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| Simon Schama announces new portrait gallery displays with attack on selfies | Simon Schama announces new portrait gallery displays with attack on selfies |
| (about 7 hours later) | |
| Simon Schama said it was his mother who used to grumble, even before the advent of smartphones, that the young were the “look down” generation. Things are worse now, the historian mused on Wednesday, as he called on the selfie generation to do something dramatic: look at each other. | |
| Schama said society would be a better place if people, perhaps on their daily commute, actually looked at the faces of strangers. | Schama said society would be a better place if people, perhaps on their daily commute, actually looked at the faces of strangers. |
| “Go and travel on the tube and [you’ll see] people are losing that sense of actually eyeballing each other. It is something which is absolutely elemental, it’s our first human act.” | “Go and travel on the tube and [you’ll see] people are losing that sense of actually eyeballing each other. It is something which is absolutely elemental, it’s our first human act.” |
| Schama was speaking at the launch for new portrait displays he will help to create in the autumn at the National Portrait Gallery. At the risk, he admitted, of sounding like a grumpy old man, Schama also expressed his disdain for selfies and his dislike of digital reconstructions of faces. | Schama was speaking at the launch for new portrait displays he will help to create in the autumn at the National Portrait Gallery. At the risk, he admitted, of sounding like a grumpy old man, Schama also expressed his disdain for selfies and his dislike of digital reconstructions of faces. |
| Looking at people was fundamental to humans, he said, important for “deriving protection, sustenance and connection into the human world”. | Looking at people was fundamental to humans, he said, important for “deriving protection, sustenance and connection into the human world”. |
| There was a danger that people were locking themselves into their own social media worlds of “people who are like them”, creating “personalised micro-tribes”. | There was a danger that people were locking themselves into their own social media worlds of “people who are like them”, creating “personalised micro-tribes”. |
| He added: “We ought to be a community in which faces exchange looks, and faces mean more than a Tinder swipe or Facebook. Particularly in this country, the exchange of looks is important because we are nervous of being misconstrued.” | He added: “We ought to be a community in which faces exchange looks, and faces mean more than a Tinder swipe or Facebook. Particularly in this country, the exchange of looks is important because we are nervous of being misconstrued.” |
| Schama said it was William Hogarth who “brilliantly” noted that the one organ we are born with full-size is the human eyeball. “For Hogarth that meant the exchange of looks was the foundation of human interaction and so science has proved.” | Schama said it was William Hogarth who “brilliantly” noted that the one organ we are born with full-size is the human eyeball. “For Hogarth that meant the exchange of looks was the foundation of human interaction and so science has proved.” |
| The NPG displays will see Schama exploring how portraiture reflects and defines British national identity. | The NPG displays will see Schama exploring how portraiture reflects and defines British national identity. |
| Asked about the modern craze for selfies, Schama said they were little more than “quick dumbness” and a long way from being anything approaching art – “unless they are standing there and taking 150 of them before they get to the one that is the real Sue or Tom”. | Asked about the modern craze for selfies, Schama said they were little more than “quick dumbness” and a long way from being anything approaching art – “unless they are standing there and taking 150 of them before they get to the one that is the real Sue or Tom”. |
| He added: “What we love about selfies and phones is that it’s of the moment … but the true object of art is endurance.” | He added: “What we love about selfies and phones is that it’s of the moment … but the true object of art is endurance.” |
| The selfie phenomenon continues unabated. Famous ones have included Barack Obama, David Cameron and the Danish prime minister Helle Thorning Schmidt posing at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service; and Ellen DeGeneres setting a retweet record for the selfie of her and Hollywood stars at the 2014 Oscars. | |
| Walk down a city-centre street and there is a good chance someone will be photographing themselves with a selfie stick – although a backlash has begun, with two major US music festivals, Coachella and Lollapalooza, becoming the latest to ban them. Many art galleries also frown on them, although they are still allowed at the National Portrait Gallery. | |
| There is a big distinction between the selfie and a portrait by an artist, said Schama. “The meteorite shower of images that we contribute to and come to us every single day in every medium, especially social media, is the equivalent of white noise, and great portraits deliver the music.” | There is a big distinction between the selfie and a portrait by an artist, said Schama. “The meteorite shower of images that we contribute to and come to us every single day in every medium, especially social media, is the equivalent of white noise, and great portraits deliver the music.” |
