A new display by Rosalind Nashashibi, the first Artist in Residence of the National Gallery, was announced today. It will be on view from 3 December 2020 to 21 February 2021.
With subjects ranging from Shakespeare to Ingrid Bergman, 2020 National Gallery Artist in Residence: Rosalind Nashashibi: An Overflow of Passion and Sentiment presents four new paintings of varying sizes interspersed among the Gallery’s 17th century Spanish paintings in Room 30. Nashashibi’s artistic intervention responds to the passion and emotional drama in works by Velázquez, Ribera, Murillo and Zurbarán that hang nearby. The display is part of a body of work that Nashashibi, a filmmaker and painter, has produced during her residency, engaging with the Gallery’s collection, research and teams throughout.
Nashashibi is interested in how the 17th century paintings use figures and motifs to communicate their stories; her own works weave together elements from a range of diverse sources – film, literature, art history and personal biography. The new paintings she has made for the display depict Shakespeare’s character Malvolio from Twelfth Night, a sculpture of a dancer by Auguste Rodin and a film still of the actress Ingrid Bergman. Nashashibi has taken inspiration from Diego Velazquez’s painting Philip IV hunting Wild Boar (La Tela Real) and his portraits of King Philip IV that hang in the same room.
Nashashibi’s paintings depict parts of the human figure, animals and objects set within non-specific locations. These fragments then act as outlines or framing devices for other subjects to explore how motifs take on new, ambiguous meanings when placed in different contexts. The four paintings are mounted within traditional frames made specially for the display, a collaboration between the artist and the Gallery’s Framing Department.
The residency award, which is part of the Gallery’s new Modern and Contemporary Programme, is a collaboration with the Contemporary Art Society, and this year partners with The Pier Arts Centre in Stromness, Orkney, which was selected for the exceptional quality of their collections. In a pioneering move to enrich regional collections, a work made during Nashishibi’s residency will be acquired by the Contemporary Art Society for the permanent collection in Orkney.
Rosalind Nashashibi, 2020 National Gallery Artist in Residence, said: “Spending a year getting to know the collection with the input of the knowledgeable and generous team at the National Gallery has been an exciting and empowering experience. Initially I felt overly humbled by the proximity to the old masters, but I now feel how important it is for female artists to be onsite, engaging with them. I’m proud to be here and grateful that the National Gallery invited me to intervene directly in the collection.”
The partnership between the National Gallery and The Pier Arts Centre has allowed Nashashibi to respond to one of the greatest collections of paintings in the Western European tradition, as well as an outstanding collection of 20th century British Modernist art, including works by William Gear, Barbara Hepworth, Margaret Mellis, Margaret Tait and Alfred Wallis.
Dr Gabriele Finaldi, Director of the National Gallery, said: “Rosalind Nashashibi has spent a year as the Gallery’s Artist-in-residence and her new paintings are shown among the Spanish pictures of the 17th century, Velázquez, Ribera, and Zurbarán, in which she sees (in her own words) ‘an overflow of passion and sentiment’. The effect is both striking and intriguing. I am delighted we have established a three-way collaboration with the Contemporary Arts Society and the Pier Arts Centre in Orkney, where Rosalind’s work will be shown in the Spring.”
