Exhibition: The Face of Courage, Portraits of the British at War, 1940-45, by Eric Kennington, RAF Museum Hendon until 25 May 2012
Portraits of the British at War, 1940-45, by Eric Kennington (1888-1960). For much of his distinguished career, Kennington was regularly classed by leading critics as belonging to the ranks of such exceptional portraitists as Hans Holbein the Younger, Albrecht Dürer, Franz Hals, Van Gogh and Augustus John. Furthermore, many of his artistic contemporaries rated him as one of the finest draughtsman of his day. This exhibition, the first to focus specifically on his Second World War Art, seeks to reassess Kennington’s significant contribution to British War Art and to acknowledge his undoubted standing as one of the great British portraitists of the Twentieth Century. In a ‘People’s War’ he produced unforgettable images of ordinary men and women who displayed extraordinary courage and resource. More Exhibition: 'Family Matters: The Family in British Art', Millennium Galleries, Sheffield 2 February - 29 April 2012
This ambitious touring exhibition shows how the subject of the family has been and continues to be a challenging yet enduring subject for artists. Divided thematically, the exhibition showcases the best of British art with works by David Hockney, Anthony van Dyck, William Hogarth and Tracey Emin. Contemporary and historic works are juxtaposed to show how the traditional family portrait has been joined by more frank portrayals of the family. Later venues: Laing Art Gallery Newcastle 21 May – 2 September 2012 Tate Britain 1 October – 21 December 2012 More Forthcoming exhibition: The Head that Wears the Crown: Decoding Royal Portraits in Chester, Grosvenor Museum until 1 April 2012
This exhibition decodes the representation of monarchy and monarchs through their portraits, considers the political and social context of the times in which they were made, and explores Chester’s long relationship with the Crown. More Exhibition: Lucian Freud My Father by Jane McAdam Freud, Freud Museum until 4 March 2012
Artist Jane McAdam Freud presents a large scale sculpture portraying her father Lucian Freud. It will be exhibited for the first time in London’s Freud Museum – once home to her great grandfather, Sigmund Freud. Jane spent many hours with her father in the months before his death in July 2011 making sketches for this new work. It will be shown at the Freud Museum alongside other smaller scale work and preparatory sketches. More Call for papers: Histories of British Art 1660-1735: Reconstruction and Transformation deadline 2 March 2012
Histories of British Art is the third and final conference organised as part Court, Country, City: British Art, 1660-1735, a major research project run by the University of York and Tate Britain, and funded by the AHRC. We welcome proposals for 25-minute papers on any aspect of British Art, 1660-1735. A number of bursaries will be available to graduate student speakers. Further details Call for papers: Workshop on Approaches to the Study of Collecting 6-7 July 2012 deadline 15 February 2012 The Institute of Historical Research and the Wallace Collection welcome paper for their joint workshop in July 2012. Further detail below. Workshop on Approaches to the Study of Collecting, 6-7 July 2012 (pdf) Course: Investigating the Archive: Photographic Collections of London until 4 February 2012
From the collections at the V&A and Royal Anthropological Institute to those at local libraries and in the professional archives of Magnum Photos, London is host to a surprising variety of often unknown photographic collections and archives, all of which are kept for different purposes. Using practical explorations, a variety of classroom and site visits with thematic discussions, this course considers the histories, preservation, use and related issues involved in these fascinating collections. Organised and led by the Photographer's Gallery with Birkbeck College. More Article: 'A Political Picture of George I at Hanbury' by Sue Stern Sue Stern examines a portrait by an unidentified Worcester artist now at Hanbury Hall. In the National Trust Arts, Buildings & Collections Bulletin April 2011. Here Article: a portrait of the novelist William Makepece Thackeray at Anglesey Abbey Derek Holdaway at the National Trust explores a miniature of Richmond Thackeray (1781-1816), probably executed by George Chinnery in India. More Article: National Portrait Gallery finds relics of an English king in its basement
