WORCESTER, MASS.- The Worcester Art Museum opened Love Stories from the National Portrait Gallery, London, an exploration of the role of love in some of the greatest masterpieces of Western art. For over a year and a half, the COVID-19 pandemic has compelled people around the globe to be physically separated from loved ones. In tragic cases they have experienced loss and suffering. It is thus a timely moment to reflect on how portraits sustain us during long periods apart and preserve the memory of those no longer with us. As the first venue in an international tour organized while the National Portrait Gallery is closed for a major redevelopment, Love Stories at WAM is a rare opportunity for Americans to experience locally some of the National Portrait Gallery’s treasures normally only seen in London. The exhibition remains on view through March 13, 2022.
With around 100 masterpieces from the National Portrait Gallery, London—the most extensive portraiture collection in the world—Love Stories traces the role of portraiture on the changing face of love from sixteenth-century Renaissance-era painting to contemporary photography. Some of the world’s most famous passionate affairs, long-lasting companionships, and, sadly, also heartbreaks are captured in the love stories of couples including, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning, and Emma Hamilton and Lord Nelson, among others. Whether as love tokens, historical records, or enduring images that outlast human mortality, the works in Love Stories serve as visual records of spring flings and slow burns. Moreover, they record the diverse expressions of human affection and attachment. Through these paintings, sculptures, photographs, and drawings—created over a span of five hundred years—we can see that love and the relationships it forges take many different forms.
“Portraits are a visual record of a relationship, celebrating key moments like engagements and weddings, serving as memorials to the deceased, or expressing adoration or disdain for an absent or scorned lover,” said Matthias Waschek, the Jean and Myles McDonough Director of the Worcester Art Museum. “But while much has been written or sung about love, Love Stories is an opportunity to dive into this complex history through the visual arts, drawing on some of the most remarkable portraits that reflect this love back to the viewer, decades or even centuries later. We are excited to be collaborating with the National Portrait Gallery, London, to bring these great works of art, and their stories, to American audiences.”
The exhibition is organized in five sections. In the first section, “The Artist and The Muse,” the exhibition explores both the role of artist-and-muse as it was traditionally conceived, while also presenting the ways in which many artists have upset these conventions by playing with societal norms in terms of age, gender, and race, among other elements. For example, the relationship between George Romney (1734-1802) and Emma Hamilton (1765-1815) would appear to exemplify the traditional artist-muse pairing, represented in the show with Romney’s 1784 self-portrait and a painting of Hamilton made in approximately 1785. Hamilton captured Romney’s imagination, and what initially began as a plan for commercial print-making using her image became a long-term artistic connection: over the following nine years, Romney depicted her more than 100 times, often as herself but also performing various roles, from naïve country girl to classical figures such as Medea, Circe or a Bacchante. Romney’s portraits enhanced the celebrity of both artist and sitter, and Hamilton can be viewed as an active performer and collaborator, not merely a passive muse.
“Love and Creativity” brings forward classic pairings, couples who were famous for their own works of art, and for their mutual inspiration as much as their affections. One such example is Mary Beale’s painting of her husband, Charles Beale the Elder (c. 1660) and her subsequent self-portrait (c. 1666). Beale was among a tiny number of successful and recognized female painters during this period; her adoring husband gave up his career to manage her studio. Notebooks from their family and work life reveal the extent to which business and love went hand in hand for the Beales: along with receipts and the preparations of art materials, Charles also described Mary as my ‘Dearest & Most Indefatigable Heart’. In her self-portrait, she rests her hand on a canvas showing unfinished portraits of the couple’s two sons.
Another infamous creative couple included in this section is Mary Wollstonecraft—author of the science fiction masterpiece Frankenstein—and the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Their turbulent, eight year relationship produced some of the most enduring and powerful works in English Literature, and ended tragically when Shelley drowned in 1822. They are shown here with Amelia Curran’s 1819 painting of Shelley and Richard Rothwell’s undated painting of Wollstonecraft.
In the third section, “Portraying Partnership,” the exhibition takes a deep dive into the role of portraiture in the shared lives and marriages of many couples, whether on their wedding day or in their later years. With the increased accessibility of photography—but long before camera phones and Instagram—artists could create images that were shared around the world, letting audiences feel like participants in the life events of celebrities. Photographs such as The wedding of Nellie Adkins and Ras Prince Monolulu (Peter Carl MacKay) (1931) taken by George Woodbine for the newspaper the Daily Herald, or The wedding of Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach (1981) photographed by Terry O’Neill, capture the happiness of these couples in the moment—and the images have become as much a part of history as the events themselves.
The fourth section is “The Trials of Love,” cataloging some of the most famous—and infamous—couples, people who found love amidst constrained circumstances, or whose love endured the deepest tragedy. The world may have been scandalized when King Edward VIII said he intended to marry American divorcée Wallis Simpson, but they were even more surprised when he abdicated the throne in order to do so in 1937. Yet Dorothy Wilding’s 1943 photograph Wallis, Duchess of Windsor; Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (King Edward VIII) shows a couple smiling and quite clearly in love.
Decades later there was a different, if equally infamous, love affair: copious public reports of friction within The Beatles as a result of the increasingly consistent presence of Yoko Ono. Tom Blau’s three photographs from 1969 of Ono and John Lennon preparing to kiss, staring into each other’s eyes, first with eyes open and then with eyes closed, give an alternative perspective: the depth of their love is evident to any viewer. These works demonstrate precisely the ways in which love can be challenging or constantly challenged by the surrounding society.
The final section, all photography, delivers notable images of famous couples. “Love and the Lens,” includes photographs such as Richard Burton and Dame Elizabeth Taylor (1971) by Terry O’Neill, Mick Jagger and Bianca Jagger (1971) by Patrick Lichfield, Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall (1981) by Norman Parkinson, and Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales (1981) by Patrick Lichfield, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex; Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and family (2018) by Alexi Lubomirski.
Dr Nicholas Cullinan, Director, National Portrait Gallery, London, said: “We’re very excited to be sharing some of the Gallery’s most cherished portraits with Worcester Art Museum while the building in London is temporarily closed for our Inspiring People redevelopment. Love Stories comprises some of the best portraits in our Collection dating from the sixteenth century to the present day and explores relatable themes, from romantic love, obsession and infatuation to tragedy and loss. At the heart of this exhibition are a series of real-life love stories that are universal and chronicle human experience. After such an unprecedented period of global change, we hope international audiences can come together in person and engage with this visual exploration of love in all its forms.”
