What’s On

December 2016 - February 2017

The National Portrait Gallery is home to the largest collection of

portraits in the world and celebrates the lives and achievements

of those who have influenced British history, culture and identity.

National Portrait Gallery

St Martin’s Place, London WC2H 0HE

020 7306 0055 Recorded information 020 7312 2463

Entry to the Gallery is free

An entry fee is charged for some exhibitions.

Nearest Tube: Leicester Square or Charing Cross

Nearest Mainline Train: Charing Cross

Buses to Trafalgar Square

Opening Hours

Daily 10.00 – 18.00

Thursdays and Fridays until 21.00

Exiting commences 10 minutes before the closing time. Ticket

Desk closes, and last admission to ticketed exhibitions, one hour

before the Gallery closes.

Due to staff training on Monday mornings, galleries on

Floor 1 and all Shops open at 11.00.

The Gallery is closed 24 – 26 December 2016.

Group Visits

For organised group visits, including schools, colleges and adult

groups visit npg.org.uk/learning or call 020 7312 2483.

Access

Step-free access is via the Shop entrance on St Martin’s Place

and the Orange Street ramp entrance. Accompany your visit

with our free access resources including the BSL Gallery App,

BSL audio guide, audio picture description and large print guides

available from the Ticket Desk. Free Audio Guides are available

for all disabled visitors. A large print version of the What’s On is

available to download at npg.org.uk/access

For all access enquiries and for specific access requirements visit

npg.org.uk/access or call 020 7321 6600. Text Direct 18001.

Explore

Free WiFi is available throughout the Gallery.

Search the Collection and create your own tours using the

interactive Portrait Explorer touch-screens.

Explore the Gallery with our interactive Audio Visual Guide (£3),

Family Audio Visual Guide (charges apply) and our new and

exclusive Choral Audio Guide (£3).

The Gallery App (£1.19 available from iTunes) includes video

introductions and floorplans.

Pick up a Map to help plan your visit and support the Gallery

with a donation of £1.

This autumn we are launching our exclusive Choral Audio Guide,

recorded exclusively by The Portrait Choir. £3

Heinz Archive and Library

The primary centre for the study of British Portraiture.

Open Tuesday to Friday, 10.00 – 17.00 by appointment only:

archive@npg.org.uk

The curatorial team provides research support on Wednesday

afternoons 14.00 – 17.00, no appointment necessary.

Valuations are not given.

Keep in touch

Register online for the Gallery’s free enewsletter and follow us

on social media:

npg.org.uk

Facebook: /nationalportraitgallery

Twitter: @npglondon

Instagram: @nationalportraitgallery

Our Visitor Services team are here to help and in return we ask

that our visitors are courteous towards all Gallery staff.

Help us secure Wellington

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington by Sir Thomas

Lawrence This is the last of Lawrence’s iconic portraits of the

Duke of Wellington. Thomas Lawrence was the greatest British

portrait painter of his generation and one of the most

celebrated artists in Europe in the early decades of the

nineteenth century. Painted in 1829 during a troubled time in

parliament, a year after the Duke took office as Prime Minister,

the work remained unfinished at the artist’s death in 1830. This

compelling painting is of immense artistic value and has an

important place in British history and culture. Remarkably, the

National Portrait Gallery has no significant portrait of

Wellington and now, with the support from the Art Fund, we

have the rare opportunity to acquire this majestic and powerful

portrait for our National Collection.

To find out more and help us secure Wellington visit:

www.npg.org.uk/wellington

Exhibitions

Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2016

17 November 2016 – 26 February 2017

Porter Gallery

Tickets

Including donation: £6

Concessions: £5

Book now at npg.org.uk/photoprize

Call 020 7321 6600

Or visit the Gallery in person

Publication

Fully illustrated exhibition catalogue with interviews by Richard

McClure. £15 paperback (£10 Gallery exclusive)

#PhotoPrize

Sponsored by Taylor Wessing

The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2016 is the

leading international competition which celebrates and

promotes the very best in contemporary portrait photography

from around the world.

With the work of talented young photographers, gifted

amateurs and established professionals, the competition

showcases a diverse range of images and tells the often

fascinating stories behind the creation of the works, from

formal commissioned portraits to more spontaneous and

intimate moments capturing friends and family.

The selected images, many of which will be on display for the

first time, explore both traditional and contemporary

approaches to the photographic portrait whilst capturing a

range of characters, moods and locations. The exhibition of 58

works, features all the prestigious prize winners including the

winner of the £15,000 first prize.

