Lorna May Wadsworth 7 – 12 October 2025

Striking portraits of the late Baroness Margaret Thatcher by Lorna May Wadsworth (b. 1979) are going on display at Noho Studios in London, commemorating the centenary of the former British Prime Minister’s birth in 1925.

The exhibition features a monumental portrait of Mrs Thatcher, In Memoriam, alongside a series titled The Legacy Paintings, comprising of seven four-foot paintings which together explore her impact on UK politics and how she is regarded today, through Warholian repetition.

Baroness Thatcher 2007

In Memoriam (136 x 111 cm) is the second of two large-scale paintings of Margaret Thatcher, by the renowned British artist Lorna May Wadsworth, who was the last person to paint Thatcher from life. Both paintings are the result of a series of five sittings, which Wadsworth had with Thatcher in July 2007. Baroness Thatcher (183 x 183 cm, above) was the first to be completed and now hangs in the Conservative Party’s Campaign Headquarters, appropriately in the Thatcher Room.

At the time, the renowned art dealer and TV presenter Philip Mould acclaimed the work to be “the boldest formal portrait of a Prime Minister ever painted in Britain.” However, Mrs Thatcher thought her expression in the painting was “rather fierce”,so Wadsworth used her final sitting to make a portrait which would transcend her own preconceived image of the ‘Iron Lady’; as she had been dubbed by a Russian journalist during the Soviet era, which became a nickname she was forever associated, due to her uncompromising politics and style of leadership.

Lady Thatcher and Lorna at her house in Chester Square, Summer 2007

Responding to her subject’s comment and after spending time in with Mrs Thatcher at her home in London’s Chester Square, Wadsworth was inspired to paint In Memoriam, which she completed in 2015. The painting has never been seen in public before – until now.

With the centenary of Thatcher’s birth approaching (13 October 2025), Wadsworth has returned to the Iron Lady, to reconsider her own thoughts, reactions and personal memories of this giant of global politics. As she recalls: “Ever since those afternoons, I have been trying to understand what meeting Margaret Thatcher has meant to me – to reconcile the woman I encountered with the divisive figure etched into history. When I painted her – creating a 6-foot square image of the lady not for turning, towering like the prow of some stately galleon – I unknowingly became a conduit for people’s feelings about her.

Everyone who saw the painting, whether in person or online, had something to say: some with gratitude and reverence, hailing her as the saviour of the nation; others with searing rage, blaming her for tearing apart the very fabric of society. It was a lot to absorb. Through The Legacy Paintings, I have tried to process the tidal wave of reactions – translating them into a visual language. Together, these works form a collective statement that reflects the enormous breadth of feeling Thatcher still provokes, and tries to reconcile those many perceptions with the kind, dignified woman I came to love.”

Made across a decade, The Legacy Paintings are uniform in size, 120 x 82 cms, but realised in a variety of materials, including linen, aluminium and traditional canvas, with oil, acrylic, 19-karat gold and, naturally, liquid iron paint applied onto Wadsworth’s chosen surface.

An Iron Lady: The Legacy Paintings can be seen at Noho Studios, 46 Great Titchfield Street, London, W1W 7QA. For more information, go to http://www.nohovenues.com/nohostudios

Following the exhibition, the paintings will be available to buy in an online auction from 5 October. For more information go to https://app.galabid.com/the-legacy-paintings, or visit www.lornamaywadsworth.com

The Artist:

Lorna May Wadsworth (b. 1979) is a British artist celebrated for her dynamic, modern portraiture that fuses classical craftsmanship with a contemporary edge. She rose to prominence while still a student at the Royal Drawing School, gaining early acclaim for her portraits of prominent figures such as the Rt Hon David Blunkett (2003) and Dr Rowan Williams, then Archbishop of Canterbury (2003).

Wadsworth has gone on to depict a host of notable personalities, including former Prime Ministers Baroness Margaret Thatcher (2007) and the Rt Hon Sir Tony Blair (2003), filmmaker Richard Curtis (2012), and Poet Laureate Simon Armitage (2024). Her seven-foot dual portrait of restaurateurs Corbin & King, They Have Lunch Every Tuesday (2015), earned her the De Lazlo Silver Medal and the Exceptional Talent Award from The Royal Society of Portrait Photo of Lorna by Barney Cokeliss Painters. Known for her inventive approach, she painted author Neil Gaiman on ancient bog oak using layers of sun-bleached beeswax to encapsulate oil pigment, creating an immersive piece for the 2019 Good Omens exhibition. More recently, she depicted Lord Melvyn Bragg on a Victorian school slate in 2024.

Her controversial altarpiece, A Last Supper (2009), portraying Christ as a Black man, ignited global conversation about diversity in religious art. The work has since been installed in both Sheffield and St Albans Cathedrals. Her 2020 retrospective at Graves Gallery, Museums Sheffield, drew more than 16,000 visitors, and her 2023 painting, A Salvator Mundi, was shortlisted for the prestigious John Moore’s Painting Prize. Art dealer Philip Mould OBE has been a champion of her work and has featured her in multiple exhibitions, including The Milliner (2018), centred on a full-length portrait of designer Victoria Grant, and most recently Pioneers: 500 Years of Women in British Art, alongside artists such as Vanessa Bell, Mary Beale and Sarah Biffin.

A recurring thread in Wadsworth’s practice is the inversion of the gendered gaze. Her series Beautiful Boys (2006) and The Single Man Paintings (2014) examine and subvert traditional portrayals of masculinity and power through the male subject. Her passion for interior design and narrative detail is evident in her large-scale, site-specific commissions such as A Man in Uniform (2018) for Lord Michael Hintze and The Impresaria (2022) for Sally Green OBE. Her latest portrait – of financier and media proprietor George Robinson (2025) – places the sitter at his desk, surrounded by a still life tour de force of items alluding to his life and career, a Holbein’s The Ambassadors for the current age. Wadsworth’s broader public profile grew with her appearance on Sky Arts’ Portrait Artist of the Year, followed by two televised masterclasses in February 2025. She is currently developing a new series reimagining the Greek Muses via the portrayal of contemporary women, blending her interest in fashion with inclusive, relatable iconography. More at www.lornamaywadsworth.com

The Iron Lady:

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (1925-2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the first woman to hold the position. As prime minister, she implemented policies that came to be known as Thatcherism.

A polarising figure in British politics, Thatcher is nonetheless viewed favourably in historical rankings and public opinion of British prime ministers. Her tenure constituted realignment towards neoliberal policies in Britain; the complex legacy attributed to this shift continues to be debated to this day.

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