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20th Century posts

Self-portrait (with Nazi badge between her teeth) by Claude Cahun, 1945. Jersey Heritage Collections © Jersey Heritage

Claude Cahun: Freedom Fighter

Claude Cahun lived her life in a spirit of rebellion and defiance. From her precocious teenage years as Lucy Schwob, defying conventional ideals of beauty and femininity with her shaven head and male attire, to her direct resistance of German occupying forces, she actively worked against the suppression of liberty and freedom - a life of resistance, which is encapsulated by the portrait above, taken in May 1945.…

By Louise Downie, Curation and Experience Director, Jersey Heritage

9 May 2017

Aubrey Vincent Beardsley by Frederick Henry Evans circa 1894 NPG P114

Aubrey Beardsley: A Gargoyle on Notre Dame

Currently on display in ‘Aubrey Beardsley: Artist and Aesthete’ is an iconic portrait of the notorious illustrator Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898) adopting the pose of a gargoyle. The gargoyle in question, known as ‘Le Stryge’ or ‘The Vampire’, sits on the south tower of Notre Dame Cathedral overlooking Paris and Tour St Jacques, his beaked profile cupped in the long fingers of his hands.…

By Lucy Dahlsen, Associate Curator, 20th Century - Contemporary

30 November 2015

Constance Barbara (née Clarke), Lady Baird (later Lady Kennedy) by Henry Walter ('H. Walter') Barnett

Shoulder to Shoulder: Women during the First World War

In researching the roles played by women during the First World War, I was keen that the display presented some of the less discussed roles women played and that it make the best use of the strengths of the Gallery’s collection. …

By Imogen Lyons, Photographs Cataloguer

7 October 2015

Keir Hardie through Sylvia Pankhurst’s eyes

From humble beginnings, Hardie became the first ever leader of the Labour Party in parliament and went on to radically alter the landscape of British Politics. He was attached to issues and values still relevant today, crusading passionately against poverty, promoting social welfare and insisting on women’s liberation. Through his close and intimate friendship with Sylvia Pankhurst, one of the leading figures in the campaign to establish votes for women, he became deeply involved in promoting the cause of women's suffrage. At the time of Hardie’s death, a hundred ago, Pankhurst described him in the Woman's Dreadnought as 'the greatest human being of our time', a view that would be shared by generations of Socialists to come.…

By Lucy Dahlsen, Associate Curator, 20th Century - Contemporary

24 September 2015

Displaying abstract portraits

The National Portrait Gallery’s Interventions series is an ongoing programme of special loan displays focussing on unconventional approaches to portraiture by important 20th-century artists. As part of this series, we have recently hung a display of four abstract portraits by the painter Jack Smith, an artist more commonly known for his gritty social realist work of the post-war years. These less familiar paintings follow his conversion from figurative art to an entirely abstract language. Three were made in the 1980s and represent the composers Harrison Birtwistle and Colin Matthews and the choreographer Ashley Page. The fourth is a lozenge-shaped self-portrait dated 1997. …

By Lucy Dahlsen, Associate Curator, 20th Century - Contemporary

9 July 2015

From Downton Abbey to Devonshire House: American Heiresses at the Devonshire House Fancy Dress Ball

Viewers of the television series, Downton Abbey will be familiar with the character of Cora, who as Lady Grantham, is the glamorous American wife of the English landed aristocrat, Lord Grantham. This storyline is a reference to the widespread phenomenon in the late-nineteenth century of American heiresses marrying influential figures from the British establishment, and often becoming charismatic leaders of society in their own right. The current display at the National Portrait Gallery ‘Old Titles and New Money: American Heiresses and the British Aristocracy’ introduces some real-life Coras who married into the British aristocracy, enlivened high-society with their transatlantic charms and boosted the economies of flagging country estates. …

By Emily Burns, Assistant Curator: Van Dyck

25 June 2015