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Current and forthcoming | Archive
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ANNIGONI’S GREAT 1950s PAINTING OF THE QUEEN GOES ON SHOW FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 26 YEARS IN DIAMOND JUBILEE EXHIBITION (17 May 2012 - 21 Oct 2012)
Read press release | View images One of the greatest royal portraits of the twentieth century, Pietro Annigoni’s 1954-5 painting of The Queen is to go on public display for the first time in 26 years at the National Portrait’s Gallery’s The Queen: Art and Image exhibition, it was announced today (16 May 2012). It will be shown on the same wall as the artist’s second celebrated full-length portrait of The Queen commissioned by the Gallery in 1969, the first time these portraits will ever have been seen together for over a quarter of a century and only the second time ever. |
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THE QUEEN: ART AND IMAGE (17 May 2012 - 21 Oct 2012)
Read press release | View images The National Portrait Gallery’s touring exhibition of some of the most remarkable and resonant images of The Queen across 60 years of her reign – opens in London on Thursday 17 May 2012 ahead of her Diamond Jubilee weekend celebrations. From Beaton and Leibovitz to Annigoni and Warhol, The Queen: Art and Image is the most wide-ranging exhibition of images in different media devoted to a single royal sitter. Formal painted portraits, official photographs, media pictures, and powerful responses by contemporary artists are shown in an exhibition that has both traditional representations with unconventional works that extend the visual language of royal portraiture.
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LUCIAN FREUD PORTRAITS (9 Feb 2012 - 27 May 2012)
Read press release | View images The most ambitious exhibition of the work of Lucian Freud for ten years opens at the National Portrait Gallery, London. With over 100 paintings and works on paper loaned from museums and private collections throughout the world, Lucian Freud Portraits is the result of many years’ planning by the Gallery in close partnership with the late Lucian Freud. The exhibition will be a countdown event for the London 2012 Festival – the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad. |
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TAYLOR WESSING PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT PRIZE 2012 CALL FOR ENTRIES OPENS AND NEW COMMISSION ANNOUNCED (8 Nov 2012 - 17 Feb 2013)
Read press release | View images The National Portrait Gallery is delighted to announce the Call for Entries for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2012, a major international photographic award. Entry forms are now available and the closing date for entries is 9 July 2012. To enter, visit www.npg.org.uk/photoprize and complete the online application form. |
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NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY STAGES FIRST EVER EXHIBITION ON THE LOST PRINCE WHO WOULD HAVE BEEN KING HENRY IX (18 Oct 2012 - 13 Jan 2013)
Read press release | View images The world’s first exhibition on Henry, Prince of Wales (1594-1612), the boy who would have become King Henry IX had he not died at the age of 18, is to be staged by the National Portrait Gallery this autumn.
Marking the 400th anniversary of his death, The Lost Prince: The Life and Death of Henry Stuart (opening 18 October) will look at the extraordinary life of the eldest son of James I of England and VI of Scotland, and Anne of Denmark. His importance in life and the impact of his death was reflected by his funeral, which was considerably bigger than that of Queen Elizabeth I nine years earlier. |
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PORTRAIT OF THE QUEEN GIVEN TO THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY BY THE PEOPLE OF JERSEY (17 May 2012 - 21 Oct 2012)
Read press release | View images The first ever lenticular portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, Equanimity, has been presented to The National Portrait Gallery, London by the People of Jersey. The portrait, by artist Chris Levine and holographer Rob Munday, was commissioned in 2004 by the Jersey Heritage Trust to celebrate the island’s 800 year relationship with the monarchy. Lenticular images produce an illusion of spatial depth and movement, giving the appearance of three-dimensions. Equanimity will be on display as part of The Queen: Art and Image exhibition, opening at the Gallery on Thursday 17 May 2012.
