National Portrait Gallery Newsletter

Tilly Losch (detail) by E.O. Hoppé, 1928 © 2011 Curatorial Assistance, Inc / E.O. Hoppé Estate Collection HOPPÉ PORTRAITS: SOCIETY, STUDIO AND STREET Until 30 May 2011 Admission £11/£10/£9 Free for Gallery Supporters Joint ticket with Ida Kar £12/£11/£10 Hoppé Portraits is now open and has already been widely acclaimed with four star reviews in The Times, Time Out and Metro. "Hoppé is a remarkable forgotten talent, and one well worth rediscovering" Metro Celebrated during his lifetime, much of Hoppé's work has only recently been reassembled and this major survey will enable visitors to discover this forgotten master. The exhibition brings together Hoppé's strikingly modernist portraits of important personalities with his fascinating photojournalist studies capturing the realities of day-to-day life in Britain between the wars. For a range of products celebrating the exhibition, including the beautiful, fully illustrated catalogue of Hoppé's works visit our online shop. Advance booking is advisable. To book tickets and find out more on related events, including information on our special walk tracing Hoppé's London click here Dame Margaret Natalie ('Maggie') Smith on the set of 'The Rehearsal' by Ida Kar, 1961 © National Portrait Gallery, London IDA KAR: BOHEMIAN PHOTOGRAPHER Opens 10 March 2011 Admission £3/£2.50/£2 Free for Gallery Supporters Joint ticket with Hoppé Portraits £12/£11/£10 Our exhibition of works by Ida Kar, a shining star of the 1950s art world, opens this month. Kar stood at the heart of the creative avant-garde and was the first photographer to have a retrospective exhibition in a major London Gallery. Kar’s work has remained surprisingly hidden and the exhibition re-presents this key twentieth-century figure offering a unique opportunity to see iconic works which have not been exhibited publicly since the 1960s. The display includes portraits of artists such as Henry Moore, Giacometti and Bridget Riley and leading literary subjects including Iris Murdoch and Jean-Paul Sartre, which together offer a fascinating insight into cultural life in post-war Britain. To find out more and to book tickets please click here Tony Bevan by Tony Bevan, 1992 © Tony Bevan NEW GALLERY DISPLAY Tony Bevan Self-portraits From 26 March 2011 Room 32 Tony Bevan is one of Britain's most distinctive painters. Since the early 1980s Tony Bevan has explored his own image in paintings that have radically extended the tradition of expressive figuration. This display focuses succinctly on the development of Bevan’s self-portraits over twenty years, demonstrating the way that abstraction and markmaking transform literal appearances. Look out for the catalogue of Tony Bevan's works which accompanies this display and will be available from the Gallery Shop towards the end of March. All our Gallery displays are FREE. For information on all the current Gallery displays click here Dame (Alice) Ellen Terry ('Choosing') (detail) by George Frederic Watts, 1864 © National Portrait Gallery, London LATE SHIFT HIGHLIGHTS IN MARCH Every Thursday and Friday enjoy art, music, drinks, tours, talks and workshops at the Gallery until 21.00. In partnership with FTI Consulting. Gallery Talk: Dmitri Kasterine Friday 11 March 2011, 19.00 Legendary American-based portrait photographer Dmitri Kasterine is making a rare visit to London to talk about his life and career. His range of works includes portraits for Stanley Kubrick in the 1960s, and photographing eminent cultural figures, including Samuel Beckett and Roald Dahl. FREE. Talk: Picturing Everyman Thursday 24 March 2011, 18.30 Inspired by our Hoppé exhibition, join writer Geoff Dyer and artist Dryden Goodwin in a discussion on photography and portraiture’s search for ordinary, representative subjects. Tickets: £5/£4. Click here to book tickets and find out more. Lecture: Victorian and Edwardian portraits Thursday 31 March 2011, 19.00 Simon Jenkins, Chairman of the National Trust, discusses the importance of portraits to the Trust, and how it has joined forces with the Gallery to create a national trail of great Victorians and Edwardians. Tickets: £5/£4. Click here to book tickets and find out more. For a full listing of Late Shift events in March click here Ida Kar (detail) by Uriesco, 1968 © National Portrait Gallery, London PHOTOGRAPH OF THE MONTH Ida Kar by Uriesco, 29 February 1968, Hyde Park, London In anticipation of our forthcoming Ida Kar exhibition, our photograph of the month is this intimate portrait of Kar taken by Colombian photographer Uriesco. It was taken in front of T.B. Huxley-Jones’s sculpture ‘Joy of Life’, not far from Kar’s home in Rex Place, Mayfair. The playful kettle prop may refer to Kar’s frequent hosting of her sitters, friends and associates. For more information on this work click here ELSEWHERE IN LONDON BFI SOUTHBANK Tuesday 8 - Thursday 17 March 2011 Celebrating women's contributions to art Birds Eye View is back for its 7th year and promises to be full of its usual films, fashion and ground breaking music. From previews to documentaries, golden oldies to the modern day action films there's something for everyone at the BFI this March. www.bfi.org.uk/go/npgbirds AT THE GEFFRYE MUSEUM At Home in Japan – Beyond the Minimal House Tuesday 22 March - Monday 29 August 2011 In the West, the Japanese house has reached iconic status in its architecture, decoration and style. However, is this neat, carefully constructed version of Japanese life in fact a myth? This special exhibition at the Geffrye Museum goes behind the doors of contemporary urban homes to find out how private lives are lived in Japan today. www.geffrye-museum.org.uk AT LONDON ZOO Win ZSL London Zoo tickets To celebrate the current display of Hoppé's photograph Zookeeper, Ernie Bowman and hippopotamus, Joan, London, taken in 1934, ZSL London Zoo is offering our subscribers the chance to win one of five pairs of complimentary tickets to see their baby gorilla ‘Tiny’, just as he’s learning to walk. To find out more and to enter the competition please click here