Words: Violet
The National Portrait Gallery plays host to some of the most famous faces in the world. Winston Churchill is there, Margaret Thatcher, T. S. Eliot and Henry VIII. Liz Taylor graces its walls, Elizabeth I looks haughtily down from them and Jacob Epstein’s sculptures adorn the galleries. And last night some of the most famous faces of today swarmed there for the launch of Jonathan Yeo‘s exhibition of portraits. The self-taught painter is still only in his early 40s but has already achieved incredible success – apparently it’s his charm that manages to lure the likes of Sienna Miller, Damien Hirst and Kevin Spacey to sit for him. Well, that and his talent – now that Lucian Freud is gone, Yeo is the foremost portrait painter working today.
Sitters for Yeo, including Helena Bonham-Carter and Grayson Perry, were among the guests who came to gawp at the pictures and sip Patrón Tequila. Comedians Alexander Armstrong, Jimmy Carr and Ben Miller were there to keep everyone amused, while Lord and Lady Lloyd-Webber added some showbiz sparkle. George Osborne represented the polticos (Yeo has painted Tony Blair, William Hague, George Bush – famously making a collage from porn – and Charles Kennedy, among others) while media demi-gods Elizabeth Murdoch and Matthew Freud were also there. Tamara Beckwith and Alex James amped up the glamour factor, and Ivor Braka was there as a heavyweight collector. And in the middle of it all was Yeo himself, laughing, chatting – and observing. Because that’s what real artists do.
Jonathan Yeo portraits is on at The National Portrait Gallery until 5th January. For more information visit npg.org.uk
Photos by Jorge Herrara
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