A different side of Elizabeth II

As Angelenos gear up for the visit this week of Prince William and Catherine, duchess of Cambridge, Brits are busily engaged in preparations for more pomp and circumstance in the coming year.

In anticipation, the National Portrait Gallery in London has organized “The Queen: Art and Image,” portrayals of Queen Elizabeth II from the almost 60 years of her reign. Some on display for the first time include a new official portrait of the 85-year-old queen and her husband, Prince Philip, 90, by German photographer Thomas Struth. The touring exhibit opened last week at the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh and will travel to Northern Ireland and Wales before arriving in London in May for the queen’s diamond jubilee.

“There are so many images of the queen, yet she remains a mystery,” said Paul Moorhouse, 20th century curator at the National Portrait Gallery. “The exhibition is not an official or approved view of the queen. It looks at the role of photography, mass media, works of contemporary artists and the way the queen is presented in film.

“The trajectory of the show goes from the beginning of her reign, where she is presented as very formal, very regal and dignified, to present-day images that one wouldn’t recognize such as Hew Locke’s 2008 ‘Medusa,’ a collage sculpture constructed with found rubbish, beads, plastic toys and detritus. An image perhaps suggesting a disposable queen.”

The show also documents the changing role of the monarchy over the last six decades. Selections include Cecil Beaton’s remarkable 1952 Westminster Abbey coronation photograph, Pietro Annigoni’s life-size 1969 portrait of Elizabeth wearing the robes of the Order of the British Empire and Lucian Freud’s austere 2001 portrait. .

Among the nearly 60 images are several unofficial portraits from well-known 20th century artists including Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter and Gilbert & George as well as sittings for photographers Annie Leibovitz and Dorothy Wilding.

One photograph that has piqued curiosity is Chris Levine’s unusual “Lightness of Being.” He was commissioned by the Isle of Jersey in 2004 to celebrate its 800-year allegiance to the throne. Elizabeth agreed to sit for a holographic photo that required nearly 10,000 three-dimensional images. During the lengthy process, she had to sit motionless for eight-second exposures over several hours.

“Resting for a moment, she closed her eyes and drew into herself,” said Moorhouse. Levine hit the shutter, passed a filter through and got the final shot presented in the show.

“It was a completely private moment no one had ever seen before.”

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