While most of us were just trying to get by during the recent COVID quarantines, Steven Nelson took on a new, high-level job and moved across the country amid the pandemic.

After more than 20 years in academia, multiple publications, awards and lecturers, Nelson has been appointed the new dean of the National Gallery of Art research institute which promotes studies of production, use and meaning cultural art.

In this position at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, Nelson will focus on fundraising, leadership and scholarship work to advance the mission and impact of the center. The research center, which was founded in 1979, has been the epicenter of academic work on a variety of subjects and artistic mediums.

In July, Nelson retired from UCLA where he was a professor for 20 years and taught subjects ranging from African art, black power in art and African architecture. He was also director of the Center for African Studies at UCLA and adviser to UCLA management on strategic planning for diversity and inclusion.

Nelson first joined the National Gallery as an Andrew W. Mellon professor at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts. In this chair, he wrote two manuscripts for future books titled “Structural Adjustment: Cartography, Geography and Visual Cultures of Darkness” and “On the Underground Railroad”.

In addition, he co-edits a project called “The Black Modernisms Seminars,” which is a research volume that is part of the Center’s initiative on African American Art. The project will be published in 2021.

New role during the pandemic

Although he does not yet have a consolidated housing plan and works remotely, Nelson said his transition to a new leadership role has gone smoothly.

“Getting around in a pandemic has been really interesting and complicated to assess, however, it has been strangely more transparent than I thought,” he said.

Nelson said the move also acted as a distraction from “all the really terrible things that were going on in the world.”

The announcement of Nelson’s new role came on March 6, when the coronavirus began to spread. Nelson was working in Washington for his previous job, but had to return to Los Angeles to pack his bags for a permanent move.

When not in a meeting or writing policy proposals, Nelson said he enjoys learning more about Washington with his husband and that he enjoys the setup and the ability to walk around the city. . When worries about the pandemic subside, he said he hopes to explore local museums in his spare time.

As with any new position, expect to acclimate to new colleagues and processes, he said. Additionally, Nelson has been in the building since 2018 as Professor Andrew W. Mellon, which made the transition even smoother, he said.

Nelson also said he enjoys working more directly with others as a dean. He described his past academic work as isolating, saying researching and writing can be a more lonely process.

“Being part of a larger management team has been really energetic,” he said. “I am a social animal and I really love being part of a team that is charting the way forward for an institution.

When editing doctoral applications. programs in the late ’90s, Nelson said he rarely included his gay identity in his admission documents, despite having his black identity noted in all of them.

“A friend of mine said to me, ‘Why wouldn’t you want to participate in all these apps? If you’re not going to go out, why would you go to xyz institutions? ‘ I took this to heart and decided to be open, ”he said.

Since then, Nelson has said he’s always been open about his sexual orientation and it has had an impact on how he does his research, his approach to the world and his work. He also plans to promote inclusion and diversity at all levels at the gallery.

“As a black, gay and left-handed person, this is important to me. My greatest hope is that the museum will not only diversify, but also be a leader in opening up avenues, ”he said. “We are working on ways to do it. ”

Identity has had an impact on the work Nelson has done in the past, and he said he hopes to “get the needle rolling” for others. He also said that his experiences as the only African American in the room on several occasions in his life affected him greatly, and he said he was eager to promote inclusion and diversity at the gallery for make this reality less common in the future.

Nelson is currently developing a new strategic plan for the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts and is finding ways to keep the center at the forefront of the entire gallery.

It also examines diversity and inclusion measures that can be taken to make several aspects of the museum more inclusive, including making attendants and staff more accepted.

Agreeing with the rest of the gallery, he said he hopes “to create an institution which promotes excellence in scholarship, which is accessible and which is part of a wider creation of gateways to the profession for the youngest.

With ever-changing health and safety guidelines, Nelson said the future of museums was going to be different. He said he sees more digital programming coming in and less focus on physical spaces. New museums and galleries are less likely to emerge, he said.

Following this vision, the National Gallery of Art has already offered online programs, such as lectures, screenings and blogs. The gallery also partially reopened to the public in mid-July, allowing people to view the exhibition from the ground floor with timed entries, face coverings and social distancing.

For the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, Nelson said digital events have been at the forefront of programming for years – the circumstances of the pandemic haven’t made a significant difference. He plans to continue these events for years to come.

