How the newly renovated National Portrait Gallery tells the story of British Jews

These portraits of Jewish sitters form an important thread in the tapestry of famous Britons.

The curious thing about the National Portrait Gallery is that it is not just a gallery. Art may be central, but the place is amorphous, a museum of Britain and a less touristic Madame Tussauds.

Director Nicholas Cullinan’s intelligent curation eruditely intertwines art, history and culture. The three often sit together in dialogue with each other. Through these curatorial conversations questions and reflections about British Jewish life emerge.

Take the curious pairing of Ralph Vaughan Williams and Sid James. One was an establishment darling, a categorically British composer.  The other was a Jewish immigrant from South Africa who made his name playing the lecherous old lover in the Carry On films.

Ruskin Spear’s 1962 semi-cubist portrait of James is decidedly dingy. Striking in a vulgar sort of way, James is framed within a television screen in granular black and white.

Above James sits Sir Gerald Kelly’s elegant portrait of Vaughan Williams. The revered British composer of The Lark Ascending is slightly hunched. He is nearing the end of his illustrious life, but his firm grip grasps a conductor’s baton, the tip of which rests on a sheet of music. He too draws our attention to art, but a very different kind of art.

I want to imagine a Night at the Museum scenario where all the portraits come to life after dusk. What would Ralph say to Sid?

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How the newly renovated National Portrait Gallery tells the story of the Jews in Britain (Jewish Chronicle)

Top photo: Detail, Sid James by Ruskin Spear (National Portrait Gallery, London)