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Tate Britain Exhibition

Joshua Reynolds: The Creation of Celebrity

26 May – 18 September 2005

Sir Joshua Reynolds, Doctor Samuel Johnson ?1772. Tate.

Sir Joshua Reynolds
Doctor Samuel Johnson (?1772)
Tate

During his lifetime Joshua Reynolds was among the most celebrated artists in western Europe. He was a brilliant portraitist, impresario, a skilled networker and a master of spin. Through his paintings, his friendships and his manipulation of the media, Reynolds was – as this exhibition reveals – a driving force in the creation of a cult of celebrity which is so familiar today.

This is Tate Britain's first ever exhibition dedicated to Joshua Reynolds. Rather than providing a general survey of Reynolds’s art, it focuses on a key aspect of his achievement, and sets it within the social, political and cultural context of the artist’s times.

The exhibition brings together a selection of the greatest portraits by Reynolds, many of them depicting the most famous men and women of the eighteenth century, such as the writer Samuel Johnson, the actress Mrs Siddons, the political philosopher Edmund Burke and the actor David Garrick, as well as courtesans, aristocrats and military leaders. Collectively, they represent the cream of British society of the era. But Reynolds did not simply paint these individuals. He befriended them, brought them into contact with one another, shaped their public images, and massaged their egos.

Joshua Reynolds Omai

Joshua Reynolds Omai

The highlight of this spectacular exhibition is undoubtedly Reynolds's celebrated portrait of Omai. Omai was a young Polynesian man who came to England with Captain Cook and became a sensation in aristocratic and intellectual circles. Tate Britain is delighted to be able to display this rarely-seen painting, alongside many more of Reynolds’s masterpieces.

Tate Britain

Millbank
London SW1P 4RG
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Dates

26 May – 18 September 2005

Sponsored by

Tate Corporate Members

Tate Corporate Members

In partnership with

Times Newspapers Ltd

Times Newspapers Ltd

Find out more

  • Portrait of Omai to be shown in major Reynolds exhibition at Tate Britain

    Portrait of Omai to be shown in major Reynolds exhibition at Tate Britain: Press related to past exhibition.

  • Tate Etc magazine issue 04 cover

    Issue 4: Summer 2005

    Tate Etc. issue 4: Summer 2005; back issue of Tate members' magazine; online version

  • The conservation of John Foley's sculpture of Sir Joshua Reynolds P.R.A

    Cleaning John Foley’s marble sculpture, Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A, for display at Tate Britain in 2005

  • Lord Ligonier by Sir Joshua Reynolds: Part 1

    Sir Joshua Reynolds’ Lord Ligonier 1760 is a life-sized portrait which underwent painting conservation, an important 18th century painting based at Tate Britain

  • Lord Ligonier by Sir Joshua Reynolds: Part 2

    Restoration and conservation project to improve the condition and appearance of Lord Ligonier by Sir Joshua Reynolds one of Tate’s important collection of eighteenth-century paintings

  • Lord Ligonier by Sir Joshua Reynolds: Part 3

    A project to improve the condition and appearance of Tate’s important collection of eighteenth-century paintings including Lord Ligonier by Sir Joshua Reynolds

  • Artist

    Sir Joshua Reynolds

    1723–1792
Artwork
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