BlogBook Club
What has the National Portrait Gallery’s Nicholas Cullinan been reading this summer?
The museum director has been delving into artist biographies, swotting up on black British history and is hoping to finally begin a well-known novel trilogy
BlogDiary
‘A love letter to Black Britain’—NPG portrait of White Teeth author Zadie Smith is Brent bound
AnalysisFunding
UK arts funders unlock crisis grants after coronavirus—but at what cost?
Unrestricted money from public and private sources is helping to keep hard-hit organisations running, but capital projects could suffer
NewsPrizes
Artist Gary Hume says National Portrait Gallery should 'bite the bullet' and cut ties with oil giant BP
Fuel company's decision to withdraw from the BP Portrait Award judging panel was a missed opportunity to end sponsorship relationship, artist believes
NewsBritish Museums
UK museums put £500m projects on pause during the lockdown but plan to carry on
Enforced delay due to Covid-19 could add to millions of pounds of lost income in the sector
PreviewExhibitions
Cecil Beaton’s golden age celebrity snaps go on show in London
The exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery unites 150 images, including rarely exhibited photographs of his sisters Nancy and Baba
NewsNational Portrait Gallery
Not bigger, but better: behind the scenes of the £35.5m revamp at London's National Portrait Gallery
Director Nicholas Cullinan and architect Jamie Fobert reveal how the gallery’s controversial three-year closure will transform its 600-year collection of portraits
ReviewExhibitions
Three exhibitions to see in London this weekend
From David Hockney's portraits to a photography show radically rethinking masculinity
NewsAcquisitions
National Portrait Gallery acquires 20 works from collecting couple
Ian and Annette Cumming set out to commission likenesses of people who would remain renowned
ReviewExhibitions
Three exhibitions to see in London this weekend
From Elizabeth Peyton's historically contextualised portraits to a jarring installation on queer existence
BlogDiary of an art historian
Why was the National Portrait Gallery so secretive about its closure?
The London museum will close between 2020 and 2023, but the announcement was buried in the fourth paragraph of a press release
NewsSackler family
Nan Goldin brings first PAIN protest to the UK, storming the Victoria and Albert Museum
Demonstrators demand that V&A director Tristram Hunt drops Sackler name
NewsMuseums
National Galleries of Scotland to no longer host BP Portrait Award
Museums officials say that the association with the oil company is at odds with a "responsibility to do all we can to address the climate emergency"
NewsNational Portrait Gallery
London’s National Portrait Gallery to close for three years with ‘some job losses’
Museum plans to send 300 portraits a year on tour around the country during £35.5m redevelopment
NewsArtists
San Diego artist wins top prize in US portrait competition with immigration-themed animation
Washington's National Portrait Gallery will display finalists’ work in a contest that helped to vault the reputation of Amy Sherald
InterviewFrieze London 2019
Elizabeth Peyton on Kurt Cobain, the Twilight films and painting a museum director in his shorts
In her new solo show at London's National Portrait Gallery, the artist connects the past with the present
NewsEthics
How ethical can museums afford to be? We ask five major UK art institutions about funding challenges
We find out how mounting public scrutiny of private money could affect the bottom line of London's National Portrait Gallery, the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Gallery and the Tate
NewsAmy Sherald
Amy Sherald, Michelle Obama's portraitist, unveils massive mural in Philadelphia
The six-storey 2,400 sq ft painting depicts an empowered black teenager
PreviewExhibitions
Cindy Sherman gets first UK retrospective at the National Portrait Gallery
Exhibition will explore the influence of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and how it all began with a humble family album
NewsNational Portrait Gallery
Artists call for National Portrait Gallery to drop BP sponsorship
Gary Hume says funding for the arts is 'outweighed by the need to act urgently on the climate crisis'
CommentLeaders
When it comes to museum attendance, it’s more than just a numbers game
London's National Portrait Gallery director on the way cultural institutions engage audiences and measure success