Picasso Portraits

6 October 2016 – 5 February 2017

Wolfson Gallery

Tickets

Including donation: £19

(Concessions £17.50)

£14.50 for seniors every Wednesday and for students every

Thursday. Standard, family, schools and group tickets also

available.

Book now at npg.org.uk/picasso

Call 020 7321 6600

Or visit the Gallery in person

#PicassoPortraits

Publication

The fully illustrated exhibition book, Picasso Portraits, is co-

published with the Museu Picasso Barcelona and written by

Elizabeth Cowling, Emeritus Professor of the History of Art at

the University Of Edinburgh. £35 hardback, £24.95 paperback

Exhibition co-organised by the National Portrait Gallery, London

and the Museu Picasso, Barcelona

Sponsored by Goldman Sachs

Picasso’s portraits epitomise the astonishing variety and

innovation of his art. This major exhibition of over eighty works

focuses on the artist’s portrayal of family, friends and lovers and

reveals his creative processes as he moved freely between

drawing from life, humorous caricature and expressive painting

from memory.

On display are portraits from all periods of Picasso’s career and

in all media, from the realist paintings of his boyhood to his

later ultraspontaneous canvases. The works on show range

from celebrated masterpieces loaned by international

institutions to works in private collections being shown in the

United Kingdom for the first time.

The exhibition will open exclusively to school groups (KS3+) for

Secondary School Sketching Mornings on 29 Nov and 31 Jan,

10.00 – 12.00. Booking essential, £5 per student. See website

for details.

Gillian Wearing and

Claude Cahun: Behind the mask, another mask

9 MARCH – 29 MAY 2017

Wolfson Gallery

Tickets

Including donation: £12

(Concessions £10)

Publication

A fully illustrated exhibition catalogue by Sarah Howgate with

an essay by Dawn Ades. £24.95, hardback.

Spring Season 2017 sponsored by Herbert Smith Freehills LLP

Supported by Cockayne – Grants for

the Arts and The London Community Foundation

This exhibition brings together for the first time the work of

French Surrealist artist Claude Cahun and British contemporary

artist Gillian Wearing. Although they were born almost seventy

years apart and came from different backgrounds, remarkable

parallels can be drawn between the two artists. Both of them

share a fascination with the self-portrait and use the self-image,

through the medium of photography, to explore themes around

identity and gender, which is often played out through

masquerade and performance.

Exhibition organised in collaboration with Gillian Wearing

Howard Hodgkin: Absent Friends

23 MARCH – 18 JUNE 2017

Porter Gallery

Tickets

Including donation: £12

(Concessions £10)

#HowardHodgkin

Publication

A fully illustrated exhibition book written by curator Paul

Moorhouse. £24.95, hardback.

Spring Season 2017 sponsored by Herbert Smith Freehills LLP

This is the first exhibition of portraits by Howard Hodgkin

(b.1932), one of Britain’s leading artists. Hodgkin’s paintings are

characterised by rich colour, complex illusionistic space and

sensuous brushwork. By emphasising these pictorial elements,

his work frequently appears entirely abstract. However, over

the course of 65 years, a principal concern of Hodgkin’s art has

been to evoke a human presence. The role of memory, the

expression of emotion, and the exploration of relationships

between people and places are all preoccupations. The

exhibition explores Hodgkin’s development of

a personal visual language of portraiture, which challenges

traditional forms of representation.

Gallery Displays

The Gallery’s changing programme of free displays highlight a

range of themes, sitters and artists, as well as significant

anniversaries and acquisitions.

Luc Tuymans: Glasses

Floor 2 Room 16

Until 2 April 2017

A display of portraits of sitters wearing glasses made and

selected by the internationally renowned Belgian painter Luc

Tuymans. Since the 1970s Tuymans has been preoccupied with

how we perceive people and things. Using found images and

photographs, Tuymans examines a range of subject matter

from major historical events to the inconsequential and the

banal, in this case the wearing of glasses.

Painting the Artist: Van Dyck and Early Self-portraiture in

Britain

Floor 2 Room 5

Until 8 January 2017

The National Portrait Gallery has the best collection of early

British self-portraits in the world. This display, the second of

three to be held at the Gallery as part of the tour of the recently

acquired Van Dyck self-portrait, considers the painting in the

context of this fascinating collection. It includes the earliest oil

self-portrait painted in Britain as well as works by Isaac Oliver,

Sir Peter Lely and Mary Beale.

