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Face to Face SUMMER 2012 The Queen: Art and Image BP Portrait Award 2012 My Favourite Portrait by Dr Gus Casely-Hayford

Face to Face - National Portrait Gallery, London · National Portrait Gallery, London This portrait will feature in the exhibition The Queen: Art and Image from 17 May until 21 October

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Page 1: Face to Face - National Portrait Gallery, London · National Portrait Gallery, London This portrait will feature in the exhibition The Queen: Art and Image from 17 May until 21 October

Face to Face SUMMER 2012

The Queen: Art andImage

BP Portrait Award 2012

My Favourite Portrait byDr Gus Casely-Hayford

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Page 2: Face to Face - National Portrait Gallery, London · National Portrait Gallery, London This portrait will feature in the exhibition The Queen: Art and Image from 17 May until 21 October

Face to Face Issue 39

Deputy Director & Director of Communications and Development Pim Baxter

Communications Officer Helen Corcoran

Editor Elisabeth Ingles

Designer Annabel Dalziel

All images National Portrait Gallery, London and © National Portrait Gallery, London, unless stated

www.npg.org.uk

Recorded Information Line 020 7312 2463

COVER AND BELOW

Queen Elizabeth IIby Dorothy Wilding (hand-coloured byBeatrice Johnson), 1952© William Hustler and Georgina Hustler/ National Portrait Gallery, London

This portrait will feature in the exhibitionThe Queen: Art and Imagefrom 17 May until 21 October 2012in the Porter Gallery

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FROM THE DIRECTOR

THIS SUMMER the Gallery presents The Queen:Art and Image, an exhibition specially createdto mark The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.Bringing together around sixty of the mostremarkable images of Elizabeth II madeduring her sixty-year reign, the exhibitionincludes formal painted portraits andcommissioned photographs, alongside pressimages and works by celebrated contemporaryartists. On pages 7 to 11 exhibition curator PaulMoorhouse explores how The Queen: Art andImage charts the evolving representation ofone of the most portrayed people of all time.

On display in the Wolfson Gallery this summer is the BP Portrait Award 2012. Nicola Kalinsky,one of the judges of this year’s award, takes a behind-the-scenes look at the work involvedin judging this annual competition on page 4,and on page 5 we hear from Jo Fraser, winnerof the BP Travel Award 2011, about herexperience of working on new portraits in Perufor this year’s exhibition. Former BP PortraitAward winner Jane Allison writes about theGallery’s ongoing BP Portrait Award: NextGeneration project on page 6, and considersthe importance of this initiative in encouragingyoung portrait painters.

To complement these two exhibitions, a rangeof free displays from the Collection is on showthroughout the Gallery. On page 3, CuratorCharlotte Bolland writes about Double Take,part of the Gallery’s ongoing Making Art inTudor Britain research project, which bringstogether five pairs of near-identical portraits

in order to explore how and why multipleversions and copies of portraits were made in the sixteenth century. Jan Marsh, Curatorand Researcher, looks back over the life ofcomposer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, votedamong the 100 Great Black Britons and thesubject of a new Gallery display, on page 16. On pages 12 and 13 Assistant Curator IngaFraser describes Poetry of Motion, a display of sculpture, new media, painted andphotographic works from the Collection whichexplores the ways in which contemporaryartists have sought to represent athletes and those for whom physical movement is paramount.

Lastly, to celebrate the London 2012 Olympicand Paralympic Games, the Gallery unveils the final exhibition in the National PortraitGallery/BT Road to 2012 project this July.David Mercer, BT Group Head of Design,considers his favourite photograph from thisthree-year Cultural Olympiad commissioningproject on page 14, while on page 15Photographs Commissions Manager AnneBraybon introduces the works in Road to 2012: Aiming High.

Sandy NairneDIRECTOR

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MY FAVOURITE PORTRAITby Dr Gus Casely-HayfordArt Historian

advances were reshaping ideas. And thesetwo friends – painter and subject – dominatedtheir respective disciplines. Their obviouscloseness, and their shared understanding of the potential of the moment that theywere living through, contribute to making the image particularly special. It is not just a portrait of a single man, but of a period of fundamental change. These are men whoare part of a generation prepared to thinkambitiously and return the stare of infinity.

