When the subject of a portrait is an artist, does that change the nature of the portrait? This exhibition of British art, which comprises some 150 works from the early 20th century onwards, demonstrates how portraits of artists by other artists carry a peculiar charge (until 2 November). Highlights include Christopher Wood’s depiction of Ben and Winifred Nicholson with their first child (1928), as well as The Colony Room (1962), Michael Andrews’ famous depiction of his friends, including Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, at their favourite Soho drinking den. Paintings are not the only works on display. Lubaina Himid’s Vernet’s Studio (1994), for instance, is made up of life-sized wooden cut-outs of artists including Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Claudette Johnson and Frida Kahlo; the latter’s spirit is also channelled in Mary McCartney’s Being Frida (2000), a photograph of Tracey Emin dressed and made up as the Mexican artist. The exhibition includes new commissions and is ordered chronologically, allowing visitors to see how depictions of artists have changed through paintings, photography, sculpture and installations.
Find out more from Pallant House Gallery’s website.
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