NewsSponsorship
South London Gallery returned funding to Sackler Trust last year
Plus, Nan Goldin's show at the National Portrait Gallery is expected to go ahead after the trust and London museum decided not to proceed with a £1m grant
BlogIn the frame
Peter Blake paints Glastonbury titan Michael Eavis
NewsSponsorship
London's National Portrait Gallery and Sackler Trust to 'not proceed' with £1m grant
Mutual decision comes amid controversy over trust's connection to Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, a prescription painkiller linked to the opioid crisis
BlogDiary
Victoria Beckham and Kate Moss among star-studded guest-list at London National Portrait Gallery gala
The 450-strong guest list spanned fashion royalty in the form of Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, to actual royalty from Princess Beatrice to the Duchess of Cambridge, who is an NPG patron
BlogDiary
Martin Parr photographs patriots, partygoers and Perrys alike in new survey show at London's National Portrait Gallery
NewsPodcast
Hunk of burning love: the naked selfie of the Elizabethan age
On The Art Newspaper podcast, we zoom into a passionate expression of desire in a miniature at the National Portrait Gallery
NewsThree to see
Three exhibitions to see in London this weekend
From exquisite Elizabethan portrait miniatures at the National Portrait Gallery to Franz West's playful sculptures at Tate Modern
Podcast
Antony Gormley at the Uffizi, plus portrait miniatures
We talk to the British artist as he shows his sculptures with ancient works in the Florentine museum, and we zoom in on the tiny art works that are the subject of a major show London's National Portrait Gallery. Produced in association with Bonhams, auctioneers since 1793.
NewsThree to see
Three exhibitions to see in London this weekend
From the dazzling dresses of Dior at the V&A to the grim reality of how architecture can affect your health at the Wellcome Collection
AnalysisThe Year In Review
From counting muddles to collective cuddles: the art world's highs and lows of 2018
The people, places and things that had a year to remember—or to forget
NewsThree to see
Three exhibitions to see in London this weekend
From Thomas Gainsborough's family portraits—including his pet dogs—at the National Portrait Gallery to "sexual warfare" at Goldsmiths CCA
NewsThree to see
Three exhibitions to see in London this weekend
From a “once in a lifetime” show of Henry Walpole's reunited treasures to a final chance to see a Michael Jackson thriller at the National Portrait Gallery
CommentNational Portrait Gallery
London's National Portrait Gallery’s contemporary art programme resonates more with the art world than the public
Though not as dire as first thought, visitor figures for the museum's contemporary shows have still been poor
NewsAttendance
London's National Portrait Gallery's steep decline in visitors due to counting error
“Human error” by Ipsos Retail Performance blamed for museum’s disastrous recent visitor numbers
NewsThree to see
Three to see: London
Michael Jackson is a thrilling muse at the National Portrait Gallery, while ancient Egypt is given a modern twist at the British Museum
BlogThe Buck stopped here
National Portrait Gallery director unveils his Michael Jackson show—and unleashes his inner moonwalker
PreviewExhibitions
Can’t beat it? Michael Jackson’s impact on contemporary art explored in London show
Artists participating in National Portrait Gallery exhibition explain why the King of Pop matters to them
NewsThree to see
Three to see: London
From Tacita Dean's double-header, including films of David Hockney and fermenting pears, to a Tate Modern takeover by Joan Jonas
InterviewFeatures
Tacita Dean on her three major London shows
From genre fluidity to the British artist's love of analogue film
NewsThree to see
Three to see: London
From Picasso's year of masterpieces at Tate Modern to his fellow Spaniard Murillo's portraits at the National Gallery
BlogIn the frame
Two-year-old two-steps with her hero, Michelle Obama
The internet experienced an overdose of adorableness last week when a photo of two-year-old Parker Curry staring in awe at Michelle Obama’s newly installed portrait at the National Portrait Gallery was shared across social media
NewsAttendance
Why visitor numbers at two of London’s major museums have plunged