But somehow what these dark eyes reflect is not the ambient confidence of theEnlightenment. Johnson’s right hand barelygrips the quill, the sinews of his left handseem to be tautening. He is assured and yetmodestly questioning. You can imagine him,brilliant, eloquent and inspirational, but youmight also discern a man who has sufferedfrom bouts of crippling depression and self-doubt. This is not a portrait of a blindly drivenman. It is the moment of reflective inspirationof the diffident genius. Johnson is, if anything,vulnerable, reflecting falteringly, almostwistfully, on what might be. Reynoldsunderstood that, and saw that fragility assomething to respect. The challenges of theage were not to be met with arrogance, but by measured reflection.

THERE IS OFTEN a price paid for brilliance, and in this portrait of Dr Samuel Johnson,Joshua Reynolds reflects on what the natureof that price might be. In an age beforepsychoanalysis, Reynolds deploys paintingtechniques honed on his travels in Europe to delve into the inner landscape of one of the great minds of mid-eighteenth-centuryLondon. It is a carefully crafted examinationof how the light from a single window reachesgingerly into Dr Johnson’s study to lift hisgaze, but what is revealed is not just areturned stare. Johnson looks back towardsthe light, out through the window, not at aparticular object, but to something beyondthe horizon; what is laid bare is the inner man.

The painting was made in the mid-1750swhen Reynolds was at his most experimentaland Johnson had just completed hisDictionary of the English Language. It was a period when intellectual and technological

BELOW LEFT

Samuel Johnson (detail)by Sir Joshua Reynolds,1756–1757

On display in Room 12

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Dr Gus Casely-Hayford, Research Associate, SOAS, is acultural historian and a Trustee of the National PortraitGallery. He has written and presented programmes fortelevision and radio, including two series of The LostKingdoms of Africa for BBC Four, and his book The LostKingdoms of Africa was published earlier this year byBantam Press.

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ONE OF THE CHARACTERISTICS of sixteenth-century portraiture is that numerous copiesand versions of portraits depicting the samesitter in the same position were produced byartists’ studios. These were made, often over a period of many years, in order to supply themarket with images of popular sitters, such as monarchs and influential courtiers.

Double Take uses research undertaken as partof the Making Art in Tudor Britain project toexplore the means by which these works weremade. Five portraits of prominent Tudor sittersfrom the Gallery’s Collection, Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Archbishop William Warham, the merchant Thomas Gresham and LordTreasurer Thomas Sackville, are paired withnear-identical portraits that have beengenerously loaned from other collections.

DOUBLE TAKE: VERSIONS ANDCOPIES OF TUDOR PORTRAITSby Charlotte BollandMaking Art in Tudor Britain Project Curator

This display can be seenin Room 2 from 26 Juneuntil 9 September 2012,admission free.

BELOW FROM LEFT

William Warhamafter Hans Holbein theYounger, early 17th century

William Warhamby unknown artist,c.1570s–80s Lambeth Palace, by kind permissionof the Archbishop of Canterburyand the Church Commissioners

Technical analysis has allowed for closecomparison to be made between each of the paired portraits, revealing which of themcould be termed contemporary versions, and which are later copies. For example,dendrochronology can be used to date thewood from which paintings on panel areconstructed, infrared reflectography can reveal the preparatory stages of drawing and the extent to which a pattern may havebeen used, while x-ray and photomicroscopyreveal the changes, or pentimenti, thatoccurred during the painting process and also the brushstrokes and technique of theartist. Taken together, the results of thisanalysis reveal the pragmatism at the heart of the sixteenth-century artist’s workshop, foralthough access to sitters was often limited,the demand for their portraits remained high.

(detail)nolds,

m 12

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passionately for those portraits to which we felt particularly drawn and listened to eachother’s reactions and reasons. Some portraitsseemed even stronger when seen again, whileothers no longer spoke so convincingly. I wasreminded of another underrated pleasure, thatof making art the focus of our interaction associable human beings. I’m confident thatvisitors are going to experience these veryparticular pleasures as they too look at anddiscuss the painted portrait in the BP PortraitAward 2012.

THE BP PORTRAIT AWARD attracts thousandsof submissions and the judges have thedaunting task of choosing no more than sixtyworks for the exhibition. I’d hung the BPPortrait Award on several occasions and oftenwondered how this process worked, so I wasthrilled to be invited to join the 2012 judgingpanel.

The first day of judging was spent looking at every single portrait. Each work is subject to brief but intense scrutiny from the panel, which also included sculptor Martin Jennings,cultural historian Dr Gus Casely-Hayford,Gallery Director Sandy Nairne, Sarah Howgate,Contemporary Curator, and Des Violaris,Director, UK Arts & Culture BP.