Nelson said his favorite aspect of teaching at UCLA was the students. UCLA’s art history and African American studies programs are also very diverse, with students from a multitude of backgrounds and experiences, he said.

While Nelson has said he is excited for the next steps to come, he will fail to teach students.

While completing his doctorate. at Harvard University, Nelson focused his thesis on African art. He was originally interested in the study of modern art, but learning African art changed his research path.

In 1993, Nelson traveled to Cameroon for a year to prepare his thesis on an Africanist art historian, which inspired him to delve into research on African art and continue to visit the continent. . Now he has visited Senegal and other countries.

He also wrote the book “From Cameroon to Paris: Mousgoum Architecture In and Out of Africa”, which analyzes the residential architecture of the populations of the far north of Cameroon.

As Americans elect their new president, the National Portrait Gallery is hosting the largest exhibition of portraits of the First Lady outside the White House. Opened this fall, “Every Eye is on Me: America’s First Ladies” features portraits and achievements of women who have served this nation in the White House, in this particularly difficult role. The exhibition spans approximately 250 years, from Martha Washington to Melania Trump, and features more than 60 portraits of the First Ladies as well as paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs and personal memorabilia, such as dresses.

The exhibition groups the portraits by era, highlighting the importance of the first ladies in shaping American history and culture. It begins with visual representations of the very first presidential wives, starting with Martha Washington, whose responsibilities were primarily “to raise children, run a big house and entertain guests.”

The National Portrait Gallery goes to great lengths to speak about the lasting legacy left by each First Lady, while also demonstrating how the role of the First Lady has evolved over time. Beginning in the mid-20th century, First Ladies began to engage in social and cultural causes and advocate for issues they were passionate about.

Twentieth-century portraits include Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, who championed social causes during the Great Depression and World War II. Also included is Nancy Reagan, who encouraged people to “just say no” to illegal drugs in the 1970s. Lady Bird Johnson campaigned solo for her husband’s election across the South. Rosalynn Carter was sent by her husband abroad. The last First Lady of the twentieth century was Hillary Clinton, whose political importance continued after leaving the White House.

As we move into the modern era, portraits begin to reflect a change: instead of the classic style of previous generations, artists begin to infuse the personality of the first ladies into the work. This includes more artistic license, but also a variety of colors, shapes and styles, used to highlight the roles these women have played in the history and politics of the country.

While portraits of the first ladies were once purchased or acquired as a gift by the National Portrait Gallery, Ginny Stanford’s portrait of Hillary Clinton in 2006 was the first commissioned portrait of America’s first lady to join the museum’s collection.

Entering the White House on a team with her husband Bill Clinton, Hillary questioned existing notions of the role of the First Lady in the President’s administration. A Yale-trained lawyer who has written several books, Clinton led healthcare legislation during her husband’s 8-year presidency. She later served as a New York State Senator and Secretary of State in the Obama administration. She even became the first woman to receive the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party.

Despite her successes, public perception was very critical of Hillary Clinton. Some critics felt that Clinton seemed cold and lacked the femininity they expected from a First Lady. However, when Ginny Stanford met Clinton, she felt “warmth and humor”. She painted an easily recognizable portrait yet reveals a side of Hillary Clinton that the public hasn’t really seen. Stanford’s is the portrait of a strong and powerful woman, yet gentle, feminine and welcoming. Depicted in a light yellow suit and a simple gold necklace, Clinton’s iconic profile exudes a sense of timelessness typical of the Italian Renaissance that Stanford has admitted to emulating.

Another portrait that has gained a lot of attention over the years is that of Nancy Reagan, painted by Aaron Shikler. One of America’s most sought-after portrait painters for decades, Mr. Shikler was famous for his portrayal of Jackie Kennedy, which emphasized his inner strength. He portrayed Nancy Reagan, a former film actress, in a red dress and in a pose similar to that of Jackie Kennedy, making her appear slim, graceful and regal.

Nancy Reagan passed away in 2016, leaving behind a legacy of public service and charitable work. She is particularly famous as a style icon, who has borrowed some of Jackie Kennedy’s favorites, such as classic woolen suits, pearls, and elegant coats, but makes them her own. Shikler’s stunning painting truly reflects Reagan’s combination of Washington elegance, Hollywood glamor, and that iconic red dress.

