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The Gallery holds the most extensive collection of portraits in the world. Search over 215,000 works, 150,000 of which are illustrated from the 16th Century to the present day.

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Photography posts

La Fiamma: Keeping the Flame of Baroness Catherine d’Erlanger Alive

After celebrating the centenary of female suffrage in 2018, an increased number of female artists have appeared in the exhibitions schedules of several art museums. Behind the scenes, researchers are also doing their part to redress the gender imbalance in the art world by uncovering the lives and identities of women forgotten by history.…

By Hannah Marynissen, Intern

10 October 2019

Shaped with light: Silhouettes and photography on display and in the archives

Our recent display Photography: A Living Art – Then and Now, explored the relationship between historical and contemporary photographs from the National Portrait Gallery’s Collection. Recently acquired tintypes by Joni Sternbach and photograms by Adam Fuss and Christopher Bucklow are shown alongside seaside souvenir tintypes from the 1870s and portraits by the twentieth-century photographic masters André Kertész and Cecil Beaton.…

By Constantia Nicolaides, Assistant Curator, Photographs (Content and Interpretation)

23 September 2019

The First World War through a woman’s lens: Olive Edis and Madame Yevonde

This has been a year of significant anniversaries: 11 November 2018 marks the centenary of the end of the First World War and on 6 February this year Britain celebrated 100 years since the Representation of the People Act granted some women the right to vote. The coming-together of these two anniversaries offers an opportunity to reflect on the part played by two professional women photographers in the First World War: Madame Yevonde and Olive Edis, whose high-profile work is held in the National Portrait Gallery’s collection. …

By George Mind, Collaborative Doctoral Partnership Student, Photographs

06 November 2018

Bella Freud x Gillian Wearing

Earlier this month we caught up with designer Bella Freud to discuss her exciting new collaboration with artist Gillian Wearing and publisher Plinth.…

By National Portrait Gallery,

18 July 2018

Boy in a Red Waistcoat by Paul Cézanne, 1888-90. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, 1995.47.5

Charlie Clift: Telling people’s stories through portraiture.

Launching this year, our Photo Prize Blog series features blog posts by photographers from the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2017. Explore the processes, motivations and stories behind the photographs, as well as the unique insights and experiences from the projects featured in the Prize.…

By National Portrait Gallery,

21 November 2017

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

09 May 2017