What made any portrait, among so many,stand out? Sometimes it was complexity andambition, sometimes it was understatementand reticence, but every portrait that was‘stopped’ (around 300 out of approximately3,000) had visual qualities that communicatedthe specificity of its sitter. It was an intenseexperience and exceptionally enjoyable. It’squite rare for a curator to spend all day lookingat art – we are usually, much like everyone else,transfixed by computer screens or corralled in meetings. It reminded me just how muchpleasure there is in simply looking.

The collaborative nature of judging wasstimulating, particularly on the second day as we whittled the selection down to fifty-fiveportraits. Discussions began, and we argued

BP PORTRAIT AWARD 2012by Nicola KalinskyInterim Director, Scottish National PortraitGallery, and BP Portrait Award 2012 Judge

BELOW FROM TOP

Still Waiting by Antonio Barahona, 2012© The artist

Alex Side View by Alex Hanna, 2012© The artist

BP Portrait Award 2012 exhibition catalogue, essays by Michael Rosen and BP Travel Award 2011 winner Jo Fraser, price £8.99 (paperback). Available fromGallery Shops and online at www.npg.org.uk/shop Published June 2012

BELOW

Tonyby Elizabeth Thayer, 2011© The artist

From the BP Portrait Award 2012 exhibition

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BP Portrait Award 2012and BP Travel Award 2011from 21 June until 23 September 2012Wolfson GalleryAdmission freeSupported by BP

BP TRAVEL AWARD 2011: IN PERUby Jo FraserBP Travel Award 2011 Winner

IN SEPTEMBER 2011 I travelled to themountains of the Patacancha Valley in Peru to spend some time with the people of animpoverished Quechua weaving community.

It was the geometric aesthetic of Andeanhand-weaving that first drew me tocommunities such as this, and that led to an affection for the weavers, for whom theallegorical symbolism within their designs, and the ritualistic purposes for which they are created, is very important.

I initiated a connection with Awamaki, a smallPeruvian non-governmental organisation(NGO) which works directly with twoimpoverished weaving communities in thePatacancha Valley to protect an endangeredtextile tradition by providing women withaccess to market. In discussions with Awamakiit was agreed that, for the purpose of mywork, I could stay within the community ofPatacancha. Namesake of the valley in which

it lies, the village sits at 12,600ft and is thelower of the two communities with which the NGO currently works.

A composition came to me, pain-free andfairly early in my stay. I wanted to work onsomething huge, and present these characterssitting in an arc. I wanted to propose that theviewer sit in on their weaving practice, and tooffer an invitation to transcend the physicalityof this daily occasion and tap the weaver’sspirit. At first, I thought that this would be inthe village itself, and in the studio I beganpainting the weavers in the same space asthatched awnings, pigs and sun-parchedadobe brick structures. Two months in, I took a dark sepia wash over the entire painting andinstead began to paint them into the timelessand epic dynamic of their mountainscape.

BOTTOM LEFT

Jo Fraser in the Studioby Angus Behm, 2012© Angus Behm

BELOW

Peruvian Weavers,Unfinished (detail) by Jo Fraser. Photographed by Angus Behm, 2012© Angus Behm

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an acute awareness of the needs of teenagerslike my own son, convinced me of theimportance of the project, and the responsesof the young people involved soon endorsedthis. It was truly extraordinary to watch thespeed of their development over the course of a few hours and the leaps in understanding,which resulted in some fantastic work.

For me as well there were additional benefits.Our model for the first day of the SummerSchool was Paralympic athlete and BP AthleteAmbassador Shelly Woods, whose courage,determination and striking looks made her the perfect subject. Shelly later agreed to sitfor me; I am still working on the portrait, which I hope will form part of a series of portraits I’ve been working on surrounding the London2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The benefits of the BP Portrait Award: Next Generation project are unique andunquantifiable, but by encouraging youngartists I am convinced that, in tandem with the BP Portrait Award, the project will helpensure that British art, and portraiture inparticular, will continue to develop andmaintain its important position in the world.