Equally intriguing is the portrayal of Michelle Obama by Baltimore artist Amy Sherald. This is a life-size image of the African American First Lady in a sleeveless dress designed by American designer Michelle Smith for Milly. Obama’s towering figure in a reflective pose similar to Rodin’s thinker sits on rainbow-colored cascading folds against a solid blue background. Sherald used grayscale instead of browns to paint Michelle’s skin, making her look dreamy.

The image looks both nostalgic and ultramodern. Smith did not want to refer to the story. She says the dress was meant to be worn in “everyday life and was made of fabric with a clean, minimal geometric print,” giving Michelle Obama’s look an edgy sensibility, typical of how she looks. is seen by its supporters. Still, Amy Sherald was nostalgic when she painted the portrait. She says Obama’s dress reminded her of the primary color charts of Dutch modernist Pete Mondrian and the hand-sewn patterned quilts made by African-American women in a small town in Alabama.

Enthusiasts believe Sherald’s painting is an honest and magnificent portrayal of Michelle Obama’s years as First Lady which were defined by her intelligence, rhetorical skills, style, and dedication to the welfare of American children and to other key social issues. It is therefore not surprising that the portrait has attracted visitors since its unveiling. Incredibly popular, Michelle Obama’s portrait had to be hung in a separate room in the exhibition to avoid gallery clutter.

“Every Eye Is Upon Me: First Ladies of the United States” will be presented at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, from November 13, 2020 to May 23, 2021.

Exhibition First Ladies of the United States: Smithsonian National Portrait GalleryExhibition First Ladies of the United States: Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery

Co-written with Maria Birger

The title of the exhibition is taken from a letter written by the First Lady Julia gardiner tyler, who wrote to his mother shortly after marrying the president John tyler in 1844. The Portrait Gallery presentation uses Tyler’s quote as a starting point to examine the responsibilities and importance of first ladies since 1789, when Martha Washington became the first woman to fill the role. The exhibit centers on women who entered the White House as wives as well as other women who were recruited, including sisters, nieces, and family friends, such as Dolley Madison, who served as White House hostess for the widowed president Thomas jefferson. Through the portrait, the exhibition will highlight the stories and personalities of each model, focusing on the myriad of challenges they faced and their greatest accomplishments.

“These remarkable women have generally put aside their personal interest to devote themselves to the responsibilities of ‘first lady’, a complicated and ineligible role that continues to adapt to each viewer,” said Shaw. “The portraits included in this exhibition visualize the difference between these women, revealing fascinating details about the worlds they moved in and the historical moments in which they lived.”

Working closely with the White House and the National First Ladies’ Library, the Portrait Gallery exhibition brings viewers closer to understanding the trials and triumphs of dozens of dynamic women who have embraced, sometimes reluctantly, the duties of hostess. for the president of United States. The selection of portraits and associated ephemera will include paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, engravings and a video installation of photographs by contemporary photographers. Annie leibovitz. The exhibition also includes clothes worn by Mary todd lincoln, Michelle obama, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Nancy reagan.

In addition to displaying some of the most iconic images of First Ladies in the Portrait Gallery’s collection, “Every Eye Is Upon Me” features major loans from the White House, the National First Ladies’ Library, and the Department of US state, as well as several presidential websites and private libraries and collections. This is the largest presentation of portraits of the First Lady to take place outside the White House.

The National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian Books have co-published a richly illustrated book, First ladies of United States, which offers an insightful essay by Shaw in addition to the catalog entries. The publication serves as a companion to the exhibition and takes the same format as the recently published book American presidents (2017). First ladies of United States (2020) is now available for purchase through the museum’s online store and will be widely available for purchase from 1st December. The Portrait Gallery has also launched a new resource website dedicated to First Ladies at firstladies.si.edu.

“Every eye is on me: first ladies of United States“is made possible by the support of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative, Morgan Stanley, Robert and Arlene Kogod and the generosity of many other donors.

For more information on the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, visit npg.si.edu.

SOURCE National Portrait Gallery

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The Springfield Art Museum’s opening this week of the exhibition “Eye to I: Self-Portraits from the National Portrait Gallery” is timely.

The collection of approximately 60 works of art in a wide variety of media was curated by the Smithsonian at a time when the self-portrait became so ubiquitous that the concept was abbreviated as “selfie.” The Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok social media empires are built on the selfie.

“Self-portraits in general are always fascinating, especially now that everyone takes selfies and is self-portrait anyway,” says Sarah Buhr, the museum’s curator, who worked with the Smithsonian to present the national traveling exhibit in Springfield. .

