Wayne Thiebaud: American Still Life - a landmark exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery

An exhibition of artwork by Wayne Thiebaud (1920-2021) is coming to the Courtauld Gallery this October. 

I've just booked my ticket to the Wayne Thiebaud - American Still Life Exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery - opening 10th October to 18th January 2025. 

I'm a big fan of Wayne Thiebaud - not least because I used to love drawing food, foodstuff  and meals. I never quite graduated to cakes but I do love looking at the display in the windows of great cake shops! 

This is the blog post I wrote when he died in 2021 - An appreciation of Wayne Thiebaud (1920 - 2021). I'll be writing more about him nearer the time of thre exhibition.

Wayne Thiebaud - American Still Life Exhibition

In summary he is one of the greatest and most original American artists of the 20th century. He is famous for being focused in particular on post-war modern American subjects - typically as still life objects. 

Cakes by Wayne Thiebaud (1920-1021)

This exhibition at The Courtauld Gallery will be the first ever museum show of his work in the UK. It will present Thiebaud’s remarkable, vibrant and lushly painted still-lifes of quintessentially post-war American subjects, from diner food and deli counters to gumball dispensers and pinball machines. These are the paintings with which Thiebaud made his name in the USA in the early 1960s.

The exhibition will feature rarely lent works from major museum collections in the USA as well as the Wayne Thiebaud Foundation.

These are my two books about Wayne Thiebaud - which I periodically salivate over.

For me he's an artist who is a luscious realist of the everyday - until you get up close and realise his artwork is also abstracted from reality and the artist relishes the media he used. More Wayne Thibaud: "This for you is my world to look at" (Making A Mark September 2019)

Thiebaud - delicious metropolis, the desserts and urban scenes of Wayne Thiebaud

Wayne Thiebaud 100 
the book produced to celebrate the 100th birthday of
"one of America's most loved and respected artists"

A second exhibition Wayne Thiebaud: Delights, will focus on the artists's eponymous 1965 portfolio of prints to appreciate Thiebaud as a draughtsman and printmaker.

In 1964, Wayne Thiebaud created a portfolio of 17 prints, entitled Delights, in which he returned to the favoured still-life motifs found in his paintings and which made his name in the early 1960s: ice cream cones, rows of cakes, gumball machines and many of the other objects of everyday American life. However, these subjects look very different rendered in print, on a small scale and in black and white. As Thiebaud told his publisher, ‘When you change something, you change everything.’ Thiebaud was keen to experiment with different techniques and media, and Delights was his first foray into printmaking, a technique he returned to throughout his long career.

Previous blog posts

• An appreciation of Wayne Thiebaud (1920 - 2021)
• More Wayne Thibaud: "This for you is my world to look at"
• Wayne Thiebaud working on etchings (video)

Portrait Award 2025 (Part 1) What's changed and what's not

This is my review of the HSFK Portrait Award 2025 Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery - sponsored by Herbert Smith Freehill Kramer - and its Awards Ceremony.

The view as you enter The Portrait Award Exhibition

It covers:

• how you can see the Portrait Award Exhibition - in person or online
• what's changed, what's not and what needs to!
• what I like - and what I'm less enthusiastic about

At the end are notes about

• Why I write about the Portrait Award - a short note about my personal history with this exhibition 
• followed by all the blog posts I've written about it in the last 18 years - since 2007! ( I haven't counted - but it's a lot!)

My next two posts are:

• Portrait Award 2025 (Part 2): Artists with their Paintings - which I know is much appreciated (hopefully on Sunday) and    
• Portrait Award 2025 (Part 3): "My 10 best portrait paintings in the 2025 exhibition - after I've been back to the exhibition and seen it again (probably next week) and studied the paintings in more depth. If I have time I'll also be adding in more analysis as I've done in the past around:

• size, format and colour
• type of model
• type of portrait

How to see the Portrait Award Exhibition

The Portrait Award Exhibition can be seen 

• in Gallery 2 (the very far end of the second floor)
• at the National Portrait Gallery in London
• from 10th July (today) until 12th October 2025.

The exhibition then travels to 

• the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle.
• from 28 March – 5 September 2026

You can also see it online in the Visitor's Choice Section where you can also vote for your favourite portrait.