Van Dyck’s self-portrait was aquired by the National Portrait

Gallery following a major public appeal with the Art Fund and

thanks to generous support of the Heritage Lottery Fund and

others

A Century of Photography 1840 – 1940

Floor 1 Room 29

Until October 2017

The Gallery celebrates photography with an installation

dedicated to its extraordinary Photographs Collection. The

display features works by internationally renowned makers

such as Edward Weston and Frederick Evans alongside

photographs from the archives of Cecil Beaton and Madame

Yevonde. Included are some of the Gallery’s great nineteenth

century treasures – works by Julia Margaret Cameron, Lewis

Carroll, Hill and Adamson, and many others. Also on display for

the first time is the recently acquired album of photographs by

the Swedish émigré photographer Oscar Rejlander.

Antony Gormley – Object

Ondaatje Wing Main Hall and Floor 1 Room 32

Room 32 display until 21 May 2017

This display focuses on work by the internationally acclaimed

artist Antony Gormley, and occupies two areas of the Gallery.

Object 1999, an iron cast made from Gormley’s body, is

suspended from the ceiling of the Main Hall. This installation is

accompanied by Fall 1999, a selection of drawings, which from

October 2016 will be shown in Room 32. For more than forty

years, the central preoccupation of Gormley’s art has been to

explore the human body and its relationship with the world. In

this display, the sculpture and the drawings present a solitary

figure in a void – suspended and falling.

Floor 2

Room 3 Until 31 December 2016

Framing the Face

Floor 1

Rooms 23 and 33

Until 11 December 2016

Black Chronicles: Photographic Portraits 1862 – 1948

Room 24

Until 31 July 2017

Reproducing Fame: Printmakers and the Victorian Stage

Room 25

Until 6 August 2017

At the Despatch Box: Gladstone in Action

Room 28

Until December 2017

Late Victorian and Edwardian Britain: Arts, Culture, People

Room 31

Until 5 February 2017

Conscientious Objectors of the First World War

Room 31

From 28 February 2017

First World War Poets

Room 31: Spotlight

5 September – 11 December 2016

Black Chronicles: Ram Gopal

Room 32

22 November – July 2017

Speak its name!

Floor 0

Room 39

February 2017 to September 2017

David Gwinnutt: Before We Were Men

National Programme

The Gallery works collaboratively with venues around the

country to loan works as part of a varied programme of touring

exhibitions and displays.

The Play’s The Thing: Secrets and Stories From The World’s

Most Famous Theatre Company

The Swan Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company

The Gallery is lending the only portrait of William Shakespeare,

that has a good claim to have been painted from life, for the

opening of this new permanent exhibition at the Royal

Shakespeare Company. The ‘Chandos Portrait’ will be displayed

(until 18 December 2016) in The Play’s The Thing, which opens

at the Swan Theatre on 22 October 2016; open daily from

10am.

Modern Visionaries: Van Dyck and the Artist’s Eye

Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle

28 January – 4 May 2017

This is the penultimate presentation of Van Dyck’s magnificent

self- portrait as it continues its six venue tour around the UK.

This exhibition at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle considers

Van Dyck’s portrait alongside works by twentieth-century

visionary artists including key portraits drawn from both the

National Portrait Gallery and Laing Art Gallery’s collection.

Organised with support from the Art Fund and the Heritage

Lottery Fund

Events Calendar

Events are free unless otherwise stated. Places are allocated on

a first come, first served basis and are subject to availability.

Book ticketed events at npg.org.uk/events, call 020 7306 0055

or visit the Gallery in person.

We offer discounted ticket prices for Concessions and Gallery

Supporters. Events are subject to change. Please check the

website before visiting.

Access

All events are wheelchair accessible.

BSL: Events interpreted with British Sign Language or led in BSL.

Please check listings for details.

Visualising Portraits: Picture description for visually impaired

visitors.

December

Thu 1

13.15 Lunchtime Lecture The Extraordinary Life and Momentous Times of J.M.W. Turner £3/£2

18.00 Late Shift Live DJ 19.00 In Conversation Portraits Untold: A Celebration

Fri 2

14.00-19.30

Daytime event Study Afternoon: Portrait of the

Artist £35/£31.50

18.30 Live Music Please check signage on the day

18.30 Drop in drawing led by artist Andy Pankhurst

Sun 4

11.00 – 16.00

Young People Sunday Session Drawing Stories

Thu 8

18.00 Late Shift Live DJ 19.00 Lecture Picasso’s Portraiture: Wrestling with the

Masters £8/£7

Fri 9

18.30 Drop-in Drawing Led by artist Marc Woodhead

18.30 Live Music Royal College of Music

Thu 15 13.15 Lunchtime Lecture

The Boss of Bethnal Green: Joseph Merceron, the Godfather of Regency London £3/£2

