National Portrait Gallery
menu

  Admission free.  Donations welcome

  Open daily 10:00-18:00. Open late Thursday and Friday until 21:00

  Become a Member

National Portrait Gallery
  • Print this web page
  • Normal view
  • Home
  • Visit
  • What's on
  • People & Portraits
  • Learning
  • Join & Support
  • Shop
  • Home
  •  / Blog

Blog

  • Subscribe (RSS)
  • Email alerts

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

  • 0 Comments

9 May 2017

  • New Additions
  • 20th Century
  • Contemporary
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, Assistant Curator (1910-Contemporary)

  • 1 Comment

30 November 2015

  • New Additions
  • 20th Century
  • 19th Century

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, Assistant Curator (1910-Contemporary)

  • 3 Comments

9 July 2015

  • Exhibitions
  • New Additions
  • 20th Century

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

  • 0 Comments

25 June 2015

  • New Additions
  • 20th Century
  • 19th Century
  • Photography
2nd Lieutenant Gilbert S. M. Insall by Edward Newling, 1919.  Imperial War Museums © WM ART 2629

People, not numbers: Curating The Great War in Portraits

At 7.30 in the morning of 1 June 1916, the first phase of the Battle of the Somme got underway. Eighty British and French infantry battalions commenced a mass attack on the opposing German lines along an 18 mile front. Their instruction was to walk towards the enemy. …

By Paul Moorhouse, Senior Consultant, 20th Century

  • 2 Comments

27 March 2014

  • Exhibitions
  • 20th Century

Hanging Contemporary Art at Beningbrough Hall

The decision to hang contemporary art in an important historic setting such as Beningbrough Hall cannot be taken lightly. Not only does one need to be sensitive to the character of the early eighteenth-century interiors and the other artworks on display but the very fabric of the building is rightfully subject to strict conservation regulation.…

By Rab MacGibbon, Associate Curator and Clare Fletcher, Visitor Experience and Volunteering Manager at Beningbrough Hall,

  • 2 Comments

13 March 2014

  • Contemporary
  • 20th Century
  • 1 OF 3
  • Next Page

What's in the blog?

  • All Posts (82)

Behind the scenes

  • Conservation (4)
  • Discoveries (1)
  • Exhibitions (43)
  • Activities (5)
  • New Additions (21)

Portraiture periods

  • Tudor (7)
  • Stuarts & Civil War (3)
  • Georgian & Regency (1)
  • Victorian & Edwardian (2)
  • Contemporary (9)
  • 20th Century (17)
  • 19th Century (11)
  • 18th Century (5)

Medium

  • Painting (10)
  • Photography (19)
  • Sculpture (3)

Latest posts

  • Cézanne’s Self-Portraits
  • Charlie Clift: Telling people’s stories through portraiture.
  • An Introduction to Cézanne Portraits

Archive

  • December 2017 (1)
  • November 2017 (1)
  • October 2017 (1)
  • September 2017 (1)
  • July 2017 (1)
  • June 2017 (1)
  • May 2017 (1)
  • April 2017 (1)
  • November 2016 (1)
  • November 2015 (1)
  • October 2015 (2)
  • September 2015 (1)
  • August 2015 (2)
  • July 2015 (2)
  • June 2015 (2)
  • May 2015 (3)
  • April 2015 (1)
  • March 2015 (2)
  • February 2015 (2)
  • December 2014 (1)
  • November 2014 (2)
  • October 2014 (1)
  • September 2014 (2)
  • August 2014 (2)
  • July 2014 (2)
  • June 2014 (3)
  • May 2014 (2)
  • April 2014 (1)
  • March 2014 (2)
  • February 2014 (1)
  • January 2014 (2)
  • December 2013 (1)
  • November 2013 (2)
  • October 2013 (4)
  • September 2013 (4)
  • August 2013 (2)
  • July 2013 (3)
  • June 2013 (2)
  • May 2013 (3)
  • April 2013 (2)
  • March 2013 (3)
  • February 2013 (3)
  • January 2013 (4)
  • December 2012 (3)
  • November 2012 (4)
  • October 2012 (4)

Join and Support

  • Become a Member
  • Support us
  • Leave a legacy

About the Gallery

  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Research
  • Press
  • Jobs
  • Accessibility
  • FAQs
  • Privacy & Cookies

Business and hire

  • Venue hire
  • Rights and Images
  • Commercial Filming
  • Publications
  • Collection loans
  • Planning and policies

National and International

  • Beyond the Gallery
  • Our Collection near you
  • National Programmes
  • Regional Partners
  • Touring & Partnership exhibitions

Keep in touch

National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place, London, WC2H 0HE
Switchboard: +44 (0) 20 7306 0055

  • Français
  • Deutsch
  • Italiano
  • Español
  • Polski
  • русский
  • 日本語
  • 简体中文
  • 繁體 中文
  • العربية
© National Portrait Gallery, London 2018