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Daphne TODD
(b. 1947)
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Over the Easter period, Messum’s is delighted to be exhibiting a number of recent portrait commissions by one of Britain’s leading portraitists, Daphne Todd OBE, NEAC, PPRP. Having been elected the first female President of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters since its foundation in 1891, she is widely respected by artists and collectors alike. Through her portraits, she brings a fresh, contemporary view to an ancient tradition, and has been an important force in promoting representational art in Britain.
Todd’s sitters have included some of Britain’s most eminent men and women, and she has four paintings in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery. Notable sitters include HRH the Grand Duke of Luxembourg; the singer Dame Janet Baker; the comic writer and broadcaster Spike Milligan; the Garter King of Arms Peter Gwynn-Jones; the playwright Tom Stoppard; Master Chef Albert Roux OBE and Lord and Lady Tebbit. Todd is also, however, deeply convinced that commissioning a portrait should not necessarily be viewed as exclusive or elitist. She was instrumental, for example, in setting up ‘People’s Portraits’, a revolutionary permanent public display of portraits depicting ‘ordinary people from all walks of life’ at Girton College, Cambridge.
Through Todd’s forthcoming exhibition at Messum’s, visitors will be encouraged to reassess the concept of commissioning a portrait, which in the past has perhaps had connotations of vanity, grandeur or self-importance. Todd will be present in the gallery for two ‘Meet the Artist’ afternoons during the show, informally welcoming anyone interested in the possibility of commissioning a portrait. As she points out, some of the earliest surviving images made by man are portraits—intimate and perceptive records of appearance made with care by one individual of another, each participant leaving their trace on the painted surface. They immortalise a moment in a personal or a family history and grant insights into character and personality for the generations to come.
For further information about commissioning a portrait, or to make an appointment with the artist, please contact the Gallery on +44 (0)20 7437 5545
To view recent Press coverage of Daphne’s work, please click here - Daphne Todd Press Site
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