18.00 Late Shift Live DJ 19.00 In Conversation Picasso’s Faces £8/£7

Fri 16

18.30 Drop-in Drawing Led by artist Robin Lee Hall

18.30 Live Music Minna Weurlander

Sat 17

11.00 and 11.30

Young People: Youth Insights

Sun 18 13.00 – 14.30 (for ages 3+)

Drop-in Family Session Festive Decorations 15.00 – 16.30 (for ages 7+)

Drop-in Family Session Festive Decorations

Mon 19 13.00 – 15.00

Drawing Room Framing the Face: Collars and Ruffs Thu 22 14.00 Visualising Portraits Reproducing Fame:

Printmakers and the Victorian Stage

18.00 Late Shift Live DJ 19.00 Gallery Tour Dickens and Christmas Fri 23 18.30 Drop-in Drawing Led by artist Susan Wilson 18.30 Live Music DOLLYman Fri 30

18.30 Live Music Robert Taira Wilson

January

Thu 5

13.15 Lunchtime Lecture Eat, Drink and Be Merry: The

Greatest Parties in British History £3/£2

18.00 Late Shift Live DJ

19.00 Gallery Tour Highlights of the Collection

Fri 6

18.30 Drop-in Drawing Led by artist Victoria Turnbull

18.30 Live Music Cerian

Sun 8 11.00 – 16.00

Young People Sunday Session Print It!

Thu 12

18.00 Late Shift Live DJ

19.00 Lecture Lee Miller and Picasso £8/£7

Fri 13

18.30 Drop-in Drawing Led by artist Gayna Pelham

18.30 Live Music check signage on the day

Sat 14 – Sun 15

11.00 - 17.00

Weekend Workshop The Cubist Portrait £150/£125

Sat 15

14.00 – 15.00

Special Sunday Session Species and Spectacles with

John Hegley (for ages 9+) Free ticket required

Thu 19 13.15 Lunchtime Lecture

Picasso in London with the Russian Ballet £3/£2 18.00 Late Shift Live DJ 19.00 Gallery Tour A Century of Photography, 1840 –1940

Fri 20

18.00 – 21.00

Late Shift Extra Everything You Can Imagine is Real

Sat 21

12.00 – 16.00

Pick Up A Pencil Composition and Scale

Thu 26

14.00 Visualising Portraits Picasso Portraits

19.00 Late Shift See website for details

19.30 BSL Tour Luc Tuymans: Glasses

Fri 27

18.30 Drop-in Drawing Led by artist Andy Pankhurst

18.30 Life Drawing 1917 £9/£7

18.30 Live Music Please check signage on the day

Sat 28 – Sun 29

11.00 – 17.00

Weekend Workshop Photogravure Printing

£150/£125

Mon 30

13.00 – 15.00

The Drawing Room Late Victorian to Edwardian

Painting

February

Thu 2 13.15 Lunchtime Lecture Mr Barry’s War: Rebuilding the

Houses of Parliament After the Great Fire of 1834

£3/£2

18.00 Late Shift Live DJ

19.00 In Conversation Queer Perspectives

Fri 3

18.30 Drop-in Drawing Led by artist Robin-Lee Hall

18.30 Live Music Catherine Lee and Joseph Warwick

Sun 5

11.00 – 16.00

Young People Sunday Session Gender Identities

Thu 9

19.00 Performance John Hegley: Specs and Dogs and

Figgy Rolls £8/£7

Fri 10

18.30 Drop-in Drawing Led by artist Andy Pankhurst

18.30 Live Music check signage on the day

Sat 11 – Sun 12

11.00 – 17.00 Weekend Workshop The Unclothed Portrait £150/£125

Mon 13

14.30 Family Holiday Activities Looking Good

Mon 13 – Fri 17

11.00 – 16.00

Family Holiday Activities Life through the Lens

Wed 15 – Fri 17

11.00 – 16.00

Young People Three Day Workshop Photo Select

Thu 16 13.15 Lunchtime Lecture Witnessing Spectacle,

Reproducing Fame £3/£2 19.00 In Conversation Taylor Wessing Photographic

Portrait Prize 2016 £8/£7

Fri 17

17.00 – 17.30 Three Day Workshop Showcase Photo Select

18.30 Drop-in Drawing Led by artist Grace Adam

18.30 Live Music Musicke in the Ayre

Sat 19

13.30 – 14.30 (for ages 3+)

15.00 – 16.30 (for ages 7+)