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BP PORTRAIT AWARD: NEXT GENERATION PROJECTby Jane AllisonArtist

BELOW TOP

Artist Jane Allison gives life drawing tips to participants in the BP Portrait Award: NextGeneration SummerSchool 2011by Othello de’ Souza-Hartley, 2011

BOTTOM

BP Athlete AmbassadorShelly Woods surroundedby paintings from a lifedrawing session duringthe BP Portrait Award:Next Generation SummerSchool 2011by Othello de’ Souza-Hartley, 2011

The BP Portrait Award: Next Generation project encourages young people to become involved with portraiture through the BP Portrait Award, inspired bythe London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. PastBP Portrait Award winning artists share their experiencewith young artists through talks, workshops and onlinematerials. For further information about the project,including details of how young people can take part inevents, please see: www.npg.org.uk/bpnextgeneration

MY INVOLVEMENT with the National PortraitGallery and the BP Portrait Award coincidedwith the beginning of my career as aprofessional portrait painter, and hasremained an important part of my life eversince. However, my desire to be an artiststarted much earlier, and was fuelled byinspirational teachers at the Saturdaymorning life drawing classes held then bymost art schools. Unfortunately there isnowhere now comparable for young artists to learn the grammar of art, so when I wasasked to take part in the BP Portrait Award:Next Generation project I saw it as my way of passing on the baton. This, coupled with

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IN MAY 2012, a major exhibition opens at theNational Portrait Gallery to mark the DiamondJubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, whoacceded to the throne on 6 February 1952.Comprising portraits and images of the Queenin all media produced in the last sixty years,The Queen: Art and Image presents a multi-faceted survey of a reign that has witnessedradical social and artistic changes.

The exhibition is, however, far from an officialor sanctioned view. Instead, it brings togethera diverse range of portraits, both formal andunconventional, ranging from commissionedpaintings and studio photographs to imagesreproduced in newspapers and magazines,

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film footage and – more controversially –works by contemporary artists. GerhardRichter, Andy Warhol, Gilbert and George and,more recently, Lucian Freud, Annie Leibovitzand Thomas Struth are among the manyleading figures represented. The result is aconstantly developing panorama in whichtraditional royal portraiture gives way tosometimes surprising evocations of monarchythat challenge and extend received ideas. In taking this perspective the exhibitionprovides a lens through which to consider not only the changing face of royalty, but also,at a deeper level, the way representations of the Queen have developed, shaping herpublic persona and also reflecting deeperprogressive currents.

This approach is exemplified by two verydissimilar images of the Queen created at opposite ends of her reign. The first, aphotograph taken by Dorothy Wilding in 1952 (shown on cover), is a striking portrait

THE QUEEN: ART AND IMAGEby Paul MoorhouseCurator, 20th Century

BELOW LEFTQueen Elizabeth IIby Andy Warhol, 1985© The Andy Warhol Foundationfor the Visual Arts Inc/DACSNational Portrait Gallery, London

BELOW

The Queen and Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburghby Thomas Struth, 2011© Royal Household/Thomas Struth

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of the twenty-five-year-old monarch depictedshortly after her accession, one of fifty-ninephotographs made by Wilding at this time.Such portraits played an important part in theprocess of constructing the regal image thatimmediately commenced in 1952. Used as thebasis for stamps and banknotes, reproduced in popular publications and circulated toembassies around the world, Wilding’s likenessof the Queen addressed a huge audience.Though formal, these early portraits werenevertheless a departure from earlierrepresentations of royalty, even those createdfor Elizabeth’s immediate predecessors. Official photographs of her father George VIand her grandfather George V frequentlyemphasise the dignity and gravitas of thesitter. In contrast, Wilding focused on the newQueen’s youth, glamour and freshness. Sixtyyears ago, these qualities – which have sincebecome closely associated with Princess Dianaand, currently, with the Duchess of Cambridge– illuminated a nation still overshadowed bythe war-time legacy of food rationing.

The second image is an altogether differentproposition. Created in 2008 by the Edinburgh-born artist Hew Locke, it depicts the Queen inthe form of an assemblage comprising tinyplastic toys, trinkets, beads and other mass-produced ephemera. Brightly coloured spiders,flowers and skulls, among other modelledshapes, are all in evidence. The use of suchordinary, throw-away trivia is at once playfulbut also, for some, disrespectful, intimating asense of something gaudy, superficial and

disposable. Locke’s depiction of the Queenseems a world away from that created byWilding at the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign.But this is not simply a matter of twoalternative artistic temperaments, nor even the evidence of an ageing monarch. Rather,this visual collision manifests those radicaldevelopments which have informed the waythe Queen has been represented andperceived. The void that separates Wilding

BELOW RIGHT

Medusaby Hew Locke, 2008© Hew LockeArts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London

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and Locke forms the territory explored by The Queen: Art and Image. The works selectedtrace a trajectory from the regal splendour andartistic deference that defined the Queen’simage in the 1950s, through the growinginformality of those portraits created duringthe central part of her reign, to recent works of art that both question and affirm the role of a monarch in the twenty-first century.

