Will Theresa May agree to being painted for the National Portrait Gallery? For many decades the gallery, which last Monday had its BP Portrait award interrupted by protesters fuming at the oil firm’s sponsorship, would collect paintings of every premier back to the 19th century. Forty years ago it set up a commissioning programme for PMs to sit for an official portrait, kicking off with Margaret Thatcher, who was painted by Rodrigo Moynihan in 1983-85, before John Wonnacott did John Major in 1997. However, it then took some arm-twisting to get the not normally shy Tony Blair, but not before he had departed Downing Street.
Now, nearly a decade since Gordon Brown was turfed out of No 10, the Scot is still playing hardball, despite numerous requests from the gallery. They have also been chasing David Cameron since he quit in 2016, but he has probably been too busy twiddling his thumbs in his Cotswolds shepherd’s hut. I wonder if the latter two are wary, as their premierships were not exactly successful. Unlikely, then, that May, whose term ended in tears, can be persuaded?
Commissioning portraits of PMs is, I think, a decent tradition – they can be very revealing of both subject and artist.
A newish art prize, just for women, has thrown up a rum choice among its shortlist. I’m all in favour of the Freelands award, which dishes out a handsome £100,000, split between a gallery with a reputation for supporting women and an artist herself. Good, too, that the award must be for an institution outside London.
This year’s six finalists include noted galleries such as the MAC in Belfast, MK in Milton Keynes and the Hepworth Wakefield. Also shortlisted is Colchester’s Firstsite, nicknamed the Golden Banana (or the Golden Turd because of its colour and bendy shape. Opened years late in 2011 and way over budget, Firstsite then fell foul of its key financial backer, the Arts Council, because of low visitor numbers and shambolic programming. Four years ago, more people were counted visiting its loos than its art. When I was there recently, I spotted more skateboarders in the concrete surrounds than folk entering the gallery. Perhaps, instead, Firstsite should be awarded a prize for community services.
Rightly chided earlier this year by a letter from 200 writers for a 2019 programme that featured six new plays but none by a woman, the National Theatre has made amends. On Thursday it announced new works for its forthcoming season by Lucy Kirkwood, best known for Chimerica, Moira Buffini, Kate Tempest, Annie Baker and Francesca Martinez. Plus April De Angelis’s adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend, seen at the Rose, Kingston, in 2017, will be staged in the Olivier.
To his credit, Rufus Norris, the NT’s artistic director, is now aiming for a 50:50 male/female writing balance. One wonders if the spat was written up in the diary that he admits to keeping. He was coy about whether it will be published after he leaves the NT.