Drop-in Family Session Portraits in paint with Anna

Hymas

Thu 23

14.00 Visualising Portraits Taylor Wessing Photographic

Portrait Prize 2016

19.00 Performance Colour in the Darkness £8/£7

19.30 BSL Tour Reproducing Fame: Printmakers and the

Nineteenth Century Stage

Fri 24

18.30 Drop-in Drawing Led by artist Robin-Lee Hall

18.30 Life Drawing Abstracting the pose £9/£7

18.30 Live Music Adam Brown

Sat 25 – Sun 26 11.00 – 17.00

Weekend Workshop A Theatrical Journey in Photography £150/£125

Mon 27

13.00 The Drawing Room Contemporary Galleries

Lunchtime Lectures

Thursdays at 13.15, £3/£2

Immerse yourself in British history and culture in our popular

Lunchtime Lecture series. Doors open at 12.45.

1 December

The Extraordinary Life and Momentous Times of J.M.W.

Turner

Biographer Franny Moyle reasseses the life of Britain’s most

famous landscape painter, re-positioning his tale not as the rags

to riches cliché but an exemplification of the extraordinary

opportunities and social mobility that late 18th century society

offered for an entrepreneurial man of talent.

15 December

The Boss of Bethnal Green: Joseph Merceron, the Godfather

of Regency London

200 years ago Spitalfields was home to Joseph Merceron,

gangster and staggeringly corrupt magistrate, who accumulated

enormous wealth for half a century while presiding over the

creation of London’s poorest slums. Writer Julian Woodford

explores his life and legacy.

5 January

Eat, Drink and Be Merry: The Greatest Parties in British History

From Tudor pageants to twentieth-century bohemia, the British

know how to celebrate. Curator Louise Stewart explores some

of history’s most spectacular events, discussing their social and

historical significance.

19 January

Picasso in London with the Russian Ballet

Writer Richard Shone looks at Picasso’s stay in London in the

summer of 1919 during which he designed the scenery and

costumes for the great Spanish-themed ballet Le Tricorne (The

Three-Cornered Hat), lived in great style at the Savoy and was

entertained by members of the Bloomsbury Group and English

avant-garde.

2 February

Mr Barry’s War: Rebuilding the Houses of Parliament After the

Great Fire of 1834

Archivist, historian and writer Caroline Shenton chronicles the

building of the new, Gothic, Houses of Parliament by brilliant

classical architect Charles Barry and describes how what he

thought was the chance of a lifetime swiftly turned in to the

most nightmarish building programme of the century.

16 February

Witnessing Spectacle, Reproducing Fame

In early nineteenth-century London artists looked to the

theatres to find star subjects for celebrity portrait prints. Tessa

Kilgarriff introduces the vibrant images included in the

Reproducing Fame display and explores the stories behind their

production. Room 20, Floor 2.

Weekend Workshops

Saturdays and Sundays

11.00 – 17.00

£150/£125 unless otherwise stated

These intimate art weekends enable you to explore, develop

and improve your creativity. Working alongside leading artists

and photographers, take inspiration from the Gallery and look

at portraiture in new, exciting ways.

14 – 15 January

The Cubist Portrait

Led by artist Marc Woodhead, this two day workshop

investigates Picasso’s experimental approach to portraying his

friends. Beginning with a visit to Picasso Portraits to study the

artist’s cubist portraits, you will then look for inspiration in the

permanent Collection, making cubist sketches of portrait

sculpture. You will then move on to the studio and create an

abstract portrait of someone you know well, working from

memory and using photographs, sketches and the techniques of

cubism to capture a cumulative sense of who they are.

28 – 29 January

Photogravure Printing

Photographer Peter Mosleley, whose portrait of Angela

features in this year’s Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait

Prize 2016, leads this two day workshop using the early

photographic printing process of photogravure with a modern

twist. Participants will make gravure prints from their own

photographic images. Suitable for all abilities.

11 – 12 February

The Unclothed Portrait

In this rigorous, practical drawing course working from a life

model, artist and author Jake Spicer will help students to

develop the fundamental skills necessary to make a strong life

drawing. With reference to the Collection, you will draw the

unclothed model, culminating in a long pose in which you will

capture not just an essential human figure, but the subject of a

portrait.

25 – 26 February

A Theatrical Journey in Photography

Photographer and digital artist Alexia Sinclair, whose portrait

Heidi features in the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize

2016 exhibition, leads this two-day practical workshop.

