Following on from yesterday’s post, on the Sunday of my weekend in London we went to the National Portrait Museum. At the moment the BP Portrait Awards exhibition is on, apparently it’s the most prestigious award in the world!
Several paintings caught my eye from a textiles point of view…
This one is called Patchwork, it’s by Paula Wilson. It was just nice to see quilting as part of a portrait.
I loved this painting, it’s a portrait of a lady celebrating her 100th birthday. From what I can gather it was actually painted on the vintage floral fabric. If you look the pattern continues through everything. It’s painted by Monika Polak.
This was the winner of the award and deservedly so. It was absolutely beautiful, so serene and peaceful, it amazes me how anyone can paint a linen table cloth so you can almost feel the texture! It’s painted by Miriam Escodet, it’s a portrait of her mother.
We then went to the National Gallery next door, this is a painting of Madame de Pompadour at he Tambour Frame, painted around 1763 by Drouais
This was my favourite room in the National Gallery, it was the schools area. The Gallery obviously run workshops for primary school children mainly, it sounds like they study a painting and then create something similar. Some of them were seriously good, I would have been happy to paint that well! There were also some weavings, this was my favourite. The children were aged 8 and 9, from St Faith’s School in Hampshire, they had to do a weaving on the theme of a story. This one is The Three Little Pigs, isn’t it gorgeous! I just love those three pompoms!
After our day of culture it was time to say our goodbyes and set off home…with a bit of sewing on the train back!
thecraftycreek 
The three portriats are amazing and a deserved first prize.
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Lovely – I went to the National Gallery too last week!!! I missed what you saw though – you can never look at everything, can you? I love the Paula Wilson in your post, books and quilting, and so much detail in that face, I think I need another visit soon to see it for myself! Please check out my blog from this week – London Culture and Beekeeping.
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I love the textile theme of your post! And, yes, the portraits are superb–the tucks in the woman’s blouse and the rendering of the hands in the Polak are amazing! The pompoms in the weaving look like 3 little pig noses, poking through a fence.
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Wonderful portraits, I too like the theme of your post. This was one we did not get to on our trip to London in May.
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Those are some great selections to share with us! The pompoms are adorable as pigs and the paintings were so interesting to see.
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Thank you for taking me along on your visit. I feel like I could be sitting with Miriam’s mother sipping tea with her – so glad she was the winner! but he weaving is my favorite, it most certainly tells the story…art through a child’s eye, the perfect way to view it.
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how amazing! and I simply love the one of the lady painted on floral fabric!
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I love the winning portrait. The china has a slightly surreal feel to it. Am I seeing this correctly – is there a double image on the bowl? The porcelain white of the china looks different to the tones of the figure in flesh and grey and the cup that she is touching. It feels slightly other worldly and very sensitively painted. I think it’s lovely and it has reminded me that it is far too many years since I visited the National Portrait Gallery. Thank you for sharing your photographs.
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Hi you are right, there is a double image on the bowl and also the angel landing just above, it was beautifully painted, I could have stood and looked at it for ages!
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I would like to read up about this portrait, it seems to me to suggest a divide between worlds, the here and now and memories. I wondered if it’s about someone who has passed away or loss, or another generation, particularly as the figure is looking slightly wistfully out of the picture and has dark shadows behind her? Thanks again for sharing this, it’s got me thinking!
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The info next to the painting says ‘ My mother has a wonderful inner stillness and calm that I really wanted to convey in this work. She is at the centre of the pictorial space and the perspective of the tea crockery leads to a vanishing point contained within her’
It’s called An Angel at my Table.
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