Visit to the National Portrait Gallery

On April 26th students of CRA went to the exhibition “Russia and the Arts: the age of Tolstoy and Tchaikovsky” at the National Portrait Gallery in London. The children took part in the workshop run be the staff of the Tretyakov Gallery. The workshop included studying portraits from the exhibition, creating participants’ own portraits and taking part in drama activities inspired by the works on display.

Our children were divided into 2 groups according to their age and all of them had a great time learning about portraits of famous Russian writers, artists and composers.

The older students spent time looking for the clues that could reveal information about the subject’s life, achievements and personality and learning how painters use different techniques to portray the сharacter, emotions and thoughts of their sitters.

The younger children learned how to convey emotions through facial features and expressions. Inspired by the portraits displayed at the exhibition and under the careful guidance of Tretyakov art teachers, they created their own expressive portraits.