Following an overview of Alexia’s practice, which involves lavish

depictions of historical figures inspired by painting, you will

embark on a theatrical journey through the Gallery to create

photographic portraits of a model in period dress in the studio.

You will also learn some simple post production practices. This

workshop is suitable for those who already have some

knowledge of digital photography and know how to use their

cameras in manual mode.

Late Shift

Catch up on culture after hours – enjoy art, music, talks and

films every Thursday and Friday, 18.00 – 21.00. Talks 19.00

Thu 1 December 19.00

Portraits Untold: A Celebration Free ticket required

Celebrate with artist Tanya Raabe-Webber and the sitters from

Portraits Untold including Dame Evelyn Glennie as we unveil the

final four works created in live, interactive and performative

sittings around the country and reflect on the project.

Thu 8 December 19.00

Picasso’s Portraiture: Wrestling with the Masters £8/£7

Picasso’s portraits involved the purposeful imitation,

manipulation and often travesty of the conventions of Western

portraiture. Curator Elizabeth Cowling focuses on particular

cases in different styles and at different periods from the artist’s

long career.

Thu 15 December 19.00

Picasso’s Faces £8/£7

Historian and writer Simon Schama discusses Picasso’s

evocations of lovers, family and friends with writer and novelist

Lisa Appignanesi, Chair of the RSL, reflecting on some of the

differences between representing character in words and on

canvas. In partnership with the Royal Society of Literature

Thu 22 December 19.00

Dickens and Christmas Free

Lucinda Hawksley leads a tour of the Victorian galleries and

talks about what made a true Victorian Christmas – and about

how her great great great grandfather, Charles Dickens,

captured the zeitgeist of the age with his campaigning novella

A Christmas Carol.

Thu 5 January 19.00

Highlights of the Collection Free

Join artist Peta Taylor for a whistle-stop tour of the Collection,

picking out favourites along the way

Thu 12 January 19.00

Lee Miller and Picasso £8/£7

Antony Penrose, son of Lee Miller and Director, The Lee Miller

Archives and The Penrose Collection, tells the story of the long

relationship between his mother and Picasso, illustrated by her

own photographs.

Thu 19 January 19.00

Gallery Tour: A Century of Photography, 1840 – 1940 Free

Find out about some of the treasures from the Gallery’s

extraordinary Photographs Collection including works by Julia

Margaret Cameron, Lewis Carroll, Hill and Adamson, Edward

Weston, Frederick Evans, Cecil Beaton and Madame Yevonde.

Friday 20 January 18.00 – 21.00

Late Shift Extra: Everything You Can Imagine Is Real Free

Inspired by Picasso Portraits, the Gallery becomes a one night

artists’ colony featuring music, poetry, performance, art, film

and dance. Curated by Martyn Ware for Illustrious.

Thursday 26 January See website for details

Thu 2 February 19.00

Queer Perspectives Free ticket required

Gain a Queer Perspective on our Collection with resident artist

Sadie Lee and her special guest as they discuss portraits which

have a personal resonance.

Thu 9 February 19.00

Specs and Dogs and Figgy Rolls £8/£7

John Hegley performs songs, stories and poems, old and newer.

With spectacles, centre stage and peripheral. The author will

possibly attempt to escape from his own pair but the

atmosphere will have to be gauged. The audience will be invited

to tap their glasses, to sing and briefly, to dance.

Thu 16 February 19.00

In Conversation: Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize

2016 £8/£7

Sabina Jaskot-Gill, Associate Curator, Photographs chairs a

discussion assessing this year’s selection of the best in

contemporary portrait photography. Other speakers to be

announced.

Thu 23 February 19.00

Performance: Colour in the Darkness £8/£7

Set against the backdrop of war and economic chaos in the

early years of the 19th Century, Colour in the Darkness tells the

story of portrait artist Francis Wesley, his old apprentice and

rival, Dutch artist Van der Pryss, a scandalous portrait and a

dark secret. Take a first look at this new play written and

directed by Guy Smith, performed in Room 20, Floor 2.

Live DJ

Relax with a drink at the Late Shift bar and enjoy a live set by a

guest DJ or our resident DJ Eddie Otchere. Every Thursday,

18.00 – 21.00.

Drop-in Drawing

Join our popular and free artist-led drop-in drawing sessions

and sketch in the Gallery every Friday, 18.30 – 20.30.

Life Drawing

Take part in our group life drawing sessions on the last Friday of

every month, 18.30 – 20.30 in the Ondaatje Wing Theatre.

£9/£7

Fri 27 January

1917

To welcome in the new year, explore the way painters and

photographers constructed images of female sitters 100 years

ago. Led by artist Grace Adam.