Fewer blockbusters the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery meant UK audiences stayed away
NewsBarack Obama
Barack and Michelle Obama’s portraits unveiled in Washington
The former US president and first lady shared some personal connections with the artists, Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald
PreviewExhibitions
Women got the vote—now they get a voice as cultural bodies mark centenary of female suffrage
As #MeToo makes waves, UK institutions stage year-long programmes highlighting female artists
NewsThree to see
Three to see: London
From photographs of real northern soul to Lydia Ourahmane's golden teeth and trembling floor
NewsBuilding projects
Jamie Fobert Architects to transform London's National Portrait Gallery
Firm behind recent expansion of Tate St Ives and Kettle's Yard will lead major £35.5m development
NewsAcquisitions
Tacita Dean’s film of Hockney smoking bought by Royal Academy and National Portrait Gallery
Acquisition heralds triptych of London shows dedicated to Dean
NewsThree to see
Three to See in London in 2018
From King Charles I to the King of Pop
BlogIn the frame
Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald to paint Obamas’ official portraits
NewsExhibitions
Story of Michael Jackson’s influence on contemporary artists to be told for first time
London’s National Portrait Gallery is to host exhibition featuring more than 40 leading artists including Andy Warhol, Isaac Julien and Faith Ringgold
ArchiveJohn Singer Sargent
The deeply educated John Singer Sargent
The painter’s portraits of his diverse circle of polymathic friends
ArchiveExhibitions
National Portrait Gallery joins a season of shows marking the centenary of the Great War
Our pick of the exhibitions commemorating the First World War
ArchiveMuseums
MoMA makes a stand by acquiring video removed from display by Washington's NPG
Wojnarowicz’s A Fire in My Belly is already on display at the New York museum
ArchiveBooks
This book argues that John Everett Millais’ later works deserve as much attention as his pre-Raphaelite paintings
Not as bad as he has been made out to be
ArchiveTate
National Portrait Gallery: more transparent than Tate
Commission sum disclosed for Tom Phillips, unlike the purchase of "The Upper Room"
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Two Bacons may share more than an interest in portraiture
See for yourself as Sir Nathaniel Bacon and Francis Bacon go on show in London
ArchiveTate Modern
National Portrait gallery plays host to Blair as Tate Modern passes on Labour Party's party
Due to a policy not to allow political events, the Tate declined to host Tony Blair's shindig
ArchiveAndy Warhol
Television Guide: Mario Testino's marriage of glamour and individual identity, Warhol's multi-faceted career, and Philip Lorca diCorcia's submission for the Citibank Private Bank Photography Prize
The Art Newspaper reviews the "Mario Testino, Diana's favourite photographer" (BBC), "Andy Warhol: the complete picture" and the Citibank Private Bank Photography Prize 2002 (Channel 4)
ArchiveNational Portrait Gallery
Women of the court of Charles II
On view at the National Portrait Gallery, London
ArchiveBooks
New in Books: High culture and no clothing
Nudes with Phaidon and Tate, painted ladies with HarperCollins and the National Portrait Gallery going abroad with Thames & Hudson, Ashgate, Lawrence King, the British Museum and Cambridge University Press
ArchiveExhibitions
Gardening and art at the National Portrait Gallery
Women’s studies blended with the media biography and botanical illustration
ArchiveCollectors
Collector-benefactor profile: Who owns Sri Lankan, Canadian, cricketing art—and now portraiture?
Christopher Ondaatje has only recently come to public notice with his donation of £2,750,000 to London’s National Portrait Gallery.
ArchiveJohn Wonnacott
Wonnacott's big week: while one painting by the artist has been sold to the Tate, another has been commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery
Wonnacott's portrait of John Major is on view at Agnew's
ArchiveAllan Ramsay
Portraiture on display: Allan Ramsay stars solo while a whole cast swaggers at the Tate
Two massive shows bring glamour and glitz to London
CommentMuseums
Letter to the editor | Necessity, not secrecy, will close NPG’s doors
Nicholas Cullinan, the director of the National Portrait Gallery, responds to criticism about the museum's three-year closure
Nicholas Cullinan