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BP Portrait Award

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Gallus Gallus with Still Life and Presidents by Stuart Pearson Wright winner in 2001

The BP Portrait Award was an annual portraiture competition held at the National Portrait Gallery in London, England. It is the successor to the John Player Portrait Award. It is the most important portrait prize in the world,[1][2][3][4] and is reputedly one of the most prestigious competitions in contemporary art.[5][6][7] Starting in 2024, the National Portrait Gallery’s portrait competition resumed under the new sponsorship of international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills.[8][9]

History

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British Petroleum took over sponsorship of the competition in 1989 from John Player & Sons, a tobacco company which had sponsored it from its inception in 1980, and has sponsored it since. The presence of both sponsors has triggered protests, with the group Art Not Oil (part of the international Rising Tide network) being responsible for most of those against BP. [citation needed][10] In 2016, The Museums Association conducted a formal investigation into BP's sponsorship when Art Not Oil alleged that the company influenced curatorial decisions and used its association with the National Gallery to further its political interests both domestic and international.

The exhibition opens in June each year and runs until September. First prize is typically £30,000. In the early years of the century, the prize went up from £5,000, and its catchment area was gradually extended from residents of the UK and is now unrestricted. Until 2006, the competition has been open to under-40s only. Since 2007, it is open to anyone over the age of 18 and a separate BP Young Artist Award is granted to the best portrait artist between 18 and 30.[11]

In 1993, Tom Hallifax was used to advertise the awards.[12]

In 2012 the competition received 2,187 entries from 74 countries (including 1,500 from the UK)[13] of which 55 paintings were selected to be exhibited.

Winners

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John Player Portrait Award

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BP Portrait Award

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SELF Portrait Prize

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  • 2013 Jan Mikulka[22]

Selected works

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It has become a BP Portrait Awards convention that a single work is selected to be used prominently on that year's posters and other publicity materials, and for the cover of the year's exhibition catalogue. Recent "showcase" portraits include:

  • 2004 – "Caroline" by James E Crowther
  • 2005 – "Portrait of Chantal Menard" by Sean Cheetham
  • 2006 – "Matthew" by Ben Jamie
  • 2007 – "Winter Portrait" by Ingolv Helland
  • 2008 – "Konjit" by Maryam Foroozanfar
  • 2009 – "Georgie" by Mary Jane Ansell / "On Assi Ghat" by Edward Sutcliffe (used by National Gallery Scotland)
  • 2010 – "Blue Coco" by Shaun Downey
  • 2011 – "Geneva" by Ilaria Rosselli del Turco
  • 2012 – "Rosie and Pumpkin" by Vanessa Lubach / "Richie Culver" by Alan Coulson
  • 2013 – "Inner Dialogue" by Jamie Routley
  • 2014 – "Engels" by Patrik Graham / "Gina and Cristiano" by Isabella Watling (used by National Gallery Scotland)
  • 2015 – "Portrait of Esta Sexton, aged 12" by Paul P Smith
  • 2016 – "Francesca" by Daniele Vezzani / "Tad (Son Of The Artist)" by John Borowicz (used by National Gallery Scotland)
  • 2017 – "Lemn Sissay" by Fiona Graham-Mackay
  • 2018 – "Laura" by Shawn McGovern
  • 2019 – "Manresa" by Frances Borden

BP Visitor Choice

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Each year, the BP Visitor Choice competition offers visitors to the highly popular BP Portrait Award exhibition the opportunity to vote for their favourite portrait in the exhibition.

  • 2006 – Vanessa Garwood
  • 2007 – Hynek Martinec
  • 2008 – José Luis Corella
  • 2009 – José Luis Corella
  • 2010 – Michal Ožibko
  • 2011 – Jan Mikulka
  • 2012 – Colin Davidson
  • 2013 – Lionel Smit
  • 2014 – Yunsung Jang
  • 2015 – José Luis Corella
  • 2016 – Jean-Paul Tibbles
  • 2017 – Rupert Alexander

BP Travel Award

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The BP Travel Award is an annual award allowing artists to experience working in a different environment on a project related to portraiture. The successful applicants work is exhibited at the Portrait Gallery the following year. Country of each artists project shown in brackets below.

  • 1998 – Stuart Pearson Wright (UK)
  • 2000 – Si Sapsford (Iceland)
  • 2001 – Alan Parker (UK)
  • 2002 – Daisy Richardson & Jessica Wolfson (Russia/China)
  • 2003 – Ulyana Gumeniuk (Russia)
  • 2004 – Darvish Fakhr (Iran)
  • 2005 – Joel Ely (Spain)
  • 2006 – Toby Wiggins (UK)
  • 2007 – Gareth Reid (Finland)
  • 2008 – Emmanouil Bitsakis (China)
  • 2009 – Isobel Peachey (Belgium/Switzerland)
  • 2010 – Paul Beel (Greece)
  • 2011 – Jo Fraser (Peru)
  • 2012 – Carl Randall (Japan)
  • 2013 – Sophie Ploeg (The Netherlands/UK)
  • 2014 – Edward Sutcliffe (US)
  • 2015 – Magali Cazo (West Africa)
  • 2016 – Laura Guokė (Lithuania)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Royal Society of Portrait Painters". Therp.co.uk. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  2. ^ "BP and National Portrait Gallery". Arts & Business. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  3. ^ "The Journal – Familial feel at this year's BP Portrait Award Exhibition". Journal-online.co.uk. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  4. ^ Ignacio Villarreal. "World's most innovative new portraits go on display in Wolverhampton". Artdaily.com. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  5. ^ "Cent Magazine". 21 June 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  6. ^ "National