Buhr says the Smithsonian sent him a proposal after he borrowed a piece for the 2018 exhibition “Frolic of the Mind: The Illustrious Life of Rose O’Neill”.

“We are thrilled because there are a lot of works in the exhibition that we could never show, or these are artist self-portraits that we have in our collection,” said Buhr. “It seemed to us to be perfectly suited to increase our collection. “

Buhr says the evolution of self-concept is evident through the different media used at different times. The first works were through photos, drawings and paintings. “Later, it’s video and sculpture. It becomes more symbolic than the portrait, ”says Buhr.

Buhr says that many of the works in the exhibition may be familiar, but not necessarily to their works as artists. A notable example is composer George Gershwin. Another is Broadway set designer Lee Simonson, founder of the Theater Guild who remained active from 1919 to 1940, according to his obituary in the New York Times.

Among the most remarkable is a triptych of Roger Shimomura’s reinterpretation of “Washington crossing the Delaware” by Emanuel Leutze in 1851. “He puts himself in George Washington’s shoes,” explains Buhr. “He’s him in the guise of Washington, and he replaced the white men with stylized Japanese kabuki characters.”

Some artists have explored a more idealized sense of self. Buhr shows the lithograph by sculptor Claes Oldenburg. “It’s a humorous awareness of himself. His tongue sticks out and I think it’s more introspective about him as a person and his own flaws, so I think it’s maybe a little more honest in the way he sees himself, ”says Buhr.

The exhibit – which runs until Jan. 17 – straddles “This and That: Cartoons by Bob Palmer,” a late editorial cartoonist for the News-Leader.

Museum director Nick Nelson said the overlap was intentional. Editorial cartoons examine who we collectively are, while self-portraits show how we have seen ourselves over time.

“It will be a really exciting exhibition,” says Nelson. “I think both of these shows are about holding a mirror to us both literally and figuratively.”

Want to go?

What: Eye to I: self-portraits from the National Portrait Gallery

Or: Springfield Art Museum, 1111 E. Brookside Drive

When: 24 Oct Jan 17

Hours: 10 am-6pm Tuesday to Wednesday; 10 am-8pm Thursday; 10 am-6pm Friday-Saturday; 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday; closed on Mondays

Cost: Free, but donations are accepted

Info: 417-837-5700 or www.sgfmuseum.org

COVID-19 Note: If you would like to see the exhibit but don’t feel comfortable physically visiting the museum, the museum will post photos of the installation on its Facebook page.

Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery is accepting submissions until January 29, 2021, for its sixth triennial To win Boochever portrait competition. Created in 2006, the To win The Boochever Portrait Competition invites artists (aged 18 and over) living and working in the United States, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, American Samoa and Guam, to submit a portrait for review by a panel of ‘experts. The works of the winners and finalists are then presented in a museum exhibition. The competition aims to broaden the definition of portraiture while highlighting the broader relevance of the genre for society and in the field of contemporary art. It aims to bring together works that take into account the country’s diversity in terms of race, ethnicity, socio-economic status and other conditions that shape the individual and collective identities of artists and models.

The first prize winner will receive $ 25,000 and a commission to represent a remarkable living American for the collection of the National Portrait Gallery. Additional cash prizes will be awarded. The submissions of each finalist and winner will form “The To win 2022: American Portraiture Today ”, which will be on view at the Portrait Gallery from April 30, 2022 to February 26, 2023, before traveling to other cities in the United States.

The To win The Boochever Portrait Competition is organized by the National Portrait Gallery. For each competition, the museum selects three members of its staff and four professionals from outside the museum (critics, art historians, artists) to serve as jurors. Since 2006, guest jurors have included Dawoud Bey, Wanda M. Corn, Trevor Fairbrother, Peter Frank, Harry Gamboa Jr., Thelma Golden, Sidney Goodman, Lauren Haynes, Byron Kim, Hung Liu, Kerry James Marshall, Helen Molesworth, Brian O ‘Doherty, Jefferson Pinder, Richard J. Powell, Jerry Saltz, Peter Schjeldahl, Katy Siegel, Alec Soth and John Valadez.

