The National Portrait Gallery has revealed its newest commissions, including works by David Hockney, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Robert Pruitt.
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Luke Gilford’s Tender Photographs of Gay Rodeos
The Los Angeles-based photographer offers an updated version of the mythologized American cowboy, calling rodeos “the traditional drag of America.”
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Kojo Marfo’s Portraits Depict the Cracks in Polite Society
The artist’s style blends aesthetic and cultural elements from Ghana, London, and New York’s graffiti scenes.
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The Silence of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
Looking at Yiadom-Boakye’s portraits is an act of slow discovery, the unveiling of a mystery.
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A Powerful Debut
As a young Asian American painter, Susan Chen knows what she is up against and is consciously pushing back.
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David Hockney’s Life in Drawing
The history of Hockney and his lifelong life-drawing itch, pursued now over seven decades.
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The Beauty and Anxiety of Seeing Myself, and My Partner, in a Portrait
I forget if we asked Danny Ferrell to paint us or if it was his idea, but I was surprised to feel so much when I saw the painting for the first time at an art fair.
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Six Rare Portraits of Jane Austen Go on View
A rare 1869 watercolor of Jane Austen will join five other portraits, including the only portrayal of the novelist known to have been made during her lifetime.
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Splicing Together Portraits of Countries’ Leaders
The artist Guney Soykan’s Face of a Nation series consists of striking and unusual timelines of countries’ political leadership over the past half-century.
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A New Online Trove Brings Historical Silhouettes to Light
The popularity of silhouettes in the 18th and 19th centuries wasn’t only due to them being an affordable form of portraiture before the era of photography, the art also fit with popular pseudosciences like phrenology.
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The Flattering Tricks of 19th-Century Portraiture
For the wealthy 19th-century elite, a portrait rendered by a respected artist was a signifier of status — an oversized and ostentatious calling card.
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The Frick Scores a Trove of 450 Historical Medals
The Frick Collection is adding an impressive cache of metal portraits to its collections.