Blog

Paul Moorhouse's posts

T.S. Eliot: Cubist Version by Patrick Heron, 194–8 © The estate of Patrick Heron. All Rights Reserved, DACS, 2013

Installing a new display: Patrick Heron’s portraits of TS Eliot

I am often asked, ‘what is the best part of being a curator?’ This question is difficult to answer because there are so many possible responses. Writing about art comes near the top, as does researching and acquiring new works for the collection. Working with living artists is also enormously exciting and invariably illuminating. However, at this minute I am tempted to say that displaying great works of art is still, after almost thirty years of curating, the biggest thrill. There is something about seeing a painting or a drawing finally taking its place within a long-planned exhibition that constantly surprises. In that moment, familiar images suddenly appear in a different light and become vital.…

By Paul Moorhouse, 20th Century Curator

3 Comments

6 February 2013

20th Century

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill by Sir William Newenham Montague Orpen 1916 NPG L250

What makes a great portrait?

I hesitate to use the word ‘great’ when discussing art. Like other over-used superlatives - ‘iconic’ is another I make a point of avoiding – the very familiarity of the term, and the ease with which it trips off the tongue, deny the significance intended. The idea of a ‘great’ painting or sculpture raises many questions. What makes a particular image or object so distinctive and compelling as to transcend the merely excellent? How is greatness judged? And why, I ask, did I find myself using the dreaded adjective when recently being interviewed on television about a portrait that has just gone on display in our 20th century galleries?…

By Paul Moorhouse, 20th Century Curator