(AGENPARL) – lun 09 gennaio 2023 A NEW BEHIND-THE-SCENES FREE ART EXHIBITION OPENS THIS JANUARY BY THE NATIONAL THEATRE’S FIRST EVER ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
9 January 2023
The Makers: Portraits from Backstage exhibition opens in the National Theatre’s Lyttelton Lounge on 27 January, featuring works by the National Theatre’s first Artist in Residence, Curtis Holder.
Curated by Kate Bryan, broadcaster, writer and Global Director of Art for Soho House, The Makers: Portraits from Backstage is a love letter to the dynamic creative forces that exist behind the scenes of theatre. The Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year for 2020, Holder’s multi-layered pencil portraits capture a range of ‘makers’ at the National Theatre including; wigs hair and make-up assistants, prop and puppet makers, a deputy ladies’ cutter, a costume workroom trainee, stage technicians, and one of the National Theatre’s stage door supervisors. At once dynamic and tender, Holder’s portraits bring the backstage to the foreground and provide an uncanny psychological insight into his subjects.
In 2022 the Director, and NT Associate, Dominic Cooke invited Holder into rehearsals of The Corn Is Green, which Cooke directed, to document the progress of the production through hundreds of rapid gestural drawings capturing the emotion of the actors in the rehearsal room. It was from here that the idea of The Makers exhibition was born. The exhibition highlights all corners of the NT’s vast backstage areas, celebrating the incredible craftspeople, creatives and individuals that make the NT productions possible.
Fascinated by the expertise at work, Holder draws attention to the dedication and passion at play, most especially in his eleven large-format portraits. Distilling months of observation and quick sketches, Holder selected a small number of sitters from across the National Theatre to focus upon. The works demonstrates Holder’s remarkable facility to go beyond the surface and transform the humble pencil into a symphony of feeling.
For two decades, Curtis Holder was a primary school teacher in south London and in 2020 became a full-time artist after winning Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year – judged by the exhibition’s curator, Kate Bryan. This is Holder’s first institutional solo exhibition and will incorporate a number of public events at the National Theatre, including family drawing workshops and a live in-conversation portrait sitting with Deputy Artistic Director Clint Dyer.
The exhibition is free and will open on 27 January 2023 in the Lyttelton Lounge.
A full list of upcoming events is below.
The final portrait: live-draw with Curtis Holder and NT Deputy Artistic Director Clint Dyer
Sat 28 Jan, 10.30am-12.30pm
Lyttelton Lounge, Free, drop-in: no ticket booking required
Join Curtis Holder as he live-draws the final portrait for his exhibition, [The Makers: Portraits from Backstage](https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/your-visit/exhibitions/curtis-holder-exhibition). Curtis will draw NT Deputy Artistic Director Clint Dyer, while Kate Bryan chats to Clint about his work. Bring your sketchbook to draw-along or just listen to the conversation and observe Curtis as he begins the creation of the final exhibition piece.
Some drawing materials and paper will be provided by Derwent for those who wish to participate.
Children’s self-portrait workshop
Sat 11 Feb, 10.30am-12.30pm
Lyttelton Lounge, Free, drop-in: no ticket booking required
Budding young artists can drop-in to our half term self-portrait workshop led by Curtis Holder, a chance to draw yourself through your own lens, rather than the camera lens! No booking necessary – just turn up and stay for as long as it takes you to complete your self-portrait. Materials provided by Derwent, there will be separate tables for under 5s/5+.
This workshop is aimed at children (under 16s), and children must be supervised at all times.
Self-portrait workshop with Curtis Holder and Kate Bryan
Sat 15 April, 2pm-6pm
Lyttelton Lounge, £10 (includes a drink): booking opens end of January
Join us for an afternoon of drawing and conversation with Kate Bryan and Curtis Holder with surprise guest portrait artists. Set against the backdrop of Holder’s exhibition, you’ll be guided through creating a self-portrait in a relaxed session which will include informal conversations with Kate and Curtis, and advice and feedback from various artists throughout.
