Portraits and the Human Figure

Drawn from Sheffield’s collections, this recently refreshed display explores artists’ enduring fascination with depicting people.

Portraits are complex. They have power and go far beyond a record of someone’s physical appearance – they offer insights into a sitter’s identity and status, as well as revealing the power dynamic between sitter and artist. They can flatter their subject, be grounded in the reality of the lives of the people they show, or be reminders of our own mortality. The advent of photography further changed the nature of portraiture – not only through its speed and accuracy, but in being a cheaper medium, allowing greater representation of the working classes and everyday society. 

The display brings together over 80 paintings, photographs and works on paper to explore the breadth of portraiture and images of the figure. See work by Edward Burne-Jones, Albrecht Dürer, Lucian Freud, Goya, David Hockney, Claudette Johnson, Käthe Kollwitz, Thomas Lawrence, Otis Mensah, Marc Quinn, Lesley Sanderson, Stanley Spencer and more.

Suggested donation £5 – Please donate if you're able and help keep your museums open and available for everyone to enjoy.

This display is part of a five-year programme of change and redisplay at the Graves Gallery generously supported by the Ampersand Foundation.