Face to Face II

Overview

The exhibition is part of the campaign ‘Portrait Mode’, launched by the National Portrait Gallery to mark their 2023 reopening, involving collaborations with art-world players across the UK and internationally.

Portraiture has always been a pillar of art history, taking different forms throughout its development: from the Egyptian statues of pharaohs to the Hellenic busts of Greek gods, from the Renaissance frescos of patrons to the Flemish paintings of peasants, from Rococo's depictions of marquises to Lucien Freud's impasto works all the way to Warhol's screen-prints. The dawn of the 21st century seems to have allowed Portraiture to free itself from standardised canons and traditional conventions, opening up a new chapter of this artistic current, prompting today's artists to explore the genre in an even more independent and unique manner.