Fri 24 February

Abstracting the pose

So often in Life Drawing we can get caught up in trying to create

a replica of the model on paper. In this session, artist Gayna

Pelham will guide you through how to create an abstract

version of the model, using different techniques to create

versions of the human body in strange and wonderful ways.

Fri 2 December 14.00 – 19.30

Study Afternoon: Portrait of the Artist £35/£31.50 concessions

Join experts from the National Portrait Gallery and Royal

Collection Trust for a collaborative study afternoon. Begin at the

National Portrait Gallery with an introduction to Van Dyck’s self

portrait, an overview of the display Painting the Artist: Van Dyck

and Early Self-portraiture in Britain, and self-portraits by women

artists. The afternoon continues at The Queen’s Gallery,

Buckingham Palace, for a keynote lecture by art critic and

author Laura Cumming, and a private view of the exhibition

Portrait of the Artist.

Ticket price includes tea/coffee and a glass of wine. N.B.

Transport between the NPG and The Queen’s Gallery is not

included.

In partnership with The Royal Collection Trust

Tickets are available at npg.org.uk

or by calling the Queen’s Gallery

on 0303 123 7340

Live Music

Enjoy an eclectic range of free live

music performances.

Fridays 18.30

Fri 2 December

Please check signage on the day.

Fri 9 December

Royal College of Music

Composers from the RCM respond to the Taylor Wessing

Photographic Portrait Prize 2016.

Fri 16 December

Minna Weurlander

The Finnish accordion virtuoso performs music influenced by

the Russian accordion tradition and Argentine Tango.

Fri 23 December

DOLLYman

Jazz-Classical-Rock group DOLLYman return for another

alternative Christmas show.

Fri 30 December

Robert Taira Wilson

The singer songwriter launches his much-anticipated second

studio album ‘Cold In The Heat’ with special guest

accompaniment.

Fri 6 January

Cerian

Acclaimed singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist sings

original songs inspired by poetry, literature, love, loss and life.

Fri 13 January

Please check signage on the day.

Fri 20 January

Everything you can imagine is real

Special Late Shift Extra event, please see details on page 16.

Fri 27 January

Please check signage on the day.

Fri 3 February

Catherine Lee and Joseph Warwick

The cello and guitar duo perform South American music from

Piazzolla to Tom Jobim.

Fri 17 February

Musicke in the Ayre

Angela Hicks and Din Ghani celebrate lutesong composer-poet

Thomas Campion’s 450th anniversary.

Fri 24 February

Adam Brown

A solo recital presenting Latin American works for guitar by

Morel, Salgan, Barrios and Callado.

Access

The Gallery is fully accessible and welcomes everyone to take

part in the rich programme of free events for all ages.

Visualising Portraits

Free picture description talks for blind and visually impaired

visitors. The last Thursday of every month at 14.00

Thu 22 December

Reproducing Fame: Printmakers and the Victorian Stage

Find out more about the depiction of celebrity through print

during the Victorian period.

Thu 26 January

Picasso Portraits

Discover Picasso’s creative processes through his portrayal of

family, friends and lovers. This session will include a free

creative activity.

Thu 23 February

Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2016

Explore contemporary photographs through the ‘lens’ of a

photographer who will talk about some of the work in this

years’ Portrait Prize.

BSL Gallery Tours

Free events interpreted with British Sign Language (BSL) or led

in BSL. The last Thursday of every month. 19.30.

Thu 26 January

Luc Tuymans: Glasses

Chisato Minamimura looks at the display of internationally

renowned Belgian painter Luc Tuymans portraits of sitters

wearing glasses. Led in BSL with interpretation into English.

Thu 23 February

Reproducing Fame: Printmakers and the Victorian Stage

Join John Wilson for a tour of prints depicting costumes,

gestures and expressions of actors and singers from the

Victorian Stage. Led in BSL.

The Drawing Room

Free artist-led drawing classes for disabled visitors. The last

Monday of every month 13.00 – 15.00.

Mon 19 December

Framing the Face: Collars and Ruffs

Explore collars and ruffs through drawing and creating 3-

dimensional ruffs.

Mon 30 January

Late Victorian to Edwardian Painting

Spend time in this dedicated display exploring the technique

and style of late Victorian and Edwardian painting.

Mon 27 February

Drawing in the Contemporary Galleries

Experiment with drawing tools on iPads taking inspiration from

contemporary portraits.

Families

This autumn – we have a packed season of events, activities and

workshops, including an afternoon celebrating Roald Dahl’s

anniversary, a Big Draw family festival as well as our autumn

half term events.