How the numbers have changed

First of all - an important observation which may have escaped some people.

In the last 10 years, the number of entries and artists and portraits hung seem to keep on reducing.

• the number of entries have halved 
• the number of countries sending entries has reduced by a third.
• the number of artists selected have reduced from 55 to 46

Bottom line: The number of portraits now hung is a lot less than it used to be. 

Everytime the NPG reduces the numbers hung I'm very much of the view that this makes it less likely that those entering will get hung - and at some point they start asking "what's the point?". 

Around 50-55 was the norm for a very long time. This year it is just 46 paintings.  

Is it a less prestigious competition and exhibition? What's the rationale for cutting numbers?

Compare how the numbers have dropped

• 2025: Those hung this year were selected from 1,314 entries from 61 countries.

This compares to (reaching for my past blog posts and annual analysis)

• 2012: 2,187 entries received from artists in 74 different countries
• 2013: 1,969 entries from 77 different countries
• 2015: 2,748 entries from artists in 92 countries

I suggest somebody has a very long hard think about the target number of artworks to be hung if they want to retain the prestige of this competition.

Review of the Exhibition

I'm finding as I get older that the effort invested in 2 x 2 hours on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning - plus associated social media posting (eg write a blog post between getting up at 6am on Wednesday and shooting out the door to get to the press preview by 10am) leaves me a lot more tired now that I'm 70 than it did when I was in my 50s. 

The process is identical - get round as many of the 40+ artists present, take their photos, hear their story and learn about their painting - but the effort and concentration involved tends to leave me feeling slightly "wired" - as if I'd had rather a lot of coffees! Then on the third day, I end up feeling tired - which is today!

Which makes it quite interesting trying to work out what the story is re this exhibition - beyond the story of the numbers.

Moira Cameron wins the £35K HSF Kramer Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery

Moira Cameron (right) - Winner of the HSF Kramer Portrait Award
by Victoria Siddall, the new President of the National Portrait Gallery.

Four awards with a value of £66,000 were announced last night at the Awards Ceremony for the HSF Kramer Portrait Award 2025 at the National Gallery. 

The prize winners were as follows:

• First Prize £35,000: Moira Cameron for A Life Lived (Oil on canvas 2200 x 200mm)
• Second Prize £12,000: Tim Benson PPROI for Cliff, Outreach Worker (Oil on canvas, 1520 x 1220mm)
• Third Prize £10,000: Martyn Harris for Memories (Oil on board 400mm x 400mm)
• Young Artist Award £9,000: Michelle Liu for Kofi (Oil on canvas, 500 x 400mm)

Tim Benson receiving his award from Victoria Siddall

Below are the profiles of the artists and the portraits which won the prizes Words about the painting and what the Judges thought are from the press release - hence quotes.

First Prize Winner (£35,000) Moira Cameron

The artists behind the Contemporary British Portrait Painters Exhibition 2025

These are all the lovely Portrait Artists of the Contemporary British Portrait Painters group who participated in their Annual Exhibition at Downstairs at The Department Store, in Brixton - which finished last Saturday.

The Artists of the CBPP at the 2025 Exhibition

Last Friday evening, I was supposed to be at The Vernissage (the end of exhibition drinks - what a very civilised idea!). Unfortunately, I'd expired in the heat of Chelsea and specifically of the Saatchi Gallery during the afternoon and needed to go home to the top speed on my fan and litres of non-alcoholic water! 

However, the group did one thing I'd asked if they could do - which was to take a photo of all the artists!

They did one last year - and below is my pic of them last year - and I thought it would be great if they could do it again.

The artists in the 2024 Exhibition by The CBPP

This is a group who include a lot of winners of major awards for Portraiture - including:

• Antony Williams (back row in blue) the 2024 winner of the HSF Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery.
• the BP Portrait Award winners in 2018 and 2013: Miriam Escofet (just in front of Antony) and Suzanne du Toit (blonde hair to Antony's right)
• Tim Benson who is one of the shortlisted artists who will be winning one of the prizes TONIGHT at the Portrait Awards Ceremony at the Nationa.l Portrait Gallery this evening - and I'll be there! I think I can spot Tim just to the right (as we look at it) of Curtis Holder.
• Frances Bell (inbetween Suzanne and Miriam) who won the top award at the Portrait Society of America this year AND the People's Choice Award
• Four PAOTY winners:
• Wendy Barratt (Series 10 - 2024), 
• Curtis Holder (Series 7 - Autumn 2020),  
• Duncan Shoosmith (Series 5 - 2019) and
•   Samira Addo (Series 4 - 2018)
• plus others who have won other notable prizes and awards.

