Photority

Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2009

Details:

• The competition is open to all artists, 18 years of age and older (as of January 1, 2008), who are legal residents of the United States, with an address in the United States at the time of the competition.
• Employees, Regents, and members of advisory boards of the Smithsonian Institution and their immediate families (children, siblings, and spouses), competition sponsors, employees or immediate families of the judges, and their respective agents are not eligible.
• No work previously submitted for this competition is eligible for resubmission, but artists included in previous competitions may enter again, with the exception of the first-prize winner in a previous Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition.

Entries:

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.

Prizes:

Grand Prize: $25,000. The winner will also have an opportunity for a commission to create a portrait of a remarkable living American for the National Portrait Gallery’s permanent collection. The artist and the National Portrait Gallery will work together to select the subject of the portrait and the fee for the commission.

Second Prize: $7,500.

Third Prize: $5,000.

The judges may commend up to four additional works with prizes of $1,000 each.

Entry Deadlines:

June 2, 2008, 9:00 a.m. EDT : Call for Entries begins
July 31, 2008, midnight EDT : Deadline for submitting entries
November 30, 2008 : Semifinalists are notified
January 2, 2009 : Semifinalist work must be available for shipping to Washington, D.C.
May 1, 2009 : Finalists are notified, and non-selected works are returned to artists
October 23, 2009 : The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2009 exhibition opens at the National Portrait Gallery
August 22, 2010 : The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2009 exhibition closes
September 2010 : Artworks are returned to exhibiting artists

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