nude affiliation & portraiture
exhibition opened LIVE on Facebook & Instagram
on 7th April 2021 at 7pm GMT
Pepney Gallery is pleased to host an online virtual experience of the latest exhibition entitled nude affiliation & Portraits.
The 15th and 16th centuries were a pivotal time for the nude in Western art. A renewed interested in ancient Greek and Roman art brought the human body to the forefront of artistic innovation. Artists on both sides of the Alps – Perugino, Pollaiuolo and Gossaert among others – were copying from classical models, experimenting with naturalistic approaches, as well as exploring new, non-religious subject matter. At the same time, the nude was transforming Christian art, encouraging modern and dynamic representations of age-old themes, from the story of Adam and Eve to the crucifixion.
This exhibition also focuses on portrait drawings to examine the enduring challenge of and fascination with the depiction of the self, from the perspective of both artist and subject. For thousands of years, portraitists have served the steady demand of men and women who desired to have their likenesses preserved on canvas, on paper, or in marble.
Throughout history, the face has been an enduring, ambivalent subject manipulated by artists to explore a range of human emotion. As early as the 15th century, portrait drawings were commissioned in their own right. Unlike a formal, painted portrait, drawings were easily portable and especially favored by European courts traveling between royal residences.
"Especially before 1900, portraits by definition had to deliver recognizable likenesses of their sitters. On a small and often delicate scale, portrait drawings demonstrate the conventions within which artists had to work, and the solutions they devised for creating successful works of art within those conventions. Portraitists had to consider pose, format, and costume when planning their compositions, and also had to respond to the wishes of their sitters, who often had specific demands about how their portraits should look."
This spectacular exhibition explores these important changes in contemporary terms, a selection of exquisite works. From full-scale paintings to intimate illustrations, jewel-like statuettes to large scale moving digital works, they contrast idealised beauty with the ageing body, and public images with more intimate, private works.
Together, they offer an insight into a visual tradition that became central to European art, which still resonates with artists and audiences today.
Exhibition Officially opens on 7th April 2021 at 7pm GMT, live on Facebook and Instagram simultaneously.
Featured Artists include; Ana Colomer, Bernd Reichert, Ciro di Fiore, Elena Mincu, Elizabeth Rakhilkina, Frank Velasco, Georgina Lowbridge, Grace Peterson Glover, Ivana Babic, Janet Kennedy, Johannes Christopher Gerard, Joyce Camilleri, Judith Mazzucco, Kostis Argyriadis, Krystal Skinner, Leresteux Ala, Lesley O'Neill, Lim Jang Guin, Maria Paramonova, Marjan Morshedzadeh, Mary Anne Zammit, Michelle Rue, Nadja Shkirat, Nata Buachidze, Natalie Oliphant, nessi alexander-barnes, Peter Pirker, Peter ten Lohuis, Robert Atwater, Root Yarden, Rosemary Nagel, Steve Ferris, Spartak Khachanov, Tae Kyung Seo, Tayler Brady, Thelma Pott, Torren Vampyr, Trevor Coopersmith, Viktoria Andreeva, Vilma Leino, Yuval Sasson and Zhanna Zhuckova
