Smithsonian searching for portrait painters
Art Business News, June, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery is inviting artists from all over America to enter its first-ever Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2006. As part of its drive to welcome portraiture into the 21st century and named for the Virginian Outwin Boochever, a former NPG volunteer whose generous gift has endowed this program, the competition and resulting exhibition will focus on the innovation in portrait painting and sculpture. The contest is open to all professional artists, both emerging and mid-career, working in the United States and over the age of 18.
Those artists interested in the competition should enter one original work depicting anyone--a friend, relative or a self-portrait--but it must be the result of the artist's direct encounter with that person. Artists are also invited to interpret the concept of the portraiture broadly, meaning the original may possibly not include a face. The work must have been completed after Jan. 1, 2004.
The winning artist will receive a cash reward of $25,000 and will be commissioned to create a portrait of a remarkable living American for the gallery's permanent collection. The artist and gallery will collaborate to select the subject. The second-prize winner will receive a $5,000 reward, and the third-place artist will receive $3,000. Up to four additional artists may be commended for their work, with each receiving $1,000. All the finalists' works will form the leading exhibition for the gallery's grand opening in 2006.
The deadline for entries is June 1 through Sept. 6. For more information, visit www.npg.si.edu.
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COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group
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