People’s Portraits – an extraordinary collection of portraits of ordinary Britons – celebrates its tenth anniversary in May when best-selling author P.D. James unveils three stunning additions to the collection: a Cornish fishmonger, a dinner lady from Lewisham, South London and a Manchester charity worker.
People’s Portraits – an extraordinary collection of portraits of ordinary Britons – celebrates its tenth anniversary in May when best-selling author P.D. James unveils three stunning additions to the collection: a Cornish fishmonger, a dinner lady from Lewisham, South London and a Manchester charity worker.
To mark the occasion, 12 of the portraits – including a hairdresser, a park keeper and Brazilian dancer – will be on show at London’s Mall Galleries as part of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters’ annual exhibition in May.
One of the new additions to the collection is a portrait of Marc Crank, Chief Executive of Henshaws North West. Painted by Alastair Adams, the artist says: “As well as managing a charity that supports blind and partially sighted people, Marc regularly speaks about his experience of living with a facial disfigurement.”
ֱ̽others are ‘Fishsale’ by Simon Davis, a portrait of Elaine Lorys, a fishmonger who works in Newlyn, Cornwall and ‘Joy’ by Robin-Lee Hall.
Joy has worked as a cleaner and dinner lady at several schools in Lewisham, south London. Hall says of Joy: “She’s incredibly down to earth, takes things as they come, likes cakes and never complains. She has got up at 5am for work every weekday for 30 years.”
People’s Portraits originated in a millennium exhibition mounted by the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and is now on long-term loan to Girton College, ֱ̽ of Cambridge.
ֱ̽Mistress of Girton College, Professor Susan J. Smith, says: “ ֱ̽portraits remind us of the richness of everyday life, of what being human is all about. They are full of emotional energy; testimony to the poignancy, dignity and industry of their varied sitters.”
“We love having the Portraits at Girton College. They are on permanent display and open to the public: a reminder that we are not an ivory tower, that breadth is as important as depth in higher education, and that it makes sense to celebrate the crucial role of art - indeed all the arts - in the lives of young people today.”
Alastair Adams, President of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, says: “ ֱ̽paintings, all donations from members of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, offer an insight in to contemporary society by illustrating the many stories that people have to tell, and lives that are led, but that would not normally be the subject matter of a commissioned portrait.”
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