An archivist at the National Portrait Gallery has found relics from the tomb of King Richard II while cataloguing the papers of its first Director Sir George Scharf (1820-1895). Among the hundreds of diaries and notebooks left behind in boxes not opened for years were contents from the coffin of a medieval English king, and sketches of his skull and bones. The contents of a cigarette box dated 31 August 1871 were only identified as relics from a royal tomb following cataloguing, when it became possible to cross-reference the date on the front of the box with diary entries and sketches made on the same day. The box contained fragments of wood, possibly from the coffin itself, and some fabric. Records from this date reveal that Scharf was present at an opening of the royal graves at Westminster Abbey. A piece of leather corresponds particularly with Scharf’s sketch of a glove contained in the coffin. A full account of the event was recorded by the Very Reverend Arthur Stanley, Dean of Westminster and published in Archaeologia in 1879. More Article: Sir Anthony Van Dyck's Portraits of Sir William and Lady Killigrew, 1638 by Karen Hearn This paper discusses the painting of the courtier and writer Sir William Killigrew and the companion portrait of his wife Mary Hill, Lady Killigrew, both painted in 1638, by Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641). The pair were acquired by Tate in 2002 and 2003 from two entirely different sources. Article Article: Thomas Gainsborough’s ‘Lost’ Portrait of Auguste Vestris by Martin Postle The subject of this paper is a portrait of the celebrated eighteenth-century dancer, Auguste Vestris, acquired by Tate in 1955, when it was attributed to Gainsborough Dupont, nephew of Thomas Gainsborough. The paper argues that the portrait is in fact by Gainsborough himself and, through a discussion of the context in which it was made, sheds new light on Gainsborough's close relations with the world of the London stage. Article Blog: 'Art History News' by Bendor Grosvenor of Philip Mould Ltd Link to blog Conservation news: 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards Regimental Museum, Cardiff
Details of portrait conservation projects by Ronald Moore. More Conservation news: a discussion of conservation work on six unidentified seventeenth century portraits at The Vyne Conservation research: Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828)
The National Trust publishes initial research into the working techniques of the portraitist Gilbert Stuart, based on a study of his works at Saltram House. See the NT's Arts Buildings Collections bulletin October 2011 Exhibition: The People's Portraits, Girton College Cambridge In 2000, the Royal Society of Portrait Painters mounted a millennial exhibition entitled People’s Portraits. The idea was to represent ordinary people from all walks of life, and thereby offer a picture of the United Kingdom as it moved from the 20th century into the 21st. The resulting collection is rich in the diversity of its subjects. The artists are all members of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, and include Daphne Todd, June Mendoza and Jeff Stultiens, among others. This exciting and original collection has now come to Girton College as a long-term loan. The concept of this exhibition chimes well with the College ethos of community and interest in art. Additionally, the College serves as a picturesque setting for the paintings. There are currently 32 paintings in the exhibition, and an area of the College has been transformed into a special exhibition space. More Loan offer: pocket portraits
The Museum of Design in Plastics has Esmée Fairbairn Effective Collections funding to lend small groups of artefacts made of horn, a natural plastic. By displaying them in different contexts, it hopes to bring the art and craft of the horner to the attention of people who have not previously considered horn in such a context. So how can horn be relevant to portraiture? The Museum has a dozen tobacco boxes embellished with portraits representing historical figures including Peter the Great, Charles I, James II, Queen Anne, Shakespeare and Handel (on the same box), and Robert Burns, dating from the early 18th to the early 19th centuries. Several are signed by John Obrisset . You can see them all on the Museum's website here. Can you see a role for them in your displays? If so, please get in touch with Susan Lambert (slambert'at'aucb.ac.uk). The Museum will do all or as much of the work as possible, and there are no loan charges. New acquisition: the National Trust at Dunham Massey The National Trust has purchased a whole length portrait believed to depict Vere Egerton, who married William Booth of Dunham in 1619. The painting is attributed to Robert Peake (c1551-1619). See the National Trust's blog entry on the acquisition here, and a zoomable image on the Sotheby's site here. New discovery: a set of cabinet miniatures are identified at Lanhydrock Derek Holdaway, Volunteer Assistant at the National Trust, reveals a group of eight nineteenth-century miniatures at Lanhydrock to be the work of the talented Dowling family of Cheltenham. see the NT's Arts Buildings Collections bulletin October 2011 New portrait acquisition: the British Dental Association Museum has purchased a portrait of 'gum guru' Conrad Ackner treating Lady Lavery in a painting by her husband Sir John Lavery dated 1929.