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WELSH PARALYMPIC ATHLETE NATHAN STEPHENS OPENS UK TOUR OF NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY/BT ROAD TO 2012 EXHIBITION IN CARDIFF (30 Mar 2012 - 9 Sep 2012)
Read press release | View images Over 30 new photographic portraits of top athletes and key figures involved in the staging of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery, and made possible by BT, are launched at Cardiff Bay today by Welsh Paralympian Nathan Stephens (Friday 30 March 2012). The printed panels on large specially-designed outdoor pods can be seen next to Cardiff Bay’s Wales Millennium Centre from today until 27 May 2012. The open-air exhibition will then continue its British tour visiting Edinburgh on 1 June 2012 and Birmingham on 13 July 2012. |
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7,000 EXTRA TICKETS ON SALE TODAY FOR LUCIAN FREUD PORTRAITS AS NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY EXTENDS LATE NIGHT OPENINGS (9 Feb 2012 - 27 May 2012)
Read press release Due to public demand the National Portrait Gallery today (Thursday 8 March 2012) releases 7,000 extra tickets for Lucian Freud Portraits through extended opening hours. The exhibition will now open until 9pm every Saturday from 24 March until 26 May 2012, in addition to its late-night openings on Thursdays and Fridays. |
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MIDNIGHT OPENING FOR LUCIAN FREUD PORTRAITS’ LAST DAYS AS GALLERY ANNOUNCES MOST POPULAR PAYING EXHIBITION IN ITS HISTORY (9 Feb 2012 - 27 May 2012)
Read press release Lucian Freud Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery will open until midnight from 24-26 May, in the lead up to the last day of the most popular paid-for exhibition in the gallery’s history, it was announced today (30 April).
Gallery figures released today reveal that since it opened on 9 February 2012, Lucian Freud Portraits has attracted over 175, 000 visitors so far, overtaking its previous record-breaking paying exhibitions Mario Testino Portraits (2002), David Hockney Portraits (2006) and Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life (2008).
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NEW PORTRAIT OF SHAMI CHAKRABARTI BY GILLIAN WEARING ON SHOW AT THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
Read press release | View images A new portrait of Shami Chakrabarti, Director of campaign group Liberty, has gone on display at the National Portrait Gallery. The photographic portrait is a commission and the first work by British artist Gillian Wearing to enter the Gallery’s Collection. |
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GALLERY’S LARGEST OLYMPIC PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION LAUNCHES WITH NEW PORTRAITS OF BETH TWEDDLE AND JODIE WILLIAMS (19 Jul 2012 - 23 Sep 2012)
Read press release | View images Stunning new portraits of gymnast Beth Tweddle, talented young sprinter Jodie Williams and Jan Matthews, who is responsible for the world’s largest peacetime catering operation, were released today to launch Road to 2012: Aiming High - the final and biggest exhibition in the National Portrait Gallery/BT Road to 2012 project of commissioned photographs documenting the preparations for London 2012. |
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BP PORTRAIT AWARD 2012 SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED (21 Jun 2012 - 23 Sep 2012)
Read press release | View images Four artists have been short-listed for the BP Portrait Award 2012, one of the world’s most
prestigious art prizes. This year the prize received 2,187 entries from 74 different countries. For the sixth year, the competition has been open to all aged 18 or over. 55 portraits have been selected for the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, which runs from 21 June until 23 September 2012. This year the BP Portrait Award 2012 exhibition is part of the London 2012 Festival, the spectacular 12-week nationwide celebration running from 21
June until 9 September 2012 bringing together leading artists from across the world with the
very best from the UK.
