Taschen's Lavish National Gallery Bicentenary Book Critiqued for Contradictions

Taschen has published a hefty, £175 hardcover titled 'The National Gallery: Paintings, People, Portraits' to mark the institution's 200th anniversary. Edited by Anh Nguyen and Rebecca Marks, the 581-page volume includes art historical essays but prioritizes contributions from 'Ambassadors' like gallery director, chairman of its board of trustees, architect overseeing refurbishment, artists Rachel Whiteread and Chris Ofili, editor Edward Enninful, actor Damian Lewis, dealers, collectors, and market favorite Flora Yukhnovich, plus a headteacher and student. A double-page photograph early in the book prominently features a sponsor's name alongside paintings. The book's preface describes the National Gallery as a guardian of human creativity and sanctuary of beauty, framing its Western European tradition. Its physical size and cost contrast with the gallery's founding ideal of democratizing art, originally aimed at making works accessible beyond a privileged few. The review appears in the March 2025 issue of ArtReview, critiquing the tome's unwieldy nature as symbolic of both the decline and persistence of singular Western art history narratives.