Drop-in Sessions

13.00 – 14.30 for ages 3+

15.00 – 16.30 for ages 7+

No ticket required. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

Sun 18 December

Festive Decorations

Escape the last minute shopping spree to join prop and set

designer Alice Fitzpatrick to make a range of sparkling and

twinkling decorations for the festive season. Free refreshments

for families attending.

Sun 19 February

Portraits in Paint

Join artist Anna Hymas, for a creative session exploring colour,

shape and form through paint inspired by the contemporary

collections. During the session families will have the opportunity

to try out different paints from oil to acrylic.

Special Sunday Session

Sun 15 January 14.00 – 15.00

Species And Spectacles: An Audience with John Hegley

Free, ticket required

Silly songs , poems and stories depicting the world as seen

through the glasses of John Hegley, member of the group The

Popticians and author of the BBC Radio 4 broadcast Alice

Looking Through the Glasses. Includes the tale of Pat who lives

in a world that is flat, but will be made round by the wearing of

extra special specs, plus a piece about the bridled guillemot.

Suitable for children aged 9+.

Holiday Activities

11.00 – 16.00

Free ticket required for some

workshops, available one hour before.

Mon 13 – Fri 17 February

Through the Lens

Inspired by the Luc Tuymans display and the permanent

Collections, join us for a week of activities exploring portraits of

people wearing glasses. Please note the 14.30 workshop on

Monday 13 will be BSL interpreted.

Family Activity Base

Every weekend and weekdays during the school holidays. From

October we will be extending our hours from 10.00 – 17.00

Families can pick up free resources and drawing materials to

explore the Collection.

Young People (ages 14 – 21)

Showcase your talent, work with artists, develop skills, be

creative and meet other young people interested in art at our

FREE events for 14 – 21 year-olds.

Sunday Sessions

Sun 4 December 11.00 – 16.00

Drawing Stories

Be inspired by the Gallery’s Collection and Picasso Portraits to

create a narrative comic strip working with comic artist and

graphic novelist Karen Rubins.

Sun 8 January 11.00 – 16.00

Print It!

Make your own print inspired by the Reproducing Fame: Print

Makers and the Victorian Stage display. Communication

support on request.

Sun 5 February 11.00 – 16.00

Gender Identities

Work with artist Sadie Lee and investigate themes of self and

identity in this mix media workshop. Part of LGBT History

Month.

Three Day Workshop

11.00 – 16.00 Daily

Wed 15 – Fri 17 February

Photo Select

Work with professional photographers Marsya Dowling and

Othello De’Souza –Hartley to produce a body of portrait work

inspired by this year’s Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait

Prize 2016.

Fri 17 February 17.00 – 17.30

Three Day Workshop Showcase

Sat 17 December 11.00 and 11.30

Youth Insights

The last in the series of short talks this year about Van Dyck and

self- portraiture; led by members of the Gallery’s Youth Forum.

To book a Sunday Session or a Three Day Workshop, please

email youthbookings@npg.org.uk or call 020 7312 2483

Pick up a Pencil

An afternoon of free, social drop-in drawing hosted by the

Gallery’s Youth Forum. Be inspired by the Gallery’s Collection

and experiment with new drawing techniques in these Gallery-

based artist-led sessions. All you have to do is ‘pick up a pencil

and draw’. No need to book.

Sat 21 January 12.00 – 16.00

Composition and Scale

Investigate how to use scale and composition with a

professional artist.

Shop

From our Collection to yours

Discover the full range of gifts, books and products inspired by

our exhibition and the Collection, available exclusively from

Gallery Shops and online.

Every purchase supports the National Portrait Gallery

npg.org.uk/shop

Portrait Restaurant

Start your day in an unforgettable way with a combination of

stunning rooftop views and delicious breakfasts made using the

finest British ingredients. Served daily.

See npg.org.uk for opening times and booking details or call 020

7312 2490 for restaurant reservations.

Become a Member Today

Be one of our most familiar faces and enjoy a year of

free and unlimited entry to all ticketed exhibitions.

– Members’ Only Private Views and Afternoon Previews of

exhibitions

– Discounts in our Gallery Shops, Portrait Restaurant and

Portrait Café

– Priority booking and concessionary rates for all ticketed

events

Join today at npg.org.uk/members call the team on 020 7321

6283, or visit the Information Desk

Membership is the perfect gift.

Included with the Gift Membership Welcome Pack you will

receive a Picasso Portraits tote bag and the opportunity to write

a special message.