This episode focuses on how we commission portraits today, drawing on Tanya’s experience, in her role as Contemporary Curator of the National Portrait Gallery. The commissioning programme at the National Portrait Gallery began in 1980, the year British artist Bryan Organ was commissioned to produce the iconic portrait of the Prince of Wales (later King Charles III) and then, in 1981, a portrait of Diana, Princess of Wales. This episode provides the unprecedented opportunity to hear from Bryan Organ directly about his experience of capturing these images of the British Royal Family to be immortalised for all time in the national portrait collection.

Tanya’s interview with artist Nina Mae Fowler touches on Fowler’s own experiences of being commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery to make a series of drawings of British film directors (2019). Their conversation also reflects on the importance and potential challenges of commissioning programmes such as the National Portrait Gallery’s to make positive changes that will go some way to redressing imbalances in our art collections.

Listen to the episode here:

Podcast Host: Tanya Bentley
Tanya Bentley is Contemporary Curator at the National Portrait Gallery in London. She works with the Senior Curator of Contemporary Collections to look after the Gallery’s large collection of contemporary portraits (2000–now). Tanya researches the collection, makes acquisitions, commissions new portraits and curates exhibitions, temporary displays and gallery rehangs of contemporary portraiture at the NPG. Tanya curated a three-year rotating exhibition (2023-2026) of materials from the Lucian Freud Archive held at the NPG, including Freud’s sketchbooks, displayed in Room 26 as part of the permanent collection.

Bryan Organ is a leading painter of people, whose sitters include singers, scientists and sportsmen, although he is best known for his groundbreaking portraits of royalty. Having graduated from the Royal Academy in 1959, Organ taught at Loughborough College of Art from 1959 to 1966. Since then, he has worked as a full-time artist. At a 1969 solo exhibition at the Redfern Gallery, his work attracted the interest of Princess Margaret, who promptly chose him to paint her portrait. When exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, the piece caused a sensation. Many of his portraits can be found in the National Portrait Gallery, including: Dr Roy Strong, 1971; Lester Piggott, 1973; Harold Macmillan, 1980; HRH The Prince of Wales, 1981; Lady Diana Spencer, 1981; Lord Denning, 1982; Jim Callaghan, 1983; HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, 1983. Other portraits include Sir Michael Tippett, 1966; Mary Quant, 1969; HRH The Princess Margaret, 1970; Elton John, 1973; President Mitterand, 1985; Richard Attenborough (later Lord Attenborough), 1985, 2003; and most recently, Sir David Attenborough, 2016. Bryan Organ is represented by the Redfern Gallery.

Nina Mae Fowler is a British artist whose works have been exhibited internationally, including frequent solo exhibitions in London, Paris, Berlin and Leipzig, and are held in public collections including Oxford University and The National Portrait Gallery, London. Fowler has been shortlisted for numerous prestigious prizes and awards, including the Jerwood Drawing Prize (2015 & 2010), Aesthetica Art Prize (2014), Drawing Now Award (2014), Young Masters Prize (2012) and the BP Portrait Award (2008). Past commissions have included portraits of evolutionary biologist Professor Richard Dawkins and biographer Dame Hermione Lee. In 2024 Fowler’s posthumous portrait of Zimbabwean writer, Dambudzo Marechera, was commissioned by Balliol College Oxford, representing the first portrait of a person of colour to be hung in the main hall since the college was founded over 700 years ago. In 2019, Fowler was awarded a major commission for The National Portrait Gallery. Entitled Luminary Drawings, the series comprises nine portraits of leading British Film Directors – including Sam Mendes, Ken Loach, Nick Park and Sally Potter – which now form part of the museum’s permanent collection. Since her nomination for the BP Portrait Prize in 2008, Fowler’s work has won widespread acclaim. It is featured in numerous collections of international significance and in 2015 a monograph of her work entitled Measuring Elvis was published by Cob Gallery, London. The book features commentaries from an array of cultural luminaries including the curator Sandy Nairne and the playwright Polly Stenham. Her publication Ruined Finery (Cob Gallery 2020) catalogues Fowler’s drawing and sculpture practice from 2015-2020 alongside contributions from writers Alissa Bennett and Dame Marina Warner. Most recently in 2024, Fowler was commissioned to make a series of drawings, site specific to the historic Beaumont Hotel in Maastricht. The series entitled, Sleeping Beauties, will be the subject of a new publication to be launched in February 2025 with a forwarding text by film historian Caroline Cassin. Find out more here.

Artworks discussed in this episode: