In a few minutes, the curtain goes up at The Royal Opera house of a mixed programme of Frederick Ashton gems. It is a special evening because this will be the last role that Zenaida Yanowsky dances on the Covent Garden stage before she retires. She will be dancing with Roberto Bolle in Marguerite and Armand, and again June […]
Cecil Beaton
Lucian Freud Archive acquired for the nation
An important archive comprising Lucian Freud’s sketchbooks, drawings and letters has been acquired by the nation from the estate of Lucian Freud through the Acceptance in Lieu Scheme. The archive has been permanently allocated to the National Portrait Gallery, which in 2012 staged the acclaimed Lucian Freud Portraits exhibition, the Gallery’s most visited ticketed exhibition. Sir […]
Audrey Hepburn glad to be home in a major new exhibition
Thirty-five photographs of Audrey Hepburn from the personal collection of her sons, Sean Hepburn Ferrer and Luca Dotti, will go on display in London’s National Portrait Gallery’s summer exhibition. Audrey Hepburn: Portraits of an Icon will explore the life and career of the film star, and is the first British exhibition to be organised with support from […]
Audrey Hepburn to be celebrated in photos in London
65 years ago, Audrey Hepburn was a struggling actress and dancer in London, working occasionally in the renowned West End night club Ciro’s. That space is now home to the National Portrait Gallery’s Heinz Archive and Library, and now to celebrate the iconic figure the gallery is to stage an exhibition which will bring together a remarkable selection […]
Svetlana Zakharova: I want to go out and dance forever!
Svetlana Zakharova talked to Russia’s Izvestia yesterday about her latest projects, including bringing Frederick Ashton’s Marguerite and Armand to the Bolshoi. She danced the role for the first time last season at Milan’s La Scala with Roberto Bolle; this time round her Armand will be Sergei Polunin who scored a huge personal success with the role with the […]
Marilyn Monroe at the National Portrait Gallery
‘A British Love Affair’, an exhibition exploring Marilyn Monroe’s connection with Britain, will be at the National Portrait Gallery from 29 September. The display is free to visit and coincides with the 50th anniversary of Monroe’s death. Portraits of Monroe by British photographers will be shown alongside rare magazine covers, vintage prints, lobby cards and film stills […]
Annigoni’s great 1950s painting of the Queen goes on show for the first time in 26 years in the Diamond Jubilee Exhibition
One of the greatest royal portraits of the twentieth century, Pietro Annigoni’s 1954-5 painting of The Queen is to go on public display for the first time in 26 years at the National Portrait’s Gallery’s The Queen: Art and Image exhibition, it was announced today. It will be shown on the same wall as the […]
Cecil Beaton celebrated in a new volume from the Amici della Scala
The Amici della Scala have added another 4 volumes to their collection of illustrated mini-books on the Teatro alla Scala and its collaborators. The complete collection now numbers 36 titles. Vittoria Crespi Morbio has kept her habitual critcal eye on these latest volumes producing four gems: Alessandro Sanquirino, the set designer active during the Napoleonic yhears who […]