How to join a top notch group of portrait painters?

So - there is a ceiling of 100 portrait painters in this group so scope for more to join - but you need to be a very committed PROFESSIONAL portrait artist in order to accepted. 

But if that's you - why not try an application? https://www.thecbpp.org/membership
However do READ CAREFULLY what it says!

If you are a professional artist and would like to apply to be considered for membership of the CBPP, please read the following information and guidelines. 

Our selection group meets twice a year (Spring and Autumn) to consider applications. We receive a large volume of applications and are therefore unable to offer feedback on applications. If unsuccessful, you can reapply after a minimum of twelve months.

Review: Contemporary British Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2025

Contemporary British Portrait Painters have grown since they were founded in 2018 - and now have an annual exhibition.  This is a review of this year's exhibition - but also the way in which members of the group work together which impresses me so much.

Don't forget - the exhibition continues until 5pm tomorrow 5th July!

the hang was beautifully balanced - in terms of colour, subjects and size

First, apologies for the late review. I've been preoccupied with various personal matters this week, which had to take priority. 

However I did manage to get my pics of the exhibition onto Facebook very fast - You can see my photographs in this Facebook Album Contemporary British Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2025 (39 items ).  I also recommended people visit the exhibition which continues

• downstairs at The Department Store, 248 Ferndale Road, Brixton SW9 8FR.
• until 5pm on Saturday 5th July

Review of the Group

This is one of the friendliest and most co-operative art societies I know - which gives the exhibition and its Private View a really positive and relaxed atmosphere. It's always a pleasure to be there on PV night.

While there are a few particularly key people organising behind the scenes - notably the Chair Sarah Jane Moon and the Exhibition Curator Lucy Stopford, there are a range of people playing key support roles within what is very much a team. What's more they've got all the angles covered - which is more than I can say for some!

The Team

         Left to right: Wendy Barratt, Catalogue; Sarah Jane Moon, Chair; Peter Davis, Graphics; Lucy Stopford, Exhibition Lead; Liesel Thomas; Peter James Field, Communications Lead ; Jonathan Chan, social media; Martyn Burdon, Development Officer; 

Clive Bryant, Secretary & Treasurer.

The CBPP are 

• intentionally run as a non-profit collective (you are expected to contribute) and 
• take no commission from the sales by individual artists at their exhibitions.  
• everybody has to apply - there are no invitations.

I think this is maybe because the age profile is maybe younger than some societies. Which is not to say people are inexperienced. Far from it. Their members include 

• a number of BP / HSF Portrait Award winners 
• plus regular exhibitors who haven't won just yet and/or have painted portrait commissions for the National Portrait Gallery
• a number of PAOTY competition winners. 
• As well as people who have won top prizes for portraiture internationally.

A very large portrait of a Philippine fisherman by Tim Benson
who is one of this year's HSF Portrait Award winners
(and we found out which one next week!)

Frances Bell with her self portrait "Yellow Trainers"
which won the Draper Grand Prize and People's Choice 
at the Portrait Society of America's "The Art of the Portrait Conference" 
(see other International Portrait Prize winners)

It's about championing one another and being supportive.

Together we aim to amplify a broader range of voices and practices Catalogue

What's really very positive and inclusive is that 

• classically trained people are embraced 
• just as much as those who have developed their own styles and techniques. 

There's none of that rather sniffy "trained in Florence - not what we're looking for" which we get with PAOTY.

It's also very inclusive in terms of the background and life choices of its members. In other words it's very much NOT an an anglo saxon white society where people mainly paint commissions for institutions. 

Which is not to say they don't. Just that you won't see them in the CBPP exhibition.

Indeed I'd go so far as to say they are more focused as to who and what they are looking for in terms of new members than some other societies. 

They're not really after people who can paint a portrait per se so much as artists who need to create portraits on a regular basis in order to express themselves and how they view the world - and develop their practice.  Their members include: