“The Outwin 2016: American Portraiture Today” Goes on National Tour

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“The Outwin 2016: American Portraiture Today” will travel across the nation after it closes at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery Jan. 8, 2017. The artworks featured in the exhibition resulting from the Portrait Gallery’s triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition will travel to host museums through April 2018.

The national tour will begin Feb. 4, 2017, when the Tacoma Art Museum in Tacoma, Wash., opens the exhibition that will be on view through May 14. Then, the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi, Texas, will host the exhibition from June 1 to Sept. 10, 2017. The Outwin will be also displayed at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Mo., from Oct. 6, 2017 to Jan. 7, 2018.

Before the exhibition closes in Washington, D.C., the Portrait Gallery will present the last two programs of artist talks. Sunday, Dec. 11, artist Allison Janae Hamilton will discuss her portrait “Haints at Swamp II”, displayed in The Outwin 2016, and her larger series “Sweet Milk in the Badlands.” Also, Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017, artist Adrián Román, the winner of the exhibition’s People’s Choice Award, will talk about his portrait “Caja De Memoria Viva II: Constancia Colón de Clemente.”

With more than 2,500 entries from across the nation, 43 artists’ works were chosen for display in the exhibition. It showcases a variety of visual-arts media, including drawings, photographs and mixed media, as well as painted and sculpted portraits.

External jurors for the competition were Dawoud Bey, professor of art and a Distinguished College Artist at Columbia College in Chicago; Helen Molesworth, chief curator at LA MOCA; Jerry Saltz, senior art critic at New York magazine; and John Valadez, a Los Angeles-based realist painter and muralist. National Portrait Gallery staff on the jury were Brandon Brame Fortune, chief curator, and Dorothy Moss, associate curator of painting and sculpture and competition director. This exhibition is described by jurors as a synopsis of historical and cultural events that have unfolded in the past three rounds of the Outwin, particularly in terms of race, sexual identity, gender and concerns about protecting childhood in an age of technology and gun violence.

Held every three years, the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition is made possible by a gift from volunteer and benefactor Virginia Outwin Boochever (1920–2005). The competition invites artists all over America to investigate the art of contemporary portraiture. The resulting exhibition celebrates excellence and innovation, with a strong focus on the variety of portrait media used by artists today.

The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition and exhibition have been made possible by support from the Virginia Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition Endowment.

* Note to Editors: Dates are subject to change and must be confirmed prior to publication. More locations to come.

National Portrait Gallery

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery tells the multifaceted story 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. Website: npg.si.edu. Connect with the museum at Facebook; Instagram; blog; Twitter and YouTube.

The Outwin Traveling Exhibition Schedule

Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, Wash.  
Feb. 4, 2017–May 14, 2017

Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas 
June 1, 2017–Sept. 10, 2017

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Mo.  
Oct. 6, 2017–Jan. 7, 2018

Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition Finalists and Short-listed Artists

John Ahearn, New York City
Dean Allison, Penland, N.C.
Wendy Arbeit, Emeryville, Calif.                  
Rick Ashley, Marblehead, Mass.
Evan Baden, Albany, Ore.                            
Claire Beckett, Jamaica Plain, Mass.    
Claudia Biçen, San Francisco                        
Kelly Carmody, Waltham, Mass.                  
Marti Corn, Houston
Paul D’Amato, Riverside, Ill.
Ray DiCapua, Storrs, Conn.                
Tim Doud, Washington, D.C.            
Maureen Drennan, Brooklyn, N.Y.        
Jess T. Dugan, St. Louis *
Gaspar Enriquez, San Elizario, Texas
Lucy Fradkin, Staten Island, N.Y.    
Jona Frank, Santa Monica, Calif.      
Rigoberto A. Gonzalez, Harlingen, Texas    
Allison Janae Hamilton, New York City      
Jessica Todd Harper, Merion Station, Pa. *      
Anne Harris, Riverside, Ill.
Clarity Haynes, Brooklyn, N.Y                        
Cynthia Henebry, Richmond, Va. *  
Sedrick Huckaby, Fort Worth, Texas *
Dave Jordano, Chicago  
Riva Lehrer, Chicago
Jarod Lew, Beverly Hills, Mich.                        
Daniel James McInnis, Perrysburg, Ohio *
Michael Meadors, Clayton, N.C.
Dean Mitchell, Tampa, Fla.                            
Thu Nguyen, Honokaa, Hawaii
Tim Okamura, Brooklyn, N.Y.  
Christine Osinski, Ridgefield, Conn.
Paul Oxborough, Excelsior, Minn.                
Louie Palu, Washington, D.C.          
Joel Daniel Phillips, Oakland, Calif. *
Adrian “Viajero” Roman, Brooklyn, N.Y.  
Amy Sherald, Baltimore **
Carolyn Sherer, Birmingham, Ala.
Donita Simpson, Royal Oak, Mich.
Mike Smith, Johnson City, Tenn.
Naoko Wowsugi, Washington, D.C.
Brenda Zlamany, Brooklyn, N.Y.