Iris Murdoch

© DACS / Tom Phillips 2021

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Iris Murdoch

by Tom Phillips
conté, 1986
54 1/2 in. x 40 in. (1384 mm x 1016 mm)
Purchased, 1987
Primary Collection
NPG 5944(3)

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Tom Phillips (1937-2022), Artist, writer and composer; Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery. Artist or producer of 22 portraits, Sitter in 6 portraits.

This portraitback to top

The drawing is one of four large-scale studies of the sitter made by the artist in connection with the portrait commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery. Each of the drawings relates to one of the elements; this one relates to 'Water'.

Related worksback to top

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Events of 1986back to top

Current affairs

Hampton Court Palace is devastated by fire. Much of the third floor and the roof of the building were destroyed, although, thanks to the courage of the fire fighters, only one painting and one piece of furniture were ruined.
Prince Andrew, Duke of York, marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey.

Art and science

Poems on the Underground, the brainchild of American writer Judith Chernaik, is launched by London Underground. A rolling programme of poems is displayed in tube train carriages, bringing contemporary and classic poetry to commuters.
The Independent Newspaper is first published.
Artists, Gilbert and George win the Turner Prize.

International

An explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station leads to nuclear meltdown in the reactor and causes massive nuclear contamination over Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, western Europe, the UK and Ireland, and even North America. The 2005 Chenobyl Forum attributed 56 direct deaths to the disaster and estimated that 9,000 people may die from some form of cancer as a result of exposure to radiation.

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