At the National Portrait Gallery, a Collection that is Unique in All the World
Lokasi: National Portrait Gallery
Alamat: St. Martin's Pl, Charing Cross, London WC2H 0HE
In the light of a lantern, a young woman traces the profile of her lover on the wall, just before he is about to leave. His father, a potter in Corinth, works these lines into his clay. According to an ancient and fortunate legend, this is the origin of art itself. For thousands of years, before the invention of photography, the painted, sculpted and drawn portrait represented the only means for making distant or deceased people, somehow, become present. Over time, it acquired new functions, highlighting power and prestige, taste and virtue, beauty and emotion. In London, a museum celebrates the art of the portrait with an incredible collection that spans centuries. The National Portrait Gallery is a treasure trove that cannot be matched anywhere else in the world, with eleven-thousand paintings, drawings, sculptures and miniatures, as well as a section dedicated to photography that gathers together over 250.000 images. It is possible to admire masterpieces from Joshua Reynolds, William Hogarts and Andy Warhol, iconic portraits of characters such as Shakespeare and Queen Victoria, photos by masters like Henri Cartier-Bresson or Helmuth Newton, right up to contemporary artist David LaChapelle - a truly remarkable repertoire of faces and characters that tell the very story of Western Civilisation.
The colors of Craig-Martin, master of conceptual art
An exhibition dedicated to Michael Craig-Martin, one of the most influential artists and teachers of his generation and whose works blend pop, minimalism and conceptual art in a riot of colour.
Samuel Courtauld called it "the most wonderful painting in existence." Flaming June by Frederic Leighton is one of the masterpieces of Victorian art and one of the most valuable paintings in the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico. It returns today to the Royal Academy in London where it was first exhibited in 1895.
Shonibare's new works focus on the themes of migration and the conflicts that cause it, and opens a conversation on the role of public sculptures and their meaning in our cities.
An exhibition to show how fashion photography has moved past the simple presentation of product lines to reflect on the reality of our lives, to explore our aspirations and to push at the boundaries of creativity.