The Naked Portrait 1900-2007
Compton Verney, Warwickshire
Curated by Martin Hammer, University of Edinburgh
Press view: Friday 28 September; Exhibition dates: 29 September – 9 December 2007
The Naked Portrait is the first exhibition to focus on naked portraiture as a strand in the art of the last century. In contrast to the wider genre of the ‘nude’, naked portraiture engages with the specific identity of an individual sitter, subverting portraiture’s usual concerns with social façade, status and self-image. This major exhibition at Compton Verney brings together many of the most significant artists of the last century and features over 160 examples of the genre, embracing painting, photography and sculpture, through the work of over seventy artists from Pierre Bonnard to Tracey Emin.
By revealing the widespread interest in naked portraiture as a subject throughout the period depicted, the exhibition also examines the rapidly changing cultural and moral landscape of the last century. The Naked Portrait includes paintings by Francis Bacon, Vanessa Bell, Lucian Freud, Gilbert & George, David Hockney, Gerhard Richter, Jenny Saville and Sir Stanley Spencer; photographs by David Bailey, Helen Chadwick, John Coplans, Annie Leibovitz, Robert Mapplethorpe, Boris Mikhailov, Man Ray, Alfred Stieglitz, Wolfgang Tillmans and Sam Taylor-Wood, and sculpture by Dan Brown, Eduardo Paolozzi, Marc Quinn and Auguste Rodin.
Themes within the exhibition challenge the received notions of ideal physical beauty, age identity, the artistic exploration of love and desire, the projection of ‘otherness’ in terms of social class, race, or celebrity, and the fundamentals of the human ageing process and mortality. The exhibition features portraits of well-known subjects such as Linford Christie, Germaine Greer, Dustin Hoffman, Christine Keeler, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Marilyn Monroe, Rudolf Nureyev, Georgia O’Keefe and Charlotte Rampling, to uncelebrated subjects known intimately only by the artists. Many of the images also represent the artists themselves.
The Naked Portrait is organised by Compton Verney and the National Galleries of Scotland. The exhibition features works loaned from collectors and galleries across Europe and America, and is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.
Contact: Ina Cole, Communications Manager, Compton Verney, Warwickshire,
CV35 9HZ. Tel: 01926 645540; Email: ina.cole@comptonverney.org.uk
Notes to editors:
1. The exhibition opens to the public on Saturday 29 September and the booking line for advance tickets is now open: 01926 645500.
2. Please see www.comptonverney.org.uk for further information on Compton Verney.
The press view is from 11.30 – 16.00, with lunch at 13.15, and refreshments will continue to be available throughout the afternoon. As places are limited I would be grateful if you could contact me by 24 September on 01926 645540 or at ina.cole@comptonverney.org.uk, to let me know whether you can join us.
Compton Verney, Warwickshire
Curated by Martin Hammer, University of Edinburgh
Press view: Friday 28 September; Exhibition dates: 29 September – 9 December 2007
The Naked Portrait is the first exhibition to focus on naked portraiture as a strand in the art of the last century. In contrast to the wider genre of the ‘nude’, naked portraiture engages with the specific identity of an individual sitter, subverting portraiture’s usual concerns with social façade, status and self-image. This major exhibition at Compton Verney brings together many of the most significant artists of the last century and features over 160 examples of the genre, embracing painting, photography and sculpture, through the work of over seventy artists from Pierre Bonnard to Tracey Emin.
By revealing the widespread interest in naked portraiture as a subject throughout the period depicted, the exhibition also examines the rapidly changing cultural and moral landscape of the last century. The Naked Portrait includes paintings by Francis Bacon, Vanessa Bell, Lucian Freud, Gilbert & George, David Hockney, Gerhard Richter, Jenny Saville and Sir Stanley Spencer; photographs by David Bailey, Helen Chadwick, John Coplans, Annie Leibovitz, Robert Mapplethorpe, Boris Mikhailov, Man Ray, Alfred Stieglitz, Wolfgang Tillmans and Sam Taylor-Wood, and sculpture by Dan Brown, Eduardo Paolozzi, Marc Quinn and Auguste Rodin.
Themes within the exhibition challenge the received notions of ideal physical beauty, age identity, the artistic exploration of love and desire, the projection of ‘otherness’ in terms of social class, race, or celebrity, and the fundamentals of the human ageing process and mortality. The exhibition features portraits of well-known subjects such as Linford Christie, Germaine Greer, Dustin Hoffman, Christine Keeler, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Marilyn Monroe, Rudolf Nureyev, Georgia O’Keefe and Charlotte Rampling, to uncelebrated subjects known intimately only by the artists. Many of the images also represent the artists themselves.
The Naked Portrait is organised by Compton Verney and the National Galleries of Scotland. The exhibition features works loaned from collectors and galleries across Europe and America, and is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.
Contact: Ina Cole, Communications Manager, Compton Verney, Warwickshire,
CV35 9HZ. Tel: 01926 645540; Email: ina.cole@comptonverney.org.uk
Notes to editors:
1. The exhibition opens to the public on Saturday 29 September and the booking line for advance tickets is now open: 01926 645500.
2. Please see www.comptonverney.org.uk for further information on Compton Verney.
The press view is from 11.30 – 16.00, with lunch at 13.15, and refreshments will continue to be available throughout the afternoon. As places are limited I would be grateful if you could contact me by 24 September on 01926 645540 or at ina.cole@comptonverney.org.uk, to let me know whether you can join us.
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