The Bottom Line
If you’re interested in portraiture, this book is worth buying even if you couldn’t make the exhibition. If you did see the show, it provides an invaluable reminder of the paintings.
Pros
- Contains all the paintings in the 2002 exhibition
- A great souvenir of the exhibition
- Index lists all artists
Cons
- Pocket-format limits size of reproductions
Description
- Small format paperback, 80 pages
- ISBN 1-85514-505-7, Published by the National Portrait Gallery, London, www.npg.org.uk
- Full colour reproductions of paintings, about post-card size
- Introductory essay by the artist, critic, and former Award judge William Packer on portraiture.
Guide Review - BP Portrait Award 2002
The National Portrait Gallery in London holds an annual portrait award. For the first time in 2002 a book was produced containing all the paintings in the exhibition. If you’re interested in portraiture, it’s worth buying even if you couldn’t make the exhibition because it shows you what top portrait painters are up to. If you did see the show, it provides an invaluable reminder of the paintings once you’re back home. It’s a pocket-sized book, so some of the paintings are quite small, but the print quality is very good, so the paintings have reproduced very well.