| Working with NPG curators, Schama will create five new displays at the gallery themed around power, love, fame, people and self. They will be dotted around the NPG’s permanent galleries, with around eight to 12 works in each. | Working with NPG curators, Schama will create five new displays at the gallery themed around power, love, fame, people and self. They will be dotted around the NPG’s permanent galleries, with around eight to 12 works in each. |
| It will mean some surprising juxtapositions, Schama said, so, in the fame display, there would be Francis Drake from the 16th century and Amy Winehouse from the 21st century. | It will mean some surprising juxtapositions, Schama said, so, in the fame display, there would be Francis Drake from the 16th century and Amy Winehouse from the 21st century. |
| The NPG displays will coincide with a five-part BBC2 series The Face of Britain and an accompanying book. | The NPG displays will coincide with a five-part BBC2 series The Face of Britain and an accompanying book. |
| Schama said the project stemmed from “an intense but as yet unconsummated obsession with portraits”, which itself was down to his love of Rembrandt. | Schama said the project stemmed from “an intense but as yet unconsummated obsession with portraits”, which itself was down to his love of Rembrandt. |
| It will explore the stories behind some of the most famous portraits, including Yousuf Karsh’s 1941 photograph of Winston Churchill, which came about only after the photographer physically removed the wartime leader’s ever-present cigar, helping to create his defiant, glowering look. | It will explore the stories behind some of the most famous portraits, including Yousuf Karsh’s 1941 photograph of Winston Churchill, which came about only after the photographer physically removed the wartime leader’s ever-present cigar, helping to create his defiant, glowering look. |
| Alongside will be a photo from the same shoot that was not used, for obvious reasons, showing Churchill with a slightly crazed grin. “It is a terrible smile,” said Schama. “This would not have made Hitler frightened.” | Alongside will be a photo from the same shoot that was not used, for obvious reasons, showing Churchill with a slightly crazed grin. “It is a terrible smile,” said Schama. “This would not have made Hitler frightened.” |
| Another portrait in the show will be Sir Thomas Lawrence’s unfinished painting of the slave trade abolitionist William Wilberforce, who at the time would have been wracked with profound and incurable pain caused by a curvature to his spine. | Another portrait in the show will be Sir Thomas Lawrence’s unfinished painting of the slave trade abolitionist William Wilberforce, who at the time would have been wracked with profound and incurable pain caused by a curvature to his spine. |
| That is the reason Wilberforce’s head lolls but, despite it all, his goodness beams out. “You feel you’re in the presence of someone who is interested to hear what you have to say and whose whole personality concentrates itself in an act of humane sweetness,” said Schama. “It is a beautiful painting.” | That is the reason Wilberforce’s head lolls but, despite it all, his goodness beams out. “You feel you’re in the presence of someone who is interested to hear what you have to say and whose whole personality concentrates itself in an act of humane sweetness,” said Schama. “It is a beautiful painting.” |
| Schama was also asked about digital reconstructions in the wake of the recent rebuilding of Richard III’s face based on his skull and he professed himself not an enthusiast. It looks “weirdly like Laurence Olivier” or Mark Rylance, he said. | Schama was also asked about digital reconstructions in the wake of the recent rebuilding of Richard III’s face based on his skull and he professed himself not an enthusiast. It looks “weirdly like Laurence Olivier” or Mark Rylance, he said. |
| “I hate it, since you ask. It is very mechanistic and reductionist … and it doesn’t look like a living human being, it just looks like something that has been computer-designed.” | “I hate it, since you ask. It is very mechanistic and reductionist … and it doesn’t look like a living human being, it just looks like something that has been computer-designed.” |
| The autumn displays are a big deal for the gallery, with nothing quite on this scale having been attempted before, said the NPG’s chief curator, Tarnya Cooper. “It is providing us with an extraordinarily exciting opportunity to look at our collections through a different lens – a thematic lens.” | The autumn displays are a big deal for the gallery, with nothing quite on this scale having been attempted before, said the NPG’s chief curator, Tarnya Cooper. “It is providing us with an extraordinarily exciting opportunity to look at our collections through a different lens – a thematic lens.” |
| • Simon Schama’s The Face of Britain will be at the National Portrait Gallery, 16 September-4 January 2016. | • Simon Schama’s The Face of Britain will be at the National Portrait Gallery, 16 September-4 January 2016. |