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DISPLAY AT THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON, 1968–1975
Author(s) -
FUNNELL PETER
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
art history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1467-8365
pISSN - 0141-6790
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8365.2007.00565.x
Subject(s) - portrait , period (music) , context (archaeology) , consciousness , phenomenon , the arts , politics , order (exchange) , visual arts , art history , art gallery , cultural phenomenon , history , art , sociology , political science , aesthetics , exhibition , law , humanities , epistemology , archaeology , philosophy , finance , economics
This essay examines the innovative sequence of permanent historical displays created at the National Portrait Gallery under the directorship of Roy Strong in the late 1960s and early 1970s and establishes a series of contexts for them. It looks back to display at the gallery in earlier decades in order to examine how this reflected varying degrees of public engagement. This leads to an exploration of the place of Strong's displays within the cultural politics of the later 1960s, notably their relationship to the policies of Labour Minister the Arts, Jennie Lee. The final context is the development of a popular historical consciousness during the period, a phenomenon in which the visualization of history played a crucial role.