Richard Johnson 23 May 2009 3:07PM, 2009 (printed 2010)

Richard Johnson (b. 1946) is a founding director of Johnson Pilton Walker (JPW) – the practice which successfully won the international design competition for the new National Portrait Gallery building in 2005. Graduating in architecture from the University of New South Wales, he completed a masters degree in town planning at London’s University College in 1977. After working as the principal architect for the Department of Housing and Construction from 1968–85, Johnson was a director at Denton, Cork and Marshall until 2000, when he co-founded JPW.

Ingvar Kenne’s photograph is from a series of portraits of the six directors of JPW in the Gordon Darling Hall – the first commissioned portraits taken in the Gallery. Of the suite of portraits, Kenne said: ‘We wanted to convey the transformation of a space during a day and night and incorporate the portrait of each architect. Each one of [the directors of JPW] was asked to turn up in the clothes they wanted to wear and where they appeared in the frame was dictated by the moment rather than being planned. We were excited having the opportunity to photograph them in the space they designed.’

Collection: National Portrait Gallery Purchased with funds provided by the Circle of Friends 2009
© Ingvar Kenne