The ticket price includes a glass of house wine or a soft drink, redeemable during the event. Some materials and paper provided by Derwent; please bring your own if you wish to draw with specific materials.
Supported by Derwent and Cass Art.
For images [click here](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/mwbq5zhjdi8umnxrzl7d1/h?dl=0&rlkey=4yis3k1a206aasvdqwhm13uvx).
About Curtis Holder
Curtis Holder (born Leicester, 1968) is a London based artist working primarily in the medium of graphite and coloured pencils on paper. He studied Graphic Design at Kingston University and completed postgraduate studies in Character Animation at Central Saint Martins, London.
Taking inspiration from intimate conversations with the people he draws, Holder’s large-scale multilayered pencil portraits are dynamically tender, emerging in a wayward series of febrile lines to reveal a sense of his subjects’ form, movement and emotional intent. Preliminary pencil marks remain on the paper as part of his energetic process of capturing fleeting gestures and emotions with sensitivity and raw honesty.
In 2020 Holder won Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year. Impressed by his distinctive visual language, the panel described his work as ‘magical […] courageous and startlingly new’. Garnering further critical acclaim and awards for his work ongoing since winning Sky Arts’ competition, Holder has exhibited widely in the UK and in Paris. His work is held in private and public collections including the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and the Soho House art collection. He is a member of Contemporary British Portrait Painters (CBPP) and an Associate Member of the Society of Graphic Fine Art.
Holder’s solo exhibitions include: ‘Something Unspoken’, 45 Park Lane, London (2021). Recent group exhibitions include: Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, Trinity Buoy Wharf, London (2022); Wells Art Contemporary, Wells Cathedral, Somerset (2022); The Derwent Art Prize, gallery@oxo, London (2022); Portrait Artist of the Year, Compton Verney (2022); Royal Society of Portrait Painters, Mall Galleries, London (2022); Contemporary British Portrait Painters, The Department Store, Brixton (2022), The Pastel Society, Mall Galleries, London (2021 & 2022), The Society of Graphic Fine Art, Mall Galleries, London (2021 & 2022), Figurative Art Now, Mall Galleries, London (2021).
Recent awards include: St Cuthbert’s Mill Award, Wells Art Contemporary (2022); The Anthony J Lester Art Critic Award, The Pastel Society (2022); The Frank Herring & Sons Award, The Pastel Society (2022); Highly Commended Award, Society of Graphic Fine Art (2021); Winner, Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year (2020).
Website: [www.curtisholder.co.uk](http://www.curtisholder.co.uk/)
Instagram: @curtisartist
About Kate Bryan
Kate Bryan is a curator, arts broadcaster and Global Director of Art for Soho House. In June 2019 she published her first book, The Art of Love, and her second, Bright Stars was published in 2021. She has written and presented television programmes for BBC, Sky Arts and Sky Arte Italia and is a judge on the long running programmes Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year and Landscape Artist of The Year. Her current ongoing series is Inside Arts which presents the latest exhibitions across the U.K for Sky Arts. In 2014 she won the Arts category in the Women of the Future Awards and is now a mentor for young artists from under represented backgrounds.
About National Theatre
The National Theatre’s mission is to make world-class theatre, for everyone. The National Theatre creates and shares unforgettable stories with audiences across the UK and around the world. On its own stages, on tour, in schools, on cinema screens and streaming at home, it strives to be accessible, inclusive and sustainable. The National Theatre empowers artists and craftspeople to make world-leading work, investing in talent and developing new productions with a wide range of theatre companies at its New Work Department. Our nation thrives on fresh talent and new ideas, so the National Theatre works with young people and teachers right across the UK through performance, writing and technical programmes to ignite the creativity of the next generation. Together with communities, the National Theatre creates ambitious works of participatory theatre in deep partnerships that unite theatres and local organisations – showing that nothing brings us together like theatre. The National Theatre needs your support to shape a bright, creative future.
For more information, please visit nationaltheatre.org.uk