The current Lucian Freud exhibition at the National Gallery, London, bears the bombastic subtitle New Perspectives, but for whom? Celebrating the centenary of his birth, the exhibition walks like any other Freud exhibition. Puritan and broadly chronological, we see how the artist’s caricaturish, muddy-looking early style quickly matured into the impasto-laden portraitist we know andContinue reading “REVIEW | Lucian Freud: New Perspectives – National Gallery, London”
Tag Archives: portraiture
REVIEW | Van Gogh. Self-Portraits – The Courtauld Gallery, London
Van Gogh. Self-Portraits at The Courtauld Gallery was a fabulous assembly of nearly half of the artist’s surviving autobiographical likenesses, specifically 16 from at least 35 in total. They even threw in Van Gogh’s Chair (National Gallery, London) and his portrait of Eugène Boch (Musée d’Orsay, Paris) for good measure. Every encounter was a personalContinue reading “REVIEW | Van Gogh. Self-Portraits – The Courtauld Gallery, London”
Encountering the Past
In a chapter of Cynthia Freedland’s book, Portraits & Persons, the philosopher proposes that portraits are images of persons that fulfil one or more of the following features: Likenesses Psychological characterisations Proofs of presence or ‘contact’ Manifestations of a person’s ‘essence’ or ‘air’ Such criteria may seem obvious but, in practice, they are particularly difficultContinue reading “Encountering the Past”
Picasso Portraits – friendships immortalised
Picasso. One mention of this elusive name sparks headlines of paintings selling for millions. But who was he? Beneath the external skin of artistic genius, who exactly was the painter of the enormous Guernica (1937) or the earlier, highly controversial Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907)? Who was Pablo Picasso? The National Portrait Gallery’s latest Picasso PortraitsContinue reading “Picasso Portraits – friendships immortalised”
Modern portraiture – the Old and the New Viennese
Vienna, also known as the City of Music, was an area where many great composers found their place in musical history, icons such as Mozart, Brahms and Mahler. Theatres and opera houses filled the city with world-class music, attracting tourists and immigrants from across the Empire. During the years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867-1918), ViennaContinue reading “Modern portraiture – the Old and the New Viennese”
The Mall Galleries – Portraits, portraits and even more portraits!
Prior to leaving the house, I found out from the National Gallery’s Twitter feed that they were launching the Titian Experience with the Art Fund that afternoon. I decided I would make a small detour to check it out. Alas, when I arrived I had already missed the last public viewing.
Nigel Ip | Visual Arts Writer & Art Historian 