Books published by National Portrait Gallery Publications

Focused on three key themes - Helpers and Heroes, Your New Normal and Acts of Kindness, this book presents a unique portrait of the UK during the 2020 lockdown, through 100 community photographs.

William Eggleston's photographs are special for their eccentric, unexpected compositions, playfulness, implied narrative and, above all, his portrayals of people. This title accompanies the first exhibition to explore Eggleston's pictures of people. It includes works that span his career from the 1950s onwards.

Published to celebrate Women's History Month, this book focuses on the stories of inspirational and pioneering women whose work has changed the course of British history. Although the successes of many of these women have not been celebrated historically, this new title will shine a light on their achievements and contributions to history and culture both in Britain and, in some cases, internationally. These stories of perseverance and achievement have been grouped into four broad themes: Art & Architecture; Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths (STEM); Social Reform, Politics and Law; and Women Abroad. It features an introductory essay by Samira Ahmed as well as extended captions by Lydia Miller. The publication provides a snapshot of Reframing Narratives: Women in Portraiture, a three-year project supported by the CHANEL Culture Fund. This project aims to enhance the representation of women in the National Portrait Gallery's Collection and highlight the often-overlooked stories of individual women who have shaped British history and culture. Some of the sitters featured in this book include Mary Beale, Gwen John, Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Dorothy Hodgkin, Olive Morris, Cicely Saunders and Laura Knight.

With just under a thousand portraits of Queen Elizabeth II, the National Portrait Gallery boasts some of the most treasured and famous official portraits of the Queen captured at key historic moments, as well as day-to-day images of the monarch at home and with family, following her journey from childhood, to princess and Queen, mother and grandmother. This publication highlights the most important portraits of Elizabeth II from the Gallery's Collection. Paintings and photographs from the birth of Elizabeth II to the present will take readers on a visual journey through the life of Britain's foremost icon. The book will reflect on the Queen's life, presenting family photographs alongside important formal portraits to explore how, as her reign became record-breaking, she became an iconic figure in modern British culture and history. The publication features works by key artists depicting the Queen from 1926 to the present day, including Baron, Cecil Beaton, Dorothy Wilding, Patrick Lichfield, Andy Warhol, Annie Leibovitz and David Bailey. This book features an introductory essay by Alexandra Shulman, exploring how the collected portraits depict the Queen throughout her life and reign, and a timeline of key historical events and moments from Elizabeth II's life.

Icons and Identities explores the portrayal of people as a human preoccupation from prehistoric art to digital media. Featuring internationally recognised sitters, it shows how artists in the western tradition have engaged with this fascination and made artworks with a remarkable diversity of form and function.

The National Portrait Gallery's collections hold numerous portraits of creative partnerships. This book looks at the extensive collection of the Gallery and explores the role of love and the people featured both as sitters and artists. Drawing on recent scholarship, the exhibition will explore changing ideas of love, and give readers the opportunity to discover love stories both tragic and transcendent. The stories cover a variety of topics, including: the role of the muse, featuring stories such as George Romney, Lady Emma Hamilton and Nelson, and the Bloomsbury group; scandal and tragedy, exploring the relationships of Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas, Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, and John Lennon and Yoko Ono; literary love, highlighting the tales of Mary and Percy Shelley, and Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes; a shared studio, featuring the stories of artists Lee Miller and Man Ray, and Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson; and love and the lens, which explores the stories of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, and Mick and Bianca Jagger. Love Stories will be brought to life through the perspective of various authors, using material from the sitter's own letters, diaries and poetry, while highlighting their connection and influence on some of the greatest masterpieces of art.

Accompanying a National Portrait Gallery exhibition, a closer look at the portraiture with the 'Bright Young Things' as subject, captured by photographer Cecil Beaton.

Starting with the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1867, at which a distinct Russian school of painting was recognised, this title examines developments in theatre and music, the rising Realist aesthetic and the powerful voices of wealthy patrons from the worlds of industry and commerce, such as Pavel Tretyakov.