How did such sweeping changes occur? Partly,they were the outcome of inexorable socialdevelopments. Those portraits belonging to

the first decade – by Wilding, Cecil Beaton, and Pietro Annigoni – recall an age defined by hierarchy, class difference, privilege and, in consequence, greater formality. Beaton’sCoronation photograph of 1953, for example,summons the historic precedents of royalportraiture to fabricate the image of acrowned monarch saturated with the symbolsof her elevated, historic status. From the orband sceptre the Queen is holding to the large photographic backdrop depicting the

BELOW

Queen Elizabeth IIby Pietro Annigoni, 1955© Portrait by Annigoni, Camera Press, LondonThe Fishmongers’ Company

BELOW LEFT

Queen Elizabeth IIby Cecil Beaton, 1953© V&A Images/Victoria and Albert Museum, LondonNational Portrait Gallery, London

The Queen: Art and Image from 17 May until 21 October 2012Porter GalleryAdmission £6Concessions £5.50/£5Free for Gallery SupportersSponsored by KPMGSpring Season sponsor Herbert Smith

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Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey,Beaton emphasised history, tradition and rankin ways calculated to impress. Annigoni’sgreat royal portrait, commissioned by theFishmongers’ Company in 1954, is no lessformal and, indeed, is similarly splendid. But, though idealised, it neverthelesscommunicates the sense of a living individual– not simply a symbol – and, in that way, it points to the future.

The 1960s ushered in a changed social order,one that was more egalitarian in outlook andintolerant of elevated status. Reflecting suchshifts, representations of the Queen began tobe made in new ways. Glamour and elevatedroyal splendour were replaced by images thatcommunicated the impression of an older,more mature and down-to-earth monarch.Photographs by Antony Armstrong-Jones(later Lord Snowdon) and Cecil Beatonpresented her more informally with herhusband and children, emphasising familyand motherhood and suggesting that thesewere values that she shared with ordinarypeople. The move towards depicting a more‘ordinary’ Queen culminated in Eve Arnold’scolour photograph of 1968 in which theQueen is shown holding an umbrella. With allevidence of privileged status eliminated, thiscould almost be a member of the public.

Such images successfully repositioned the Queen in the life of the nation, making her seem less remote and more in tune with everyday life. The 1969 television

BELOW TOP

Queen Elizabeth IIby Eve Arnold, 1968© Eve Arnold/Magnum Photos

BOTTOM

God Save the Queenby Jamie Read, 1977© Jamie Reid Courtesy Isis GalleryVictoria & Albert Museum

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documentary Royal Family took this processfurther, presenting the Queen in off-duty andseemingly private moments. This, too, revivedinterest in royalty, apparently dissolving theveneer of formality that had seemedincreasingly out of step with the times. Butthe difficulty of maintaining what, in reality,was an impossible balancing act – that ofbeing simultaneously special and apparentlyordinary – qualified a position that previouslycommanded unquestioned respect. Thisproduced unforeseen developments. In 1977,Jamie Read’s poster for the Sex Pistols’ singleGod Save The Queen desecrated the image ofa ruling monarch, an act that would previouslyhave been unimaginable. Throughout the1980s, images of the Queen progressivelydefied convention, becoming less restrainedas they questioned the meaning andrelevance of the monarchy. In that respect,the media and the work of contemporaryartists were linked. In 1981, for example, a photograph published in The Timesshowed the Queen at the State Opening of Parliament, her facial expression seeminguncharacteristically strained. Andy Warhol’sseries of portraits of the Queen produced in the mid-1980s explore this further, usingabstraction and exaggerated colour to probethe fracture between the real person and her public ‘face’.

The last decade has seen furtherdevelopments as photographers, the mediaand a range of artists have continued toaddress the question of how to represent

the Queen, a figure whose significanceconnects history with the modern world.Lucian Freud’s controversial portrait of 2001,her crown balanced a little uncertainly,captures something of the awkward tensiongenerated by this chronological mis-match.This is a woman whose age and experienceare evident, inhabiting the role she has carriedfor over half a century. More recently, theleading German photographer Thomas Struthhas addressed the same issue in themagisterial double portrait of the Queen andthe Duke of Edinburgh commissioned by theNational Portrait Gallery that concludes theexhibition. Quietly affective, it depicts awoman and her husband, both witnesses tothe past and the present – an intimation ofstability at the centre of their changing world.

