National Portrait Museum Announces Reopens With Major Exhibitions

It feels like an eternity since the National Portrait Gallery closed its doors temporarily for 'essential building works'.  

However, it has in fact only been closed for 2.5 years, which is still long enough. 

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Today the gallery announced that it will reopen on Thursday, June 23 with a slew of excellent exhibitions featuring photography, painting and drawing.  

Mask (Rosemary Chance) by Yevonde, 1938 (Image: National Portrait Gallery)

Yevonde: Life and Colour (June 22-October 15) looks at the pioneering work of Yevonde, who championed colour photography in the 1930s.  

At a time of growing independence for women, Yevonde developed new techniques, experimenting with solarization and colour processing in her work.  

The exhibition includes prints, as well as the discoveries made when digitising Yevonde's archive.  

Also opening the National Portrait Gallery, Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm (June 28- October 1) shares for the first time an archive of never-seen photographs taken by the Beatles band member himself.  

Self Portrait, 22nd November 2021 by David Hockney (Image: Jonathan Wilkinson)

On his own camera, McCarney captures the time between December 1963 and February 1963, the period which saw The Beatles catapult into international stardom to become a world-wide cultural phenomenon, and throws personal, insider slant on Beatlemania.  

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David Hockney: Drawing from Life (November 2 - January 21) is the gallery's final exhibition for the year, and explores six decades of work, through his portraits of five subjects which include his mum and himself.  

Tickets for exhibitions are on sale now, from £15.  

Address: St Martin’s Place​ WC2H 0HE​

Website: npg.org.uk