Russia and the Arts: The Age of Tolstoy and Tchaikovsky

17 March - 26 June 2016
http://www.npg.org.uk

Russia and the Arts is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a selection of masterpieces on loan from the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. The exhibition will focus on the great writers, artists, composers and patrons, including Tolstoy, Chekhov and Dostoevsky, whose achievements helped develop an extraordinary and rich cultural scene in Russia between 1867 and 1914. It will also show how Russian art of the period was developing a new self-confidence, with the penetrating Realism of the 1870s and 1880s later complemented by the brighter hues of Russian Impressionism and the bold, faceted forms of Symbolist painting.

Giacometti: Pure Presence

15 October 2015 - 10 January 2016
http://www.npg.org.uk

Alberto Giacometti (1901–1966) is widely regarded as one of the most important and distinctive artists of the 20th century. A restless innovator, he explored a range of styles and subjects; however portraiture remained a continuous preoccupation.

This major exhibition is the first to focus on Giacometti’s portraits and covers the entire span of his career. The show includes important paintings, sculpture and drawings within sections devoted to each of his principal models, and illuminates Giacometti’s obsessive evocation of a human presence.

Inventing Impressionism

4 March – 31 May 2015
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk

“Without him,” said Monet “we wouldn’t have survived.”

So universally popular are the Impressionists today, it’s hard to imagine a time when they weren’t. But in the early 1870s they struggled to be accepted. Shunned by the art establishment, they were even lambasted as ‘lunatics’ by one critic.

One man, however, recognised their worth from the beginning. Paul Durand-Ruel, an entrepreneurial art dealer from Paris, discovered this group of young artists – including Monet, Degas, Manet, Renoir, Pissarro and Sisley – and gambled.

Realising the fashionable potential of their derided ‘impressions’ of urban and suburban life, Durand-Ruel dedicated the rest of his life to building an audience for their work – creating the modern art market in the process.

Such was his perseverance, Durand-Ruel nearly bankrupted himself twice, before successfully globalising his operation with outposts in London, Brussels and New York, and establishing the one-man show as the international norm for exhibitions.

The ‘Impressionists’ – a term first used derogatively by critics – was to become the household name that stands today.

‘Inventing Impressionism’ features 85 masterpieces from the movement, all but one having passed through Durand-Ruel’s hands, including three of Renoir’s famous ‘Dances’ and five from Monet’s ‘Poplars’ series.

Sargent: Portrait of Artists and Friends

12th February 2015 - 25th May 2015
www.npg.org.uk

John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) was the greatest portrait painter of his generation. Acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic, he was closely connected to many of the other leading artists, writers, actors and musicians of the time. His portraits of these friends and contemporaries, including Auguste Rodin, Claude Monet and Robert Louis Stevenson, were rarely commissioned and allowed him to create more intimate and experimental works than was possible in his formal portraiture.

This major exhibition of over seventy portraits spans Sargent’s time in London, Paris and Boston as well as his travels in the Italian and English countryside. Important loans from galleries and private collections in Europe and America make this an unmissable opportunity to discover the artist’s most daring, personal and distinctive portraits.

Anarchy & Beauty: William Morris and His Legacy, 1860 – 1960

16 October 2014 - 11 January 2015
http://www.npg.org.uk

Anarchy & Beauty explores the life and ideas of the great Victorian artist, writer and visionary thinker William Morris. Through portraits, personal items and fascinating objects, many of which will be on public display for the first time, this major exhibition illustrates Morris’s concept of ‘art for the people’ and highlights the achievements of those that he inspired.

Curated by acclaimed author and biographer Fiona MacCarthy, the display features original furniture and textiles designed and owned by Morris as well as the work of his contemporaries including Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones. These will be innovatively showcased alongside remarkable books, jewellery, ceramics and clothing by craftspeople such as Eric Gill, Bernard Leach and Terence Conran, demonstrating how Morris’s legacy continued into the twentieth century, influencing radical politics, the Garden City movement and the Festival of Britain in 1951.

Virginia Woolf - Art, Life and Vision

10th July 2014 - 26th October 2014
www.npg.org.uk

Virginia Woolf was one of the most important and celebrated writers of the twentieth century. This extensive exhibition of portraits and rare archival material will explore her life and achievements as a novelist, intellectual, campaigner and public figure.

Curated by biographer and art historian Frances Spalding, the exhibition includes distinctive portraits of Woolf by her Bloomsbury Group contemporaries Vanessa Bell and Roger Fry and photographs by Beresford and Man Ray, as well as intimate images recording her time spent with friends and family. Woolf’s early life and literary achievements, alongside lesser known aspects of her time in London and political views, are brought into focus through in-depth research and a remarkable array of personal objects including letters, diaries and books.

Elizabeth I and her people

www.npg.org.uk
10th October 2013 - 5th January 2014

Elizabeth I & Her People explores the remarkable reign of Elizabeth I through the lives and portraiture of her people. The Elizabethan period spanned over forty years and saw a significant expansion in trade, the creation of new industries, a rise in the middle classes and the development of a remarkable literary culture. These changes were brought about by the achievements of many different individuals, both at court and those working in the cities and towns and this exhibition explores their fascinating personal stories.

The show includes many outstanding paintings of Elizabeth I and her courtiers including explorers, statesmen and soldiers and enchanting portraits of the queen’s female attendants and maids of honour. Visitors will also come face-to-face with lesser-known Elizabethans including butchers, goldsmiths, personal servants, businessmen and women as well as writers and artists. These will be shown alongside artefacts from this period including exquisite jewellery, clothing, books and coins, which give a fascinating glimpse into their way of life

Laura Knight Portraits

National Portrait Gallery (London, United Kingdom)
11th July 2013 - 13th October 2013

Dame Laura Knight (1877 –1970) was one of the most popular and pioneering British artists of the twentieth century. Her artistic career took her from Cornwall to Baltimore, and from the circus to the Nuremburg Trials. She painted dancers at the Ballet Russes and Gypsies at Epsom races, and was acclaimed for her work as an official war artist.

Knight used portraiture to capture contemporary life and culture, and her paintings are remarkable for their diverse range of subjects and settings. This exhibition of over 30 portraits will reveal Knight’s highly distinctive and vivid work, and also illustrate her success in gaining greater professional recognition for women in the arts.

Man Ray Portraits

07.02.-27.05.2013
www.npg.org.uk

Man Ray Portraits is the first major museum retrospective of this innovative and influential artist’s photographic portraits.

Focusing on his career in America and Paris between 1916 and 1968, the exhibition highlights Man Ray’s central position among the leading artists of the Dada and Surrealist movements and the significant range of contemporaries, celebrities, friends and lovers that he captured: from Marcel Duchamp and Pablo Picasso to Kiki de Montparnasse, Lee Miller and Catherine Deneuve.

Featuring over 150 vintage prints and key works from international museums and private collections, the exhibition also demonstrates Man Ray’s use of revolutionary photographic techniques and early experiments with colour, as well as surveying his published work in leading magazines such as Vogue and Vanity Fair.