Exclusive Tours: NPG Portrait Award 2025 & Exploring Identity exhibitions - Laing Art Gallery
Amy Pargeter, Exhibition Officer at the Laing, will give an exclusive tour of the new temporary exhibitions; the National Portrait Gallerys celebrated painting competition, the Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2025, alongside Exploring Identity, a portraiture exhibition curated from North East Museums art collections that provides historical context to the Portrait Award.
The Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2025 features 46 portraits selected for display by a panel of judges and explores themes of cultural heritage, companionship, sexuality, illness, conflict, and grief. Highlights from the exhibition include a striking self-portrait by artist Moira Cameron, who has been named the winner, Michelle Lius portrait, Kofi, winner of the Young Artist Award, and the second and third prize winners are Cliff, Outreach Worker by Tim Benson and Memories by Martyn Harris.
Exploring Identity brings together some of the finest portraits from the Laing, Shipley, and Hatton Gallery collections. Highlights from the collections include works by Francis Bacon, Christina Robertson, Frederic Leighton, John Lavery, Harold Knight, and Arthur Hughes. Also represented are some of the North Easts most famous artists including Norman Cornish, Robert Jobling, and Harry Thubron. In this exhibition, portraits are so much more than just a physical likeness of a personthey are an embodiment of who that person is, their personal experiences, and their hopes for the future.
This tour will last for around 45 minutes, with a chance to ask questions, and view the artworks in more detail at the end.
The Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2025 features 46 portraits selected for display by a panel of judges and explores themes of cultural heritage, companionship, sexuality, illness, conflict, and grief. Highlights from the exhibition include a striking self-portrait by artist Moira Cameron, who has been named the winner, Michelle Lius portrait, Kofi, winner of the Young Artist Award, and the second and third prize winners are Cliff, Outreach Worker by Tim Benson and Memories by Martyn Harris.
Exploring Identity brings together some of the finest portraits from the Laing, Shipley, and Hatton Gallery collections. Highlights from the collections include works by Francis Bacon, Christina Robertson, Frederic Leighton, John Lavery, Harold Knight, and Arthur Hughes. Also represented are some of the North Easts most famous artists including Norman Cornish, Robert Jobling, and Harry Thubron. In this exhibition, portraits are so much more than just a physical likeness of a personthey are an embodiment of who that person is, their personal experiences, and their hopes for the future.
This tour will last for around 45 minutes, with a chance to ask questions, and view the artworks in more detail at the end.
