Two days ago, I went to see Glamour of Gods exhibition at National Portrait Gallery in London. The show is the collection of photographs and portraits of Hollywood stars from 1920s to 1960s. Personally, I absolutely adore that period in American Cinema, this was the time when magic, mystery, sophistication, beauty and, after all, glamour was still alive in Hollywood films. So, I went in with an intention to feel all the mentioned above. However, what came as a great disappointment were not the prints itself (even though I was not entirely satisfied with the sizes) but the curating strategy of the exhibition! The space was cramped, the lighting was poor and the pastel blue-greenish colour of the walls in the room did not make any justice to the prints. All together, it looked utterly dull and unexciting. There was no hint of Glamour. I left feeling like I have just wasted my time and money.
'Glamour of the Gods', 'More stars than there are in heaven' - those are the hook lines NPG use. So, if that was also an intended feel of the exhibition, I'd say it failed big time.
