Seeing past techniques and spellings

Sandy Nairne, director of the National Portrait Gallery, writes in defence of the NPG. Apparently, the gallery was recently described as 'one of the biggest collections of second-rate and bad painting in the world'. Some people just can't see past things, right? And that only goes to show that - despite what they are trying to show off - they don't know the first thing about what Art is all about.

Sandy Nairne takes a written tour about the most remarkable portraits housed in the NPG, which of course includes the Pillar Portrait:

Special treasures such as Cassandra Austen's study of her sister Jane, Bramwell Brontë's portrait of his sisters, or Sylvia Plath's drawing of Ted Hughes cannot be dismissed as "bad" when they brought us face to face with their subjects.

Of course, it would all look a lot better if she had spelt Branwell's name right. But anyway, she has a point.

For a better tour around the NPG, do read Margaret Forster's recent article on it, which also includes a mention of this Pillar Portrait and makes a better defence for the Gallery.

Categories: Art-Exhibitions, Branwell_Brontë