The National Portrait Gallery, London
London’s National Portrait Gallery is coming under fire after some realized that the photographer behind a current exhibition is a donor who significantly contributed to the museum’s recent renovations.
Zoë Law is a London-based photographic portraitist who recently opened a new show at the NPG. The exhibition, known as Legends, features more than a hundred black-and-white photographs, including those of actors and music icons like Orlando Bloom, Rod Stewart, and Kim Cattrall, as well as art world giants like British Museum director Nicholas Cullinan and former Christie’s global president Jussi Pylkkänen. The NPG announced that Law gifted her portrait of Noel Gallagher to the gallery shortly before opening the exhibition. The show initially opened on November 29th and is set to close on March 2nd. Despite the hype the gallery generated, some reviews were pessimistic, calling the portraits mundane or mediocre. One Turner Prize-nominated artist referred to Law as “basically an unknown practitioner,” whose work is “pedestrian at best.” This rings true since Law has not been working as a photographer for long. She first became known as a make-up artist. How she secured a major museum show can be confusing. That is, until you bring nepotism into the picture.
In recent days, the NPG has faced accusations of nepotism after learning about Law’s status as a museum donor as well as her relationships with other donors. Her ex-husband, Andrew Law, is a major hedge fund manager. While married, the couple operated the Law Family Charitable Foundation, which provided considerable funds to the gallery as part of its £41 million renovation. Zoë Law is no longer on the foundation’s board since last year as part of the couple’s divorce proceedings. The gallery was closed for three years during the renovations, finally reopening in June 2023. On top of her ex-husband, Zoë Law’s other friendships and acquaintances may have influenced the NPG to approve her show. She is known to have helped organize the 2015 Black & White Ball, a major annual event for Britain’s Conservative Party. Having these ties, it may surprise no one that the gallery board of trustees includes several prominent Conservative Party members, including wealthy party donors and former members of cabinet.
Maurice Davies of the consultants Cultural Associates Oxford, commented, “It can be difficult for museums to respond to the expectations of major donors, who may informally anticipate favours in return for their generous gift.” Jesse Darling, the winner of the Turner Prize in 2023, criticized the decision to give Law her own exhibition as reinforcing negative stereotypes about the art world; that to many, art is “a rich man’s game made up of rich hobbyists who keep their money circulating among themselves.” Similarly, the organization Museum as Muck commented, “Relying on additional funds from the affluent can skew the priorities of these institutions, granting undue influence on a select few.”
The Law Family Charitable Foundation has not commented, nor has Nicholas Cullinan, the NPG’s director at the time of the renovations and the Laws’ donation.