Events calendar

George Catlin: American Indian Portraits

7 March - 23 June 2013
Porter Gallery
Admission Free

During the 1830s Pennsylvanian-born artist George Catlin (1796-1872) made five trips to the western United States to document the Native American peoples and their way of life. The resulting portraits have become one of the most extensive, evocative and important records of indigenous peoples ever made.

BP Portrait Award 2013

20 June - 15 September 2013
Wolfson Gallery
Admission Free

The BP Portrait Award is the most prestigious international exhibition of contemporary portrait painting.

First Prize now £30,000.

Lecture: Creative Connections: Gandhi in London

20 June 2013, 13:15-14:00
Ondaatje Wing Theatre
Free

Lord Bhikhu Parek, President of the Gandhi Foundation, focuses on Gandhi’s time spent in London, both as a student and again in 1931, as a delegate of the Round Table conference at Kingsley Hall.

Gallery Talk: Young Romantics

A part of Late Shift
20 June 2013, 19:30-20:00
Meet in the Main Hall
Free

Author Lynn Shepherd reveals the dark secrets of the dazzling but doomed Young Romantics. Explore the tangled lives of Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron and their contemporaries.

Guest DJ

A part of Late Shift
20 June 2013, 18:00-20:45
Main Hall
Free

Listen and unwind at the Late Shift Bar.

Photograph of the Month

1 June - 30 June 2013
Room 31
Free

June marks the 100th anniversary of the death of the militant suffragette Emily Wilding Davison who fought for women’s right to vote.

Fred Daniels: Cinema Portraits

28 September 2012 - 20 June 2013
Bookshop Gallery
Free

This first solo display at the National Portrait Gallery celebrates the career of Fred Daniels, pioneer of British ‘Stills’ and portrait photography, and coincides with the publication of the first monograph on his work.

Henry and Catherine Reunited

24 January - 1 September 2013
Room 1
Free

A recently re-identified portrait of Catherine of Aragon, which is on long-term loan to the Gallery from Lambeth Palace, is displayed alongside a portrait of Henry VIII from the same period.

Queens and Consorts: Likeness in Life and Death

12 June 2013 - 28 February 2014
Room 3
Free
This display focuses on a small selection of portraits of sixteenth-century queens and consorts, pairing copies of the sculpted effigies from the royal tombs in Westminster Abbey with painted portraits.

Treason, Plots and Murder

26 May 2013 - 16 February 2014
Room 16
Free
The seventeenth century was witness to frequent and often gruesome plots, scandals and murders.

Diplomatic Dignitaries

18 December 2012 - 14 July 2013
Room 23: case display
Free

Characters and Caricatures: Photographs by Herbert Watkins

3 June - 17 November 2013
Room 24: case display
Free

This display is the first staged at the National Portrait Gallery to celebrate the life and work of Herbert Watkins, and draws together a selection of important albumen prints from the rarely-exhibited Herbert Watkins album, acquired by the Gallery in 1985.

Alexander Bassano: Victorian Photographer

25 March - 10 November 2013
Room 28: case display
Free
his display commemorates the centenary of the death of Alexander Bassano (1829–1913) who established one of the most important photographic portrait studios of the Victorian era. His sitters included royalty, aristocracy, politicians, and leading names from the military, sciences and arts.

William Nicholson Woodcuts

26 March 2013 - 2 March 2014
Room 29: case display
Free
At the beginning of his career, William Nicholson experimented with graphic art, producing hand-coloured woodcuts that were widely praised for the boldness and simplicity of their design.

Francis Goodman: Back in Focus

23 April - 3 November 2013
Room 31: case display
Free
Marking the centenary of the birth of this important photographer whose archive has recently been catalogued. Including portraits of Cecil Beaton, Francis Bacon and Noël Coward.

Cornelia Sorabji: India’s First Woman Lawyer

17 December 2012 - 11 August 2013
Room 31: case display
Free

Patrick Heron: Studies for a portrait of T.S. Eliot

26 January - 22 September 2013
Room 32
Free

Heron’s portrait of writer T.S. Eliot is shown alongside rarely seen studies: from life-drawings to experiments in form and colour, revealing the process of abstraction for which the artist is best known.

Supported by the Quercus Trust

Scandal ’63: The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Profumo Affair

30 April - 15 September 2013
Room 32
Central to the political scandal of 1963, Christine Keeler is represented by Lewis Morley’s much imitated photograph and a drawing by Stephen Ward, artist and osteopath to the establishment.

Jacob Epstein: Portrait Sculptor

28 March - 24 November 2013
Room 33
Free
One of the 20th century’s leading portrait sculptors, this display explores Epstein’s achievement and practice through busts of artists, writers and politicians from the National Portrait Gallery Collection.

Creative Connections

10 June - 8 September 2013
Room 37 & 37a
Free
Creative Connections is a four-year project connecting young people with contemporary artists to create a series of new artworks inspired by the Gallery’s Collection. Find out more

Susan Aldworth: The Portrait Anatomised

7 March - 1 September 2013
Room 38a
Free

Produced as part of a commission for Guy’s and St. Thomas’s Hospital in Westminster, the portraits by Susan Aldworth in this display depict three individuals with epilepsy. 

Portraits by Contemporary Photographers

29 September 2012 - 7 July 2013
Room 39a
Free

Every year the Gallery acquires around 300 photographs for the Collection, ranging from the nineteenth century to the present day. The works in room 39a reflect the broad selection of work by contemporary photographers that the Gallery has recently acquired, often through generous donation.

Humphrey Ocean: A handbook of modern life

23 November 2012 - 1 September 2013
Rooms 41 & 41a
Free
In 2006, Humphrey Ocean started making a series of portraits of visitors to his studio- a project which is ongoing.  Working swiftly in gouache on large sheets of paper in his studio, Ocean paints his sitters, including family members, friends and professional acquaintances, in simple forms and bold colours.

Diallo

6 April - 30 June 2013
New Walk Art Gallery, Leicester
The portrait is currently on long term loan to the National Portrait Gallery and will tour to three venues across the UK.

Trailblazers: Women in Science and Industry

8 March - 29 September 2013
Discovery Museum, Newcastle

A new exhibition exploring the achievements of women who have made a significant contribution to the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) industries, both historically and today.

Early Kings and Queens

17 March 2012 - 4 November 2013
Montacute House
One of the most important surviving sets of Tudor royal portraits returns to Montacute as a special display.

Ida Kar: Bohemian Photographer Portraits of Artists from Paris, London and St. Ives

27 April - 22 November 2013
Royal Cornwall Museum

In 1960 Ida Kar (1908-74) became the first photographer to have a retrospective exhibition at a major London art gallery.