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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.

Contemporary Collection Display

Contemporary Collection Display

Contemporary Collection Display

Past display archive
30 November 2018 - 3 February 2019

Rooms 35 - 41a, Floor 0

Free

In 1969, the National Portrait Gallery began to collect portraits of living sitters. Since then the contemporary collection has grown considerably through acquisitions and commissioned portraits and now encompasses works produced from 2000 to the present day.

Highlights from this new display include unseen portraits of musician Amy Winehouse, the John Kobal New Award commissions, newly acquired portraits of Explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Astronaut Tim Peake and Museum Director Neil MacGregor, photographs from The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s wedding, and new works by artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby.

Events

Events (3)

3 events matching the search term CCD

In Conversation: Luminary Drawings: Portraits of Film Directors

In Conversation: Luminary Drawings: Portraits of Film Directors

A part of Friday Lates
12 July 2019, 19:00
Ondaatje Wing Theatre
Tickets: £10 (£8 concessions and Gallery Supporters) Book online, or visit the Gallery in person.

Artist Nina Mae Fowler talks to film critic Simran Hans about her new display of portrait drawings of leading film directors and the sittings in which each was depicted whilst watching a film of importance to them.


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In Conversation: Iris Murdoch’s Relationship to Painting, in Philosophy and in Life

In Conversation: Iris Murdoch’s Relationship to Painting, in Philosophy and in Life

A part of Friday Lates
19 July 2019, 19:00
Ondaatje Wing Theatre
Tickets: £10 (£8 concessions and Gallery Supporters) Book online, or visit the Gallery in person.

In the centenary year of Iris Murdoch’s birth, Murdoch scholars Lucy Bolton and Rebecca Moden will demonstrate how paintings feature in her life and work, and examine her relationship with art, artists and philosophical thinking.


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In Conversation: On Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills

In Conversation: On Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills

A part of Friday Lates
9 August 2019, 19:00
Ondaatje Wing Theatre
Tickets: £10 (£8 concessions and Gallery Supporters) Book online, or visit the Gallery in person.

Dr Eirka Balsom and Dr James Boaden disucss Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills, a series of 70 black and white photographs taken over a three year period from 1977-1980 in which the artist poses in the guise of archetypal female characters from a variety of cinematic genres, mimicking the style of promotional shots taken on set and hinting at possible scenarios and narratives.


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Works on display

Room 35: People of Today Room 36: People of Today Room 37: Power Shakers Room 37a: Portraits in Motion Room 38: Cultural Lives Room 38a: Nineties to Noughties: Music and Fashion

Banner credit: Amy Winehouse by Ram Shergill NPG x200127