Tag: portraiture

Now You See Us. Women Artists in Britain 1520-1920

Monumental and momentous, this exhibition does away with any lingering notion that there have been ‘no great women artists’, offering as evidence more than 100 names and 200 works
Fruit of Friendship: Portraits by Mary Beale

A prolific portrait painter from the 17th century, Beale left a far-reaching legacy and espoused a progressive partnership of equality with her husband, which enabled her to become one of Britain’s first professional female artists
Frans Hals

Eight rooms filled with sumptuous embroidery and fine-spun lace worn by sitters with laughing, gurning and awed faces: The Laughing Cavalier is but one of a cast of many
Katya Kvasova – interview: ‘People say that whatever someone paints or draws is always a self-portrait. That’s true’

The artist talks about her interest in hands, her artistic training, and her method of layering graphite powder and translucent colour on to the canvas, allowing the light to eat the image
Kenji Hirasawa – interview: ‘I approach the sitter like a guardian angel, watching over them from far away’

Hirasawa uses a thermal imaging camera to make portraits of people. He explains what drew him to this way of working
Challenging Convention

This exceptionally well-curated exhibition brings together four female artists, from a pivotal point in British social and art history, and explores how each, in her own way, challenged conventions and restrictions to become a successful painter
Clae Eastgate – interview: ‘I want my portraiture to be that bridge, that in-between being, between a genre painting and a traditional portrait of someone’s face’

The artist talks about her project Painting the Poets, comprising a growing collection of portraits of female poets, which she hopes to exhibit to provide a platform for, and raise awareness of, the importance of women’s voices
Raffi Kalenderian – interview: ‘It’s like banging your head against a brick wall, but if you get through to the other side it feels so good’

For Kalenderian, painting is all about excitement. His radical portraiture – as much of the scene as of the sitter – is a celebration of experimentation and problem-solving. Here, he speaks about what attracts him to his subjects and how…
Tim Benson: ‘I wanted my work to have more meaning’

The artist talks about storytelling through portraiture, and the human face of Ebola
William Eggleston: Portraits

The first exhibition devoted to the American photographer’s portraiture undersells the works’ beauty, allowing name to triumph over form