National Portrait Gallery, London

Yesterday--after quite a few tiring transport delays, and still working on almost no sleep...ugh--I made it to the National Portrait Gallery. I have to say that finally standing in front of my first "live" Sargent portrait was a pretty great feeling! And even though there was glass covering the canvases, still you were allowed to get right up close to them, so that was cool. I'd long been curious about seeing in person the fact of lights being thicker and darks thinner, and Sargent's painterly strokes. In person the colors are so much more rich, especially the subtle colors, the grays and neutral browns and such.

The piece that stays in my mind most, though, from yesterday's visit, was a contemporary 9-canvas monochrome work (approx. 20" x 20" each?) called Akram Khan, by artist Darvish Fakhr. Sadly, I'd never heard of this artist. Glad I know of his work now! Sooo beautifully painted, I soaked in as much as I could and hated to leave it (yeah, uh, could I just borrow those to put on my living room wall at home?...thanks).

Also wonderful was the fact that the BP2009 exhibition (British annual portrait prize: awarded by Britain, but chosen from entries submitted from anywhere, by anyone, apparently) was on. (Did I mention that admission to Tate Britain, Tate Modern, National Portrait Gallery, and National Gallery is free?) I can't imagine a more wonderful thing to see than one of these BP shows, as an artist interested in contemporary portraiture.

Whew. After all those hours on my feet, I had to come back to the hotel and put my tootsies up.