![]() The best is the cheeky “ Sarah Lucas (‘Self-Portrait with Fried Eggs’)” (1996), with Lucas posing in jeans with two fried eggs on her chest. A new display shows a range of self-portraits by women that defy the typical male gaze, its subjects looking directly into the camera, challenging expectations. “ Reframing Narratives: Women in Portraiture,” a three-year project in partnership with the Chanel Culture Fund, aims to enhance the representation of women in the collection. ![]() The new doors at the entrance to the National Portrait Gallery in London, designed by Tracey Emin (photo © Olivier Hess)Īnother big change: many more women. But there are also delightful portraits of comparatively ordinary British citizens: a statue of author Jacqueline Wilson, an oil of a relaxed Ed Sheeran, and another of soccer player Lucy Bronze, among many others. Sure, it still contains two prim portraits of King Charles and the Prince and Princess of Wales. As soon as one enters, the brand-new “History Makers Now” gallery displays the work of contemporary Britons. Worth said: “The pressure is now on the British Museum, which is currently deciding whether to renew its own BP sponsorship deal, to get on the right side of history.In general, it succeeds. The relationship between the British Museum and BP has drawn condemnation from the museum’s own staff and led in part to the resignation of one of its trustees, the novelist Ahdaf Soueif. Last week, more than 300 archaeologists and historians wrote to the museum’s trustees calling on them to drop the company, while activists staged the latest in a string of protests by presenting fake “Stonehenge drilling plans” to visitors. In 2019, the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company ended their sponsorship deals with Shell and BP respectively, after Mark Rylance resigned from the RSC in protest over their continued relationship, which he said allowed the oil company to “obscure the destructive reality of its activities”.Ī month later, National Galleries Scotland said it would sever its ties to BP over climate concerns.īP continues to sponsor the British Museum, now under the helm of its new chair, George Osborne. When BP and Tate ended their 26-year sponsorship deal in 2017, the company blamed what it called an “extremely challenging business environment”. The campaign against fossil fuel corporations’ sponsorship of the arts has continued to escalate in recent years as concerns mount over the scale and severity of the climate crisis. Even now it continues to invest millions in finding new sources of oil and gas, which will only push the world deeper into climate breakdown.” Jess Worth, a co-director of the group, said: “The company spent 30 years painting a picture of itself as a responsible philanthropist but it is rapidly running out of places to clean up its toxic image. The pressure group Culture Unstained said it believed the move was “clearly a vote of no confidence in BP’s business” by the gallery. ![]() As we transition to become net zero by 2050 and help the world get there too, we must look at new ways to best use our talent, experience and resources.” Louise Kingham, a BP senior vice-president, said on Tuesday: “We are immensely proud of our role in championing British arts and culture for over 30 years, but the BP of today is a very different company from when we first started our partnership with the National Portrait Gallery. The following year, BP was dropped from the judging panel of the £35,000 portrait award for the first time since 1997. They said it was necessary to ensure the gallery remained a “forward-looking institution that’s on the right side of history”. ![]() Notably, in 2019, five past winners of the Turner prize – Antony Gormley, Rachel Whiteread, Anish Kapoor, Gillian Wearing and Mark Wallinger – were among a group of almost 80 leading artists, including winners of the BP portrait award, who wrote to Cullinan calling on him to cut ties with BP. BP has sponsored the award for 30 years, but the partnership has been the subject of numerous protests as part of a protracted and high-profile campaign against big oil’s involvement in the arts. ![]()
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