The National Portrait Gallery’s annual award has long since lost its vigour — but its sponsor’s troubles present the opportunity for it to rediscover its original purpose... more
I’m not telling you how to raise your child …” These words, as every new parent knows, are one of the great lies of all time; serving as the unvarying preface to every well-meaning, passive-aggressive piece of advice you will ever receive... more
Had Wyndham Lewis left writing alone and concentrated on his art, he could have become one of the most influential artists this country has ever produced.... more
In an attempt to refresh the BP Portrait Award, the National Portrait Gallery has relaxed its rules – with no discernible improvement in quality for its efforts.... more
Evening Standard art critic Brian Sewell has questioned the point of the National Portrait Gallery. Here its director Sandy Nairne fights back.... more
Just as Women’s Studies are discontinued as a discipline in British universities the National Portrait Gallery reminds us of the intellectual aspirations of ladies of an earlier age.
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Once a forum for energetic and inspired young painters, the BP Portrait Award now fosters dull incompetence and a dependency on the camera, says Brian Sewell.... more
The V&A has commissioned a series of new works to mark the bicentenary of the abolition of slavery in Britain. Yet it ignores the politician who finally made Parliament see sense.... more
There's a second chance to see reggae musical The Harder They Come, there'll be an interactive performance of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake in Trafalgar Square and Hot Fuzztival gets underway.... more
Don McCullin, a rakish, atheist war photographer, says he is just the person to take the pictures of religious leaders going on show at the National Portrait Gallery.... more
A drawing by David Hockney of Celia Birtwell, wife of late fashion designer Ossie Clark, is to be shown in public for the first time as part of the National Portrait Gallery's new exhibition.... more
Sound check: German industrial metal band Rammstein literally play with fire in their live performances - and now they are about to unleash their singeing spectacle on London. Watch out for your eyebrows
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