Pallant House Gallery in Chichester is presenting 'Seeing Each Other: Portraits of Artists,' an exhibition exploring how artists have portrayed one another from the early 20th century to the present. Featuring over 130 artists by at least 80 different hands, the show spans painting, sculpture, installation, photography, drawing, and printmaking, with works arranged chronologically to highlight artistic circles, friendships, rivalries, and collaborations. Highlights include multiple portraits of Francis Bacon by Lucian Freud and Maggi Hambling, candid photographs of Young British Artists by Johnnie Shand Kydd, and a new double portrait by Ishbel Myerscough and Chantal Joffe.
The exhibition matters because it offers a unique lens on identity, individuality, and image-making at a time of widespread soul-searching in the arts and society. By focusing on the distinctive gaze of artists looking at other artists, it reveals complex dynamics of admiration, emulation, love, and even abuse, while also addressing gender imbalances by featuring a significant proportion of women artists and tracking down rare works by overlooked figures like Vera Cuningham.