A giant digital portrait of King Charles III, made up of drawings from 11,000 (and counting) people across Britain, was displayed during the King’s coronation week on Outernet’s four-storey interactive digital screens, in central London. , in association with the charity BBC Children in Need.
The great royal portrait is made up of thousands of participatory versions of a line-drawn postage stamp-shaped profile of the King, created by artist Sam Barnett. Online submissions closed on April 28, but contributions to the giant digital image can still be uploaded live on the Outernet until May 8. Outernet visitors will also be able to locate their individual drawing in the portrait using iPads. The final number of image contributions will be announced on May 9.
The great royal portrait on the big screen (right) and a video still showing hand-drawn profiles of the monarch subject to the project Yui Mok/ PA Wire
“We launched The great royal portrait“, said Barnett, “to celebrate the creativity of each child and give them the confidence to succeed, be part of history and support other children so that they can overcome their challenges.
A version of the portrait on canvas will be auctioned by Christie’s on Outernet during a special event on the evening of May 4. Proceeds from the auction and sale of prints of the drawing on the Children in Need website will go to the charity, which supports children living in poverty or suffering from social injustice.
The National Portrait Gallery, London, which reopens on June 22 after a three-year program of alterations and renovations, has provided images of historic royal portraits from its collection as inspiration for schoolchildren who submitted project drawings.
The immersive video of THE Royally Grand Portrait at Outernet, London, shows some of the 11,000 submitted designs coming together to form the final image Yui Mok/ PA Wire
The Year of Drawing at Christie’s, London
Perhaps King Charles’ greatest contribution to the foundation of artistic careers is the Royal Drawing School, formerly the Prince’s Drawing School, which the then Prince of Wales established in 2000. The school offers courses, at London and online, focusing on the importance of observation. drawing, a skill that seemed to be lacking in many fine arts degree programs. At the heart of the school’s work is the Year of Drawing, a free intensive postgraduate program for early-career artists (competition for 30 places is fierce), but it also runs a program for young people artists from 10 to 18 years old, various residencies around the world and an extensive program of public courses in person and online.
Christie’s holds an annual exhibition of student work from The Drawing Year at its headquarters in King Street, London. But this month the auction house is holding a further exhibition of works commissioned by the Royal Drawing School from former pupils of The Drawing Year in honor of the coronation of its patron and Queen Camilla.
The exhibition, May 2-25, features a mix of these commissioned works, for which the dissertation was to create personal reflections on occasion, alongside more than 50 drawings by Drawing Year alumni. which are part of the King’s Archive of School Drawings (one work by each student is chosen for the archive upon graduation).
Christabel MacGreevy The Lion and the Unicorn, May 2023. One of the Royal Drawing School’s Royal Drawing School Alumni Coronation Commissions. Limited edition prints of the painting are on sale to benefit the course’s scholarship fund Courtesy of the Royal School of Drawing
Five of the commissioned works, by Christabel MacGreevy, Sophie Charalambous, Arjuna Gunarathne and Christopher Green, will be on sale as limited edition prints, priced from £230 to £350 – part of the funds will be donated to The Drawing Year Scholarship Fund. A work by RDS alumnus Shana P Lohrey, commissioned for Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee and gifted to King Charles last year, is also on display.
Sophie Charalambous,The show of pearly kings and queens (2023). One of the Royal Drawing School’s Royal Drawing School Alumni Coronation Commissions. Limited edition prints of the painting are on sale to benefit the course’s scholarship fund Courtesy of the Royal School of Drawing
Four hundred years of the First Folio
From May 2 to 26, Christie’s is also displaying six copies of William Shakespeare’s First Folio in its King Street auction room, to commemorate 400 years since the writer’s friends and fellow actors, John Heminge and Henry Condell, compiled his collectibles for the first time, seven years after his death. The volume, titled Comedies, Stories and Tragedies by Mr. William Shakespeareis known as the First Folio and is the largest exhibition of such folios ever held in the UK.
- Royally Grand Portrait is presented at Outernet, Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 8LH: May 3 from noon to 6 p.m.; May 4 12 p.m.-10 p.m.; May 5 12 p.m.-6 p.m.; May 6-8, 8am-8pm.
- Christie’s is auctioning the Royally Great Portrait at Outernet on May 4. The event starts at 6 p.m.; auction around 7:20 p.m.
- The year of the drawing, Christie’s, King Street, London, until May 25.
- Shakespeare’s First Folio: The First Four Hundred Years, Christie’s, King Street, London, until 26 May.
