National Portrait Gallery

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.

(1987). Cecilia Beaux: A career as a portraitist. Women's Studies: Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 389-411.

Defining Features Scientific and Medical Portraits 1660-2000. Ludmilla Jordanova, Curator. National Portrait Gallery, London, 14 April to 17 September 2000. Defining Features Scientific and Medical Portraits 1660-2000. Ludmilla Jordanova. Reaktion Books, London, in association with the National Portrait Gallery, London, 2000. Paper, 192 pp. $24.95, £14.95. ISBN 1-86189-059-1. Through this exhibition and its accompanying book, Ludmilla Jordanova provides a concise overview of portraiture and its function within the historical and social world of scientists, doctors, inventors, and their work.