The four artists shortlisted for the 2012 award are: Aleah Chapin for Auntie Alan Coulson
for Richie Culver Ignacio Estudillo for El abuelo (Agustín Estudillo) and Jamie Routley for
Tony Lewis. |
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NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY CLOCKS UP 2,000,000 VISITORS… ITS HIGHEST EVER ANNUAL FIGURE (27 Mar 2012 - 27 Apr 2012)
Read press release Northampton family walks into Gallery to be greeted with gifts
Record numbers to Lucian Freud Portraits and BP Portrait Award 2011
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SPOTLIGHT ON PETER RAND: 10 PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE 1960S (17 Apr 2012 - 16 Sep 2012)
Read press release | View images The first solo display of photographs by Peter Rand will open at the National Portrait Gallery on 17 April. The display of 10 portraits will celebrate the recent acquisition of works by the Vogue photographer into the National Portrait Gallery Collection. |
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IMAGINED LIVES: PORTRAITS OF UNKNOWN PEOPLE (3 Dec 2011 - 22 Jul 2012)
Read press release | View images For the first time in over 50 years, a group of portraits of mystery figures from the 16th and 17th Centuries will go on display at the National Portrait Gallery. Acclaimed writers Alexander McCall Smith, Joanna Trollope, John Banville, Julian Fellowes, Minette Walters, Sarah Singleton, Terry Pratchett and Tracy Chevalier have contributed short imaginative stories about the portraits to help to bring the sitters to life. Imagined Lives: Portraits of Unknown People opens at the National Portrait Gallery from 3 December 2011 and runs until June 2012.
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NEWLY COMMISSIONED PORTRAIT OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE PHILIP SEEN IN LONDON FOR FIRST TIME AT THE QUEEN: ART & IMAGE (17 May 2012 - 21 Oct 2012)
Read press release | View images The National Portrait Gallery’s 2011 commissioned portrait photograph of The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh goes on show in London for the first time following its nationwide tour as part of the exhibition The Queen: Art & Image, which opens at the Gallery on Thursday 17 May 2012. |
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FAMOUS IN THE FIFTIES: PHOTOGRAPHS BY DANIEL FARSON (19 Mar 2012 - 16 Sep 2012)
Read press release | View images A new display of photographs by legendary Soho figure, Daniel Farson will open at the National Portrait Gallery on 19 March. Famous in the Fifties: Photographs by Daniel Farson will celebrate the multi-faceted career of Farson who worked as a Picture Post photographer, television presenter, and writer. |
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CAMBRIDGE CONNECTIONS: PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANTONY BARRINGTON BROWN (1927 – 2012) (19 Mar 2012 - 16 Sep 2012)
Read press release | View images A new display at the National Portrait Gallery will celebrate the career of photographer Antony Barrington Brown. The fifteen portraits on show present a selection of 240 recently acquired portraits generously given to the Gallery by the photographer before his death in January 2012. The display will show leading figures in Cambridge during the 1950s including Mark Boxer, Crick and Watson and Michael Winner. Cambridge Connections: Photographs by Antony Barrington Brown (1927 – 2012) will run until 16 September 2012. |
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ARTIST’S LAST WORK TO GO ON SHOW FOR THE FIRST TIME AT NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY’S LUCIAN FREUD PORTRAITS EXHIBITION (9 Feb 2012 - 27 May 2012)
Read press release The last work of the late Lucian Freud will go on show for the first time at the most ambitious exhibition of the artist’s work for ten years, opening at the National Portrait Gallery, London, in February 2012. The inclusion of Portrait of the Hound 2011, the unfinished nude painting of Freud’s assistant David Dawson with his dog Eli, will enable exhibition visitors for the first time to see the artist’s most important portraits from the earliest in the 1940s to the one he was painting shortly before his death on 20 July 2011. |
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EXHIBITIONS AND DISPLAYS 2012 (1 Jan 2012 - 31 Dec 2012)
Read press release The National Portrait Gallery outlines its exhibitions and displays programme, including Lucian Freud Portraits and The Queen: Art and Image. |
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SANDRA LOUSADA: WORK AND PERFORMANCE (28 Nov 2011 - 20 May 2012)
Read press release | View images 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. Sandra Lousada: Work and Performance runs in the Bookshop Gallery from 28 November 2011 until 20 May 2012. |
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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON
Read press release | View images General information about the National Portrait Gallery, London for all Press. |