The painting will be a key exhibit in the museum's home on Wimpole Street, London. It is thought to be one of the only accurate depictions of an early 20th century dental surgery in action, featuring an early x-ray machine and headlamp. More Object focus video: General Wolfe at the National Army Museum Object focus video: Rex Whistler's self portrait at the National Army Museum Online article: Timea Tallian and Alan Derbyshire (V&A), The reconstruction of the materials and techniques of Nicholas Hilliard’s portrait miniatures Online exhibition: British Portrait Miniatures at the V&A Museum Online exhibition: Pre-Raphaelite portrait drawings at the Lady Lever Art Gallery Online exhibition: Timeless & Classic: Elizabeth Queen & Icon This British Postal Museum & Archive exhibition explores the evolution of Arnold Machin's classic profile portrait of the Queen More Online guided tour: Dorset Faces, Portrait of a County exhibition
A guided tour of the 2010/11 exhibition at Dorset County Museum, led by the exhibition curator Gwen Yarker. Here Online learning resources: from the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, many using portraits in the collection Online resource from the V&A: Dating photographic portraits of various decades using costume history Online trail: Disability in the 18th century – a National Portrait Gallery trail by Jacob Simon, Chief Curator, NPG.
Disability is no respecter of person. Those represented on the walls of the National Portrait Gallery and in its collections are among the most celebrated members of British society but among them are many with disabilities. Some are celebrated in literature: Richard III was famously depicted by Shakespeare as ‘Crookback’, while the poet Byron who had a foot disability, or ‘club-foot’, has been vilified as having ‘the face of an angel on a devil’s body’. More Podcasts: National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC podcast archive Access a fantastic range of gallery talks, interviews with artists and lectures from the Smithsonian NPG on their Face-to-Face Podcasts page here. Podcasts include * Brandon Fortune, curator at NPG, discusses Mather Brown's portrait of Thomas Jefferson. * Liz Rideal, of London's National Portrait Gallery, discusses John Singleton Copley's self-portrait. * Photographer Alec Soth discusses his work. * Sid Hart, senior historian at NPG, discusses a portrait of Martha Washington by Gilbert Stuart. * Warren Perry, researcher at NPG, discusses Andy Warhol's portrait of Michael Jackson. Recently published: Facing Beauty: Painted Women and Cosmetic Art by Prof Aileen Ribeiro
Throughout the history of the Western world, countless attempts have been made to define beauty in art and life, especially with regard to women's bodies and faces. Facing Beauty examines concepts of female beauty in terms of the ideal and the real, investigating paradigms of beauty as represented in art and literature and how beauty has been enhanced by cosmetics and hairstyles. More Sculpture replication case study
The National Conservation Centre produces plaster replicas of Michael Rysbrack’s bust of the architect James Gibbs (1682-1754) More Untraced portrait: Roger Boscovich S.J. by Robert Edge Pine, 1760 In advance of a display at the Royal Society on the life of the Roger Joseph Boscovich S.J. (1711-87), attempts are being made to locate a missing portrait of the Croatian polymath by Robert Edge Pine (1730-88). The organisers would also like to hear from anyone conducting research into Pine's career. Please follow this link for more details and a related image (pdf): letter from The Art Newspaper, no. 217, October 2010 If you have any suggestions or queries please contact us as ssnportraiture@npg.org.uk Video from the V&A: Eleri Lynn presents a selection of female undergarments
This film features author Eleri Lynn as she leads us on a tour of a long hidden world. Eleri's brief history of shapewear starts with the hourglass and S-bend forms - and steel and whalebone engineering - of Victorian and Edwardian corsets carries on through the breast-flattening bandeau bras worn by 1920s flappers, the New Look underwear of Christian Dior, the conicle bullet bras of the 1950s and concludes with the arrival of Lycra in the 1960s and the renaissance of corsetry through the new popularity of burlesque. Here Video: Jodi Bieber discussing her 'Real Beauty' series of female portraits On the V&A Channel here Website: The rediscovery of the only surviving whole-length portrait of Vincent Van Gogh Read detailed research into the picture's origins and provenance here. Website: unknownsitter.com unknownsitter.com is the collaborative project of artist Nicky Bird, art historian Lara Perry and five other contributors from a range of disciplines. Together, they explore the problem of unknown sitters, and the value of their portraits. They ask how different disciplinary approaches to the interpretation of such portraits might illuminate our understanding of portraits of unknown, and known, sitters. Website Related Articles
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