BELOW RIGHT

Queen Elizabeth IIby Lucian Freud, 2001The Royal Collection © Lucian Freud

The Queen: Art and ImageBy Paul Moorhouse, with an essay by David Cannadine£30 (hardback) and Gallery exclusive paperback £25

Available from Gallery Shops andonline at www.npg.org.uk/shop

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THE SUMMER of the London 2012 Olympic andParalympic Games has provided the Gallery withseveral opportunities to reflect upon figures fromthe world of sport in the Collection. The ways inwhich artists have sought to depict figures who,in their professional lives, are associated withactivity and motion are intriguing. Taking theleitmotif of the moving body as its point ofdeparture, Poetry of Motion includes some of themost ambitious works from the ContemporaryCollection: of athletes and Olympians, dancersand choreographers, subjects whose dynamismfrequently inspires artists to experiment withnew forms or new media.

Film or video seems an obvious way to presentthe body in motion, yet upon closer inspectionthe sense of movement is often consciouslycurtailed either by the formal presentation ofthe sitter or by the technology: a contrast tohow we ordinarily perceive these figures.Dryden Goodwin’s 2006 portrait of the rowerSir Steven Redgrave was made following hisretirement. A series of twenty-five detailedpencil sketches sit adjacent to a video whichanimates the drawings. While avoiding thedepiction of Redgrave directly as a sportsman,the portrait is nevertheless kinetic, hinting atthe nature of Redgrave’s career. Similarly, Sam Taylor-Wood chooses to present DavidBeckham in a moment of intimate quiet. It is a powerful and appealing contrast to theeveryday presentation of an internationalfootballer. The Swimmer, Marty St James andAnne Wilson’s 1990 eleven-channel portrait of Duncan Goodhew, is one of several early

BOTTOM

Lynn Seymourby Andrew Logan,1987–1993

POETRY OF MOTIONby Inga FraserAssistant Curator, Contemporary and Later 20th Century Collections

BELOW TOP

Duncan Goodhewby Marty St James and Anne Wilson, 1990

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video portraits made by the artists describedas ‘sculptures in time’. Ostensibly apresentation of motion, each screen presents afragment: something moving, yet at the sametime frozen.

Traditional painted, sculpted and photographicworks operate as monuments that testify to the strength and form of these elite bodies.Taking a different approach, other artists have incorporated a lightness of touch orunconventional pose as a way of capturingsomething of the grace and vigour of theirsubjects. Philip Harris’s commissioned portraitof Sir Anthony Dowell was completed in 1995.Dowell recalls submitting to the‘choreographic’ direction of Harris, who stoodhim in bright sunlight for the photographsupon which this work was based. Instead of a classic dance position, Harris posed Dowell in a gesture that hints at performance ratherthan directly representing it. Andrew Logan’sstriking eight-foot-high sculpture of the dancerLynn Seymour is a highly imaginative piece.Stating ‘Lynn flies, she doesn’t dance’, in thiswork Logan attempts to make solid her fluidelegance and agility, avoiding a naturalisticpresentation of a body: Seymour is presentedas head, hands and feet in resin, joined by acopper sheet. Materially dense and immobile,this work nevertheless conveys brilliantly anincredible vitality and sense of movement.

Poetry of Motion is a timely opportunity to see some complex and unusual works from the National Portrait Gallery’s Collection.

Poetry of Motionfrom 27 June 2012Room 37Admission free

BOTTOM

Sir Anthony Dowellby Philip Harris, 1995

BELOW TOP

David Beckham (‘David’)by Sam Taylor-Wood, 2004© Sam Taylor-Wood;commissioned by the NationalPortrait Gallery with the support ofJ.P. Morgan through the Fund forNew Commissions

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each of the artists to convey this sentiment in their own individual way. Together theysucceed in drawing us closer to the reality of London 2012.

There are many images I could choose toexpand my thoughts, but for me one standsout: Finlay MacKay’s portrait of Louis Smith. At first glance we see a gymnast caught in afleeting moment – what we assume to be aregular training session. The environment,warehouse-like, is stark and industrial. This isnot a choreographed piece for the camera’seye to romanticise the sporting ideal; thisevokes the realism of the day-to-day, the toil,the self-discipline, the dry routine – the realityof a modern Olympian. The suppleness,warmth and beauty of the gymnast’s bodycontrast abruptly with the cold and hard-edged space around him. This surely describesheroism: the best of humanity set against the rigours of the modern world.

This for me is a truly great picture. The wholeportrait is forged together through geometricstructure, whether the gymnast’s posture orthe equipment, the brackets holding theventilation outlet, the shadows that fall acrossthe space, or indeed the perspective thatdefines the entire environment. There aretriangles everywhere, hundreds of them! Thepower and meaning of this symbolism areclear: it underpins the message of the portraitand announces the overarching story of theRoad to 2012 – the strength and resilience of humanity, triumphant.