Taína Caragol, Curator of Painting and Sculpture and Latino Art and History, is the Director of 2022 To win Boochever portrait competition. The invited jurors for this competition are Kathleen Ash-Milby, Curator of Native American Art, Portland Art Museum; Catherine Opie, artist and professor of photography at the University of California at Los Angeles; Ebony G. Patterson, artist, Chicago; and John Yau, critic and professor of critical studies, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. Members of the National Portrait Gallery jury include the co-curators of “The To win Exhibition 2022 Caragol and Leslie Ureña, associate curator of photography, and Dorothy Moss, curator of painting and sculpture and co-ordinating curator of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative.

The To win The Boochever Portrait Competition is made possible by the Virginia To win Boochever Portrait Competition Endowment, created by Virginia To win Boochever and pursued by her children.

Currently closed for major redevelopment, the National Portrait Gallery has asked members of the public to send in their photographs of locked out life to be chosen for a curated exhibition, a glimpse of life in these confusing times. The response has been overwhelming – over 31,000 of which 100 were chosen. Choosing 100 – so that the exhibit itself isn’t overwhelming and confusing – must have been an impressive task. If the idea was brilliantly simple and entirely appropriate, its execution had to be both imaginative and appropriate, and it would have been too easy to slip into the easy charm.

The notion was obviously suggested by the Duchess of Cambridge, the active patron of the NPG who herself has studied art history, and the panel included not only NPG director Nicholas Cullinan, but a professional photographer, Maryam Wahid, writer and broadcaster Lemn Sissay. , and Head Nurse Ruth May – a neat mix of backgrounds, professions and ages. The themes were broad: Helpers and Heroes; Your new normal; The acts of kindness and the photographs received were accompanied by explanatory captions from their creators. The refinement of the images chosen alleviates any sentimentality, but they are more overtly emotional than most photographic anthologies.

Be safe daddy (shown below, by Ceri A. Edwards) shows us just a fragment of a man’s face. He is identified by his uniform badge as a member of the ambulance service, embracing his young daughter, Poppy, with his back turned towards the viewer, his long hair swinging his father’s arm who holds her securely. Layers of emotion, in a crisp image: the black and white photograph increasing the intensity between the child’s white T-shirt and his father’s dark uniform.

In Grandmother + grandfather = love a masked man pushes a beautifully dressed lady in her wheelchair down a suburban street, her granddaughter on her lap. We witness a different type of couple as a caregiver, with mask and visor, and wearing gloves, touches the shoulder of an old man sitting on a bed. In Armor mila a young girl, her hair lost from chemotherapy, looks out of a downstairs window into the street, her hand on the glass. From the outside, his radiant father. This is what the broken one looks like shows us a beautiful young woman in a room full of medical supplies; the red marks all over her face are fingerprints from the protections she just removed.

Home Hair (main picture) is comically obvious; the child grimaces, hiding his eyes while the father, razor in hand, does his best, though insufficient, to rise to the domestic occasion as a family barber. Meanwhile, back at the supermarket, a totally exhausted young man in Tesco uniform, nearly asleep as he collapses exhausted, is shown under the title Just another night shift.

One spring evening, a nonagenarian couple, the woman in slippers, is in front of their modest semi-detached, touching their hands: applauding for the NHS. A masked mother in a hospital bed kisses her newborn baby, still bloodied from birth, through a plastic sheeting. A young man watches a funeral unfold in an empty church through his laptop. A mother and child sit relaxed in the sun on a small outdoor balcony decorated with linen. People greet each other through the windows; children are educated at the kitchen table; a child draws a picture of his grandmother to sit next to her; another grandmother appears on a laptop to read a bedtime story; a woman wearing a casual party hat has a lockdown conversation on her computer with her family on her 100th birthday alone in her chair in her sitting position.

Clicking on each image gives us the story for the subject and the photographer. It is the portrait of a nation, and everything is not funny or even hopeful. A self-portrait shows a woman with tears streaming down her face: she had to protect herself, as she suffers from leukemia, and lost everything she was working for in her optimistic handling of her situation where she had started to retrain – a sad irony – as a pharmacy distributor.

In Sorry (photo above right), three masked adult brothers loom against a plastic curtain in hospital just after their father died after two weeks with the virus.

