CURRENT & UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
Silent Echoes, Spoken Truths: Curtis Holder
08 November 2024 - 13 April 2025
Leeds Art Gallery, The Headrow, Leeds, LS1 3AA
An exhibition of new works on paper by Curtis Holder following an 18-month artist residency.
The exhibition documents Curtis’s immersion into life at the gallery, exploring the collection and forming bonds with people he met, in particular eight individuals from the Global Majority whose portraits he has drawn.
Curtis Holder: Drawing Carlos Acosta
Open from 24 October 2024
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham, B3 3DH
Curtis Holder won Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year in 2020 and was commissioned to draw Birmingham Royal Ballet’s director, Carlos Acosta.
This exhibition brings together portraits Curtis made during the competition and his working sketches, showing his journey towards the final portrait and telling the story in his own words.
Benchmark: The Pastel Society’s 126th Annual Exhibition
22 January 2024 to 8 February 2025
Mall Galleries, London, SW1Y 5AS
A contemporary and adventurous show, presenting a positive challenge to those with pre-conceived ideas about dry media.
The rich diversity of styles and subject matter in pastel, pencil, charcoal, crayon, chalk, and more, are the ingredients for this benchmark of skill, inspiration and enthusiasm.
Terry Higgins - Three Ages of Terry
On display in Room 28 on Floor 2
National Portrait Gallery, London, WC2H 0HE
Commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery, Curtis Holder’s posthumous portrait of Terrence Higgins - one of the first people in the UK to die of an AIDS related illness - is a new addition to the gallery’s Primary Collection.
On display in the Making the Modern World gallery, a space dedicated to some the most important figures of the 20th century.
PAST SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Curtis Holder: Portraits of Brotherhood
06 July - 28 September 2024
Guildford House Gallery, 155 High Street, Guildford, GU1 3AJ
Curtis Holder: Portraits of Brotherhood is a solo exhibition by London-based artist Curtis Holder.
His multilayered pencil portraits seek to capture intimate moments in the lives of his subjects, delving into their shared history and experiences as Black men.
The Makers: Portraits from Backstage
National Theatre, London
27 January - 04 November 2023
The Makers: Portraits from Backstage is an exhibition by the National Theatre’s first ever artist-in-residence, Curtis Holder.
His large-scale pencil portraits are a love letter to the dynamic creative forces that exist behind the scenes of theatre, celebrating the craftspeople, creatives and individuals that make the productions possible.
Something Unspoken
45 Park Lane, Dorchester Collection, London
03 November 2021 - 22 January 2022
Drawing inspiration from intimate conversations with his subjects, Curtis Holder’s multilayered pencil portraits are dynamically tender, revealing something of the inner life of his sitters.
His debut solo exhibition, Something Unspoken, features drawings inspired by 45 Park Lane.
All exhibitions
Read about Curtis’s past exhibitions, awards and achievements.