Self: Image and Identity spring exhibition preview lunch held at Turner Contemporary

To celebrate the opening of its spring exhibition ‘Self: Image and Identity – from Van Dyck to Louise Bourgeois’ (until 10 May 2015), the Margate gallery hosted a lunch to thank lenders, funders, partners and artists who all helped to realise the show

To celebrate the opening of Turner Contemporary’s spring exhibition ‘Self: Image and Identity – from Van Dyck to Louise Bourgeois’ (until 10 May 2015), the Margate gallery hosted a lunch to thank lenders, funders, partners and artists who all helped to realise the show. The preview lunch, catered by Turner Contemporary’s café Leafi, was attended by around 60 guests including the gallery’s stakeholders, trustees, exhibition sponsor St Lawrence College and artists. Speeches were given by Turner Contemporary’s Chairman John Kampfner and Director Victoria Pomery (see also page 28) and Sandy Nairne, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, which has lent more than 70 artworks to the exhibition. These include Van Dyck’s final Self-portrait (1640-1); the Turner is the first venue where visitors can see this work as it embarks on a three-year national tour. Among guests such as Sir Roger Gale, Conservative MP for North Thanet and Sue Bowers, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund, were artists whose self-portraits feature in the exhibition, including Antony Gormley, Jeremy Millar, Yinka Shonibare and artist-in-residence Felicity Allen, whose Dialogic Portraits series is currently on display in the gallery’s Learning Studio.

PICTURES BY: MANU PALOMEQUE