THE ROAD TO 2012 project has been nothingshort of inspiring. With each year of thejourney towards London 2012 a new trancheof great portraits is revealed, followed by thepromise of more to come. Like all greatjourneys, there is a sense shared by thosewho’ve been on it that we don’t quite want it to come to an end.

The Road to 2012 is not simply a photographicrecord of an extraordinary moment in the lifeof the United Kingdom and the history of theOlympic and Paralympic Games, but a one-offopportunity for the commissioning of great art.We should remember the arts were very muchcentral to the ethos of the original Olympics inancient Greece, and so this project sits perfectlywith these aspirations and as part of themodern Games and the London 2012 Festival.

These portraits describe human stories ofcommitment, determination, courage andachievement, though they go far beyond acataloguing of people and events. Great carehas been taken and attention to detail paid by

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY/BT ROAD TO 2012 PROJECT by David Mercer BT Group Head of Design

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Louis Smithby Finlay MacKay, 10 March 2011,Huntingdon GymnasticsClub, Huntingdon© Finlay MacKay – NationalPortrait Gallery/BT Road to 2012project

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Jones plays with their ‘biggest challenge’ –London’s nineteenth-century transportnetwork. Draped across the car bonnet, shephotographed the duo driving at midnightdeep in the Blackwall Tunnel.

Nadav Kander’s series of studio portraits bringsanother mood to the project. He explores thedrama of heightened black-and-white tonalinterplay to capture four talented youngathletes, the rising stars of the future. Thesephotographs, together with a deceptivelysimple sequence of torch-bearers’ portraits,exemplify the inspirational stories thatunderpin the project as a whole.

The Road to 2012 project is the largestphotographic commission the Gallery has everundertaken. Over one hundred portraits will actas a record of the London 2012 Olympic andParalympic Games and the extraordinarycollective achievement it represents. We aregrateful to the photographers, whose creativevision shaped the project, and for the time,patience and collaboration of their subjects.Together they brought this project to life.

ROAD TO 2012: AIMING HIGH celebrates thecompletion of the National Portrait Gallery/BTRoad to 2012 project. This final exhibition ofnewly commissioned photographic portraits by Anderson & Low, Jillian Edelstein and Nadav Kander is complemented by selectedwork from Brian Griffin, Emma Hardy, FinlayMacKay and Bettina von Zwehl made for the earlier phases of this three-year CulturalOlympiad project. Together these imagesrepresent a stimulating appraisal ofcontemporary approaches to photographicportraiture.

Anderson & Low use a formal style, naturalisticpalette, and meticulously selected locations tocreate timeless tableaux depicting top athletesand some of the support staff behind Olympicand Paralympic success.

Jillian Edelstein draws on her passion for film to create cinematic vignettes that depictpeople working behind the scenes to preparefor ‘Games Time’. Her portrait of Transport forLondon leaders Peter Hendy and Graham

Road to 2012: Aiming High will be accompanied by aseries of talks and events. For more details, please see:www.npg.org.uk/roadto2012

Road to 2012: Aiming Highfrom 19 July until 23 September 2012Various Gallery spacesAdmission freeIn partnership with BTPart of the London 2012Festival

ROAD TO 2012: AIMING HIGHby Anne BraybonPhotographs Commissions Manager

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Peter Hendy and Graham Jonesby Jillian Edelstein 14 October 2011, Blackwall Tunnel, London© Jillian Edelstein – NationalPortrait Gallery/BT Road to 2012Project

Road to 2012Introduction by Sebastian Coe KBE£25 (hardback)

Available from GalleryShops and online atwww.npg.org.uk/shop

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Raised in Croydon, Coleridge-Taylor sat for a a local artists’ group aged about seven; one of the resulting portraits is a rare example of a child’s portrait in the National PortraitGallery’s Collection. This display, which marksthe centenary of his premature death, aged37, also includes a large composite portrait,The Makers of British Music, published in1908, in which Coleridge-Taylor featuresalongside Elgar and Dame Ethel Smyth; acigarette card from a ‘Composers’ sequence,together with more formal publicityphotographs, and a stunning profile portraitby E.O. Hoppé.

