Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition

Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition

The National Portrait Gallery invites artists all over America to investigate the contemporary art of the portrait for the third Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, to be held in 2013. The competition and resulting exhibition will celebrate excellence and innovation, with a strong focus on the variety of portrait media used by artists today. The National Portrait Gallery welcomes single figures, groups, or self-portraits, created in any visual arts medium. The competition is named for Virginia Outwin Boochever (1920–2005), a former Portrait Gallery volunteer whose generous gift has endowed this program.

The competition is open to all professional artists age 18 and over who are living and working in the United States or its territories. Both emerging and midcareer artists are invited to participate. Each artist may enter one work depicting anyone—a friend, a stranger, a relative, a self-portrait, or a group—but each portrait must be the result of the artist's direct encounter with that person or persons. While the human form must be the focus of the work, artists are invited to figure out and interpret the concept of portraiture broadly; for example, an entry might not include a face. The work must have been completed after January 1, 2010.

The deadline has been extended to Nov 30, 2011.