The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery announced that Dave Woody of Fort Collins, Colo., has received first prize for the “Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2009” for a photograph titled, “Laura.” First prize is a cash award of $25,000 and a separate commission from the museum to portray a remarkable living American for its permanent collection.
Second prize was awarded to Stanley Rayfield of Richmond, Va., who submitted a painting titled “Dad.” Third prize went to Adam Vinson of Jenkintown, Pa; his oil-on-panel painting is titled “Dressy Bessy Takes a Nap.” Commended artists are: Margaret Bowland, for a painting titled “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.
These works are finalists in the museum’s second national portrait competition. Of more than 3,300 entries submitted from across the country, 49 artists’ works were chosen to display in the exhibition; seven of these works were chosen for the short list. The competition received entries in every visual-arts medium.
Finalists for the 2009 competition were chosen in early May, and the winners were announced at the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition Awards Celebration Thursday, Oct. 22. (A full list of the artists represented in the exhibition follows at the end of this release.) 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 49 finalists. Voting for the People’s Choice Award will close Jan. 18, 2010.
Jurors for the competition were Wanda M. Corn, professor emerita in art history at Stanford University; Kerry James Marshall, artist; Brian O’Doherty, artist and critic; and Peter Schjeldahl, art critic for The New Yorker. Jurors from the National Portrait Gallery were Martin E. Sullivan, director; Carolyn K. Carr, deputy director and chief curator; and Brandon Brame Fortune, curator of painting and sculpture.
The exhibition of 49 portraits is open to the public Oct. 23 through Aug. 22, 2010.
The “Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2009” exhibition is accompanied by a publication illustrating each of the 49 finalists’ works, including an essay by independent scholar Trevor Fairbrother. Distributed by the University of Washington Press, it will be available in the museum store for $13.95.
The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition is a triennial event that invites figurative artists to submit entries in all media to be considered for prizes and display at the National Portrait Gallery. The endowment from the late Virginia Outwin Boochever has enabled the museum to conduct a national portrait competition and exhibition that encourages artists to explore the art of portraiture.
National Portrait Gallery
The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery tells the history of America through the individuals who have shaped its culture. Through the visual arts, performing arts and new media, the Portrait Gallery portrays poets and presidents, visionaries and villains, actors and activists whose lives tell the American story.
The National Portrait Gallery is part of the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture at Eighth and F streets N.W., Washington, D.C. Smithsonian Information: (202) 633-1000; (202) 633-5285 (TTY). Web site: npg.si.edu.
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SI-464-2009
National Portrait Gallery
Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition Finalists and Shortlisted Artists 2009
*Denotes artists selected for shortlist
Mequitta Ahuja, Houston
Jason Shaw Alexander, Los Angeles
Jen Bandini, Queens, N.Y.
Margaret Bowland, Brooklyn, N.Y.*
Benita Carr, Atlanta
Laura Chasman, Roslindale, Mass.
Mark Cummings, Newport Beach, Calif.
Yolanda del Amo, Brooklyn, N.Y.*
Armando Dominguez, Miami
Jenny Dubnau, Jackson Heights, N.Y.
Daniel Mark Duffy, Newtown, Conn.
David Eichenberg, Toledo, Ohio
Gaela Erwin, Louisville, Ky.*
Chambliss Giobbi, New York
David Gracie, Omaha, Neb.
Leor Grady, New York
Anne Harris, Riverside, Ill.
Patricia Horing, Larchmont, N.Y.
Anna Killian, Pensacola, Fla.
Erika Larsen, Hoboken, N.J.
David Dodge Lewis, Farmville, Va.
Lisa Lindvay, Chicago
Francesco Lombardo, Marshall, N.C.
Perin Mahler, Grand Rapids, Mich.
John Manion, Brooklyn, N.Y
Bruce McKaig, Washington, D.C.
Pavel Melecky, Arlington, Texas
Sam Messer, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Paul Mindell, Norwalk, Conn.
Matthew Mitchell, Amherst, Mass.
Samantha Mitchell, New York
Austin Parkhill, Arvada, Colo.
Sonia Paulino, Los Angeles
Cliffton Peacock, Charleston, S.C.
Stanley Rayfield, Richmond, Va.*
Emil Robinson, Cincinnati*
Kate Sammons, Los Angeles
Philip Schirmer, Sargentville, Maine
Justin Shaw, Lincoln, Neb.
Satomi Shirai, Astoria, N.Y.
Michael A. Smith, Ottsville, Pa.
Ben Tolman, Washington, D.C.
Jim Torok, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Margaret Trezevant, Tampa, Fla.
Lien Truong, Eureka, Calif.
Clarissa Payne Uvegi, New York
Adam Vinson, Jenkintown, Pa.*
Dave Woody, Fort Collins, Colo.*
John Randall Younger, Charlottesville, Va.
Bethany Bentley
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