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VOTED AMONG the 100 Great Black Britons,Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was a composer,conductor and choirmaster whose best-knownwork, the cantata trilogy The Song ofHiawatha, was a favourite with choirs up tothe 1940s. A prize-winning student at theRoyal College of Music, he counted among his contemporaries Gustav Holst and RalphVaughan Williams. His first major commission,from the Three Choirs Festival, came on therecommendation of Sir Edward Elgar.

Coleridge-Taylor’s extensive musical output,from 1893 onwards, includes chamber pieces,part-songs and dances, a Symphony in A Minor,a violin concerto and a long-lost opera basedon Norse legend, which received its premièreearlier this year. While much of his work iswithin the late Romantic tradition, many of hiscompositions drew on melodies inspired by hisancestry, such as African Suite, A Military Marchfor Ethiopia and Twenty-Four Negro Melodies.Collaboration with the African-American poetPaul Dunbar led to three visits to the UnitedStates as visiting conductor; recently anunpublished score for violin and orchestrabased on the spiritual ‘Keep Me from SinkingDown’ has been found in Yale UniversityLibrary. In Britain he taught composition atTrinity and Guildhall Schools of Music andcreated incidental music for London theatres.

By the mid-twentieth century, Coleridge-Taylor’s works had fallen from fashion, only toexperience a revival from 2000 onwards, withperformances, recordings and biographies.

SAMUEL COLERIDGE-TAYLOR,1875–1912by Jan MarshCurator and Researcher, Later Victorian Catalogue

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Samuel Coleridge-Taylorby Walter Wallis, 1881

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor(detail) by E.O. Hoppé, 1912© 2012 E.O. Hoppé EstateCollection/Curatorial Assistance Inc.

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, 1875–1912 can be seen from16 July 2012 in Room 29 (case display), admission free.

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Associates can also take advantage of all the benefits of Gallery Membership, includinga 10% discount in the Gallery Shops, Portrait Restaurant and Portrait Café, and a subscription to Face to Face.

Join today and receive a complimentaryLucian Freud Portraits catalogue (RRP £25)and an invitation to join us at the PrivateView for the major exhibition The Queen:Art and Image on 15 May 2012.

For further information, please contact Stacey Ogg, Individual Giving Manager, on020 7321 6644, or visit the Gallery’s website:www.npg.org.uk/support/individual/associates

FROM JUST £275 PER YEAR, AssociateMembers have the opportunity to engagewith the National Portrait Gallery in a number of inspiring ways.

Become an Associate today and enjoy anexclusive selection of benefits including:

• Free, unlimited admission to all ticketedexhibitions, without the need to pre-book,for you and a guest

• An invitation (plus guest) to Private Viewsfor all major exhibitions (six per year)

• An invitation (plus guest) to the annualAssociates’ Evening, where you can explorethe Collection with curators, participate in a creative activity and socialise with fellowAssociates

• An invitation (plus guest) to the annualAssociates’ Breakfast, which includescurator-led tours before Gallery openinghours and a light breakfast

• One complimentary National Portrait Gallery catalogue of your choice each year

• Acknowledgement of your support in theGallery’s Biennial Review

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NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERYASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP

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National Portrait GalleryAssociates Event© Jorge Herrera for the National Portrait Gallery 2012

‘The National Portrait Gallery is a magicalplace ... its ability to captivate and enchant is virtually unequalled among museums. It allows the public not only to peer into artand history, but politics, science, culture and much more.’ FINANCIAL TIMES

Lucian Freud Portraitsby Sarah Howgate. With essay andinterviews by Michael Auping anda contribution by John Richardson

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Summer Offer for GallerySupporters

This offer is only open toNational Portrait GalleryMembers, Associates andPatrons and is not available in conjunction with any other offer.

The Queen: Art and Image

To mark Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012, this landmarkexhibition brings together around sixty of the most remarkableand resonant portraits of the Queen made during her sixty-yearreign, and features works by Cecil Beaton, Dorothy Wilding,Pietro Annigoni, Andy Warhol, Annie Leibovitz, Lucian Freud,Thomas Struth and Gerhard Richter.

These bone china midi espresso mugs are part of an exclusiveDiamond Jubilee range created for The Queen: Art and Imageexhibition. Designed for the Gallery by Thomas Manss &Company, the mugs are manufactured in Stone, near Stoke-on-Trent.

To purchase a set of six espresso mugs at the special GallerySupporters’ Offer price of £36 (a 20% discount, full price £45),please visit the Gallery Shops and quote ‘Face to Face Offer’ to Gallery staff.

Offer subject to availability. Valid from 7 May 2012 until 1 August 2012.

EXCLUSIVE GALLERY SHOP OFFER

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