And a mother painted her daughter’s portrait; they both live in a shelter, victims of domestic violence, and her daughter due to confinement has lost school, pets, friends, and yet has regained an extraordinary inner resilience. And the portrait shows her sitting on a window sill, seen through a gauze curtain, playing with her toys, silhouetted against a tree outside in the midst of summer foliage. It is titled by the anonymous mother Loss of lifestyle not of life. As we visitors walk through such revealing snapshots of other people’s lives – isolation, work, relationships, families, celebrations, births and dying – perhaps our own confinement eases a bit and our understanding. extraordinary social, financial and emotional ramifications of these unprecedented months are increasing. Each photograph is revealing: both a window and a mirror.

Perhaps that is the message if there is one. And that cliché is so true: a picture is worth a thousand words, even if, yes, captions help. When events permit, Hold on will be shot in real time and in space across the country.

The only omission from this highly individual and touching kaleidoscope of human life during a pandemic is oddly the absence of pets; we have been told all the time that pets of all kinds are on top, but here they are invisible. Not a puppy or a kitten to see, all hidden.

9 July 2020, 10:08 | Updated: July 9, 2020 11:55

Watch sessions from brilliant musicians, including violinist Jennifer Pike and rising star guitarist Alexandra Whittingham – most of them performing out of isolation for the very first time since the lockdown.

On Monday 22 June 2020, Classic FM was granted access to the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London.

Violinist Jennifer Pike, guitarist Alexandra Whittingham, cellist Ashok Klouda and guitarist Andrey Lebedev performed exclusive live sessions, most of them performing outside their homes for the very first time since the start of the coronavirus lockdown in March – watch full sessions above.

Pike carried out The ascending lark – a track she released on her new recording this month – overlooked by a portrait of her composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, and guitarist Alexandra Whittingham chose a work by romantic composer Catharina Pratten, who also has portraits in the gallery. Whittingham has just signed with Delphian Records.

Read More: Watch Exclusive Music Month Sessions Live From Classic FM With MILOŠ>

Music at the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery

The National Portrait Gallery is due to close in July 2020 for a major renovation, so our artists and their sessions have said goodbye to gallery spaces with the finest music, before reopening to the public in 2023.

NPG, which aims to showcase portraits of people who have really made – and do – British history, is home to numerous paintings and sculptures of musicians and music influencers past and present, including the formidable portrait of Ralph Vaughan Williams by Sir Gerald Kelly, Kenneth Green well-known painting of Benjamin Britten and his life and work partner, Peter Pears, and a sculpture of the great conductor, Sir Thomas Beecham, among countless others.

Its neighboring gallery, the National Gallery, also has a history of music filling its spaces. During World War II – from October 1939 to April 1946 – pianist Myra Hess gave daily public concerts at the National Gallery to boost morale.

And now, after three months of silence in public spaces due to the coronavirus pandemic, NPG has helped us restart live music …

Alexandra Whittingham, guitar

‘Forget’ by Catharina Pratten

Guitarist Alexandra Whittingham performs “Forgotten” by 19th century composer Catharina Pratten (see below).

Catharina Pratten – also known as Madame Sidney Pratten – was an influential virtuoso and guitar teacher, who has two portraits hanging at the NPG. Her contribution to music – and in particular to guitar music – was significant: in addition to writing plays, she was considered by the age of 20 to be London’s foremost guitar teacher, even teaching to Queen Victoria’s daughter Louise, Princess of Wales.

As we take a moment to celebrate a brilliant female songwriter and teacher, we are also delighted to note that Whittingham performed her session dominated by a portrayal of suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst.

Jennifer Pike, violin

‘Sarabande’ from the Partita in D minor by JS Bach
The ascending lark by Ralph Vaughan Williams

Pike performs breathtaking Bach track accompanied, then uses the empty gallery to leave Vaughan Williams The ascending lark really soar in an unaccompanied version (see below).

Jennifer Pike’s Elgar releases July 31, 2020 on Chandos.

Andrey Lebedev, guitar

“Lamentos do morro” by Garôto

Lebedev performed a summer number by Brazilian guitarist-composer Garôto. Garôto – aka “The Kid”, real name Anibal Augusto Sardinha – was born in São Paulo in 1915 and had a great influence on classical and acoustic guitar playing.

Ashok Klouda, cello

Suite for cello n ° 5, III. ‘Race’ by JS Bach
Suite for solo cello, VI. Natalie Klouda final

Klouda performed in the Victorian galleries. Her unaccompanied Bach program – and composer Natalie Klouda’s contemporary response to Bach – echoed through the magnificent space before the evening came to peek around the shadows.

Special thanks to the National Portrait Gallery. Visit www.npg.org.uk to know more.