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The National Portrait Gallery welcomes single figures, groups, or self-portraits—from classical drawing and painting or hyperrealistic sculpture to large-scale photography to prints and new media. The competition is named for Virginia Outwin Boochever (1920–2005), a former Portrait Gallery volunteer whose generous gift has endowed this program.
Awards
The winner of the competition will receive a cash award of $25,000 and will be awarded a separate commission to portray a remarkable living American for the Portrait Gallery's collection. The winning artist and the Portrait Gallery will collaborate to select the subject for the commissioned portrait. The second-prize winner will receive $7,500, and the third-prize winner will receive $5,000. Up to four additional artists may be commended for their work, and they will receive $1,000 each. All finalists' works will form a major exhibition on view at the National Portrait Gallery from October 23, 2009, until August 22, 2010.
Jurors:
Carolyn K. Carr
Deputy Director and Chief Curator, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C
Wanda M. Corn
Robert and Ruth Halperin Professor in Art History, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California
Brandon Fortune
Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Kerry James Marshall
Artist, Chicago, Illinois
Kerry
James Marshall is a painter, photographer, printmaker, and installation
artist. His work is in major American museums and private collections,
including the Art Institute and Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago,
the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Corcoran Gallery of
Art in Washington, D.C. and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Brian O'Doherty
Artist and Critic, New York City
Brian
O'Doherty (aka Patrick Ireland) is an artist and writer. His most
recent exhibition was a fifty-year retrospective, Beyond the White
Cube, at New York University's Grey Art Gallery in 2007.
Peter Schjeldahl
Art Critic, The New Yorker, New York City
Martin E. Sullivan
Director, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
What to Enter
The
work entered should be understood as a portrait in the broadest sense.
It may be a traditional, representational work or it may be a more
experimental portrait, but it must be based on the artist's direct
contact with any living individual(s). Self-portraits will be accepted.
Each artist may enter only one portrait, and it must have been completed after January 1, 2007.
Entries will be accepted in all visual arts media, including, but not restricted to painting, drawing and watercolor, sculpture, weaving, ceramics, photography, prints, video, film, and digital animation.
- Paintings, drawings, pastels, and watercolors should be framed (strip frames are acceptable). Paintings should preferably be unglazed. Works on paper should be framed and glazed with UV filter glass or Plexiglas. All two-dimensional work shall measure no more than 7 feet by 7 feet by 8 inches (including frame) and weigh no more than 150 pounds. The National Portrait Gallery will provide attachment hardware for works selected for exhibition.
- Photographs and prints should be framed and glazed with UV filter glass or Plexiglas. All two-dimensional works must measure no more than 7 feet by 7 feet by 8 inches (including frame) and weigh no more than 150 pounds. The National Portrait Gallery will provide attachment hardware for works selected for exhibition.
- Sculptures may be freestanding or wall-mounted and may be composed of any sculptural medium. This includes, but is not limited to, stone, metal, fiber, clay, wood, paper, or resin. Sculptures should not exceed 7 feet (height) by 7 feet by 4 feet in size and weigh no more than 150 pounds. The National Portrait Gallery will provide platforms, pedestals, or attachment hardware for sculpture selected for exhibition.
- Video, film, and digital animation will be accepted, and special instructions for sending these works to the National Portrait Gallery for judging will be available in the online entry form. The online entry form MUST be completed before sending time-based works.
National Portrait Gallery
Smithsonian Institution
P.O. Box 37012
Victor Building–Suite 4100 MRC 973
Washington, DC 20013-7012
