Good point. Chlöe’s paintings on aluminium were very popular with the series sitters. People in the public eye, used to seeing themselves on acreen and in photos, are perhaps looking for something striking and different.
The three judges are always looking to push the boundaries of what art is. In choosing Chlöe they chose a young, innovative, experimental artist who perfectly matched the sitter Hannah Fry.
I enjoyed the whole story of the two women, both from working class backgrounds and sharing a love of mathematics; how Chlöe lives in a shared and supportive household of other creatives; how the two women don’t live very far from one another iin London; the immediate rapport between the two and how, as a scientist, Hannah wanted to learn and be involved in the process of making the art, not just to be a passive sitter.
This is the first monotype to join the Royal Society’s historic collection of original portraits, with other techniques including a linocut of developmental psychologist Professor Uta Frith by the author Mark Haddon and a terracotta bust of scientist Dame Miriam Rothschild by sculptor Marcus Cornish. It joins the society’s most recent commissions including Sir David Attenborough by Jonathan Yeo and Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell by Stephen Shankland. It is also the Royal Society’s first commission of a female sitter by a female artist.
royalsociety.org/news/2025/12/hannah-fry-portrait-sky-arts-portrait-artist-of-the-year/
Red was the obvious colour to chose. A print artist has to work far more quickly than a traditional artist would, to be able to capture the print before the paint dries so we should forgive any imperfections in the work. Although I’m not keen on the rather skeletal left hand, it’s a good facial likeness, captures Hannah’s delicate necklace depicting her daughters’ initials, shows the patterning in the vibrantly-coloured chair she sat in at home and the casual pose and manner she adopted throughout the process.
I really like it. Good series.
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