Now On View: Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition

Dave Woody of Fort Collins, Colorado, has received first prize in the National Portrait Gallery’s 2009 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. His photograph, titled Laura (shown on right), was chosen as the winner from a field of more than three thousand entries in every visual arts medium. First prize was a cash award of $25,000 and a commission from the museum to portray a remarkable living American for the NPG permanent collection. Woody’s portrait, as well as works from forty-eight other artists, are on display at the National Portrait Gallery, in the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition exhibition on the second floor.

Of his work, Woody comments, “I am never really attracted to photographing subjects who are totally self-aware or self-confident, as I’m more interested in those people who move through this world with a quiet grace. Spending time with friends allows me to see them in a certain light where their mask drops and something soft and inviting is seen, and I’ll think of making a photograph of them.”

Stanley Rayfield of Richmond, Virginia, received second prize for a painting titled Dad, while third place went to Adam Vinson of Jenkintown, Pennsylvania for his oil-on-panel painting titled Dressy Bessy Takes a Nap. Commended artists are Margaret Bowland, for a her painting Portrait of Kenyetta and Brianna; Yolanda del Amo, for her C-print photograph Sarah, David; Gaela Erwin, for her pastel on paper Baptismal Self-Portrait; and Emil Robinson for an oil-on-panel portrait titled Showered. Each was awarded a cash prize.

NPG Director Martin Sullivan states, “The variety and depth of the entries was encouraging to me since it proved that portraiture is an ever-evolving genre. And best of all, this competition allows the National Portrait Gallery and its visitors to see how today’s artists interpret portraiture in all of its forms.”
Finalists for the 2009 competition were chosen in early May, and the winners were announced at the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition Awards Celebration on Thursday, October 22. In addition, one exhibiting artist will win the People’s Choice Award, in which visitors to the exhibition, both online and in the gallery, may cast a vote for their favorite of the forty-nine finalists. Voting for the People’s Choice Award will close on January 18, 2010.

The competition is named for Virginia Outwin Boochever, a former NPG docent and an ardent supporter of the Portrait Gallery. The exhibition’s catalog describes Mrs. Boochever’s endowment for the portrait competition “as a way to benefit artists directly… as a unique opportunity to fill a void in the American art world.” The works in the Portrait Competition will be on display until August 22, 2010. To view images of the works, see the exhibition Web site.

Comments

[twitter.com/bookseedstudio]

A thank you to Ms. Boochever for the awards.
We look forward to viewing the exhibit soon & to voting in the People's Choice Awards.
Congratulations to every artist who entered.

[Jason Miller]

Very nice show!

[EP]

I can't help but notice that all three top winners are men. Shame on you, National Portrait Gallery.

[National Portrait Gallery]

EP,

Thanks for your comments. The seven winning portraits in the competition were selected in a blind and unbiased process by the jurors. Gender was not a deciding factor in the jurors’ votes. Instead of focusing on the artists’ identities or their entire body of work, the jurors focused on these artists’ exceptional approach to portraiture, interpretation of their sitter, and a mastery of the medium in which they work. The first, second, and third prize winners rose to the top of the competition as a result of this process.

[Lisa Adams]

When is the next competition?

[National Portrait Gallery]

Lisa,

Thanks for the question -- the next Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition will be in 2012. Call for entries will likely occur in summer of 2011. Watch our website, www.portraitcompetition.si.edu, for updates.

[belita william]

Bad ,BAD judges.....!!!!!!!! Bowlands "kenyetta Bride" was so OUTSTANDING...and for her not to have gotten First was shameful.....keep it up and this competition will get a bad name.....no wonder TOP artists in the field steer clear of these competitions!

[Valerie Fulford]

It seems odd that photographs are pitted against paintings in a portrait competition. Wouldn't it seem that the medium of photography be judged along side other photography and a separate competition? The two mediums have such different advantages. At the National Portrait Gallery in London there was a similar competition that was open to photography only. I find t very strange to see these two mediums in competition with each other. The skill required of a painted portrait is so much different than that of a photograph. I am not suggesting that the winner was not superb. Just that there are apples and oranges being compared in this competition.

[Julian Brown]

The nation portrait prize in Canada, called the Kingston Prize, is limited to paintings and drawings, as it is felt that photography would be best served by a separate photographic portrait prize, as in Sydney and in London. The inclusion of drawings has been very successful, but the gulf between photography and other techniques is very wide. Despite this, the Outwin Boochever Prize shows that a combined prize can be made to work if desired. The Kingston Prize exhibition for 2011 includes both painting and drawings, and will be on show in Toronto from November 11, 2011 for three months, at the Royal Ontario Museum.