Photographers
NPG commissions new photograph of This Is England and Skins actor Jack O'Connell
PhotocriticEtcJack O’Connell by Tereza Červeňová, 2017 © National Portrait Gallery, London
A striking newly-commissioned photograph of actor Jack O’Connell has been announced by the National Portrait Gallery, coinciding with O’Connell’s appearance as Brick in the West End production of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
The portrait, taken by London-based Slovakian photographer Tereza Červeňová, was commissioned through the John Kobal New Work Award. This prize is awarded annually to a photographer under 35 whose work is selected for display in the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. Červeňová took this honour in 2015.
Červeňova’s photograph of Jack O’Connell was taken at his family home in Derby in March 2017. It challenges the ‘angry youth’ image associated with so many of his acting roles, instead showing a hint of vulnerability as he’s depicted reflected through a window in a semi-abstracted composition that plays with light and lines.
Jack O’Connell by Tereza Červeňová will go on display in the National Portrait Gallery in 2018.
