Inspiring People at the National Portrait Gallery - Alison Smith

A Friends of Kenwood Sunday lecture given by Chief Curator of the NPG, Alison Smith.
The National Portrait Gallery was founded in 1856, the first gallery anywhere to be dedicated to portraits. It moved to its current site in 1896, an elegant purpose-built gallery adjoining London's National Gallery. Since then, the collection has expanded enormously as have its public activities. In spring 2020, the gallery closed for a complete refurbishment of the building interior and a comprehensive redisplay of the collection, the Inspiring People project which opened in June 2023. This talk explores the history of the renovation and reveals some of the highlights of the new displays.
Alison Smith joined the National Portrait Gallery as Chief Curator in 2017. Before that she was at Tate Britain (2000-17). She organised key exhibitions including Exposed: The Victorian Nude (2001), Millais (2007), Artist and Empire (2015) and Edward Burne-Jones (2018-9).
Introduction music: String Quartet No. 2 by Nicola LeFanu (b.1947)
Produced by Friends of Kenwood
www.friendsofkenwood.org.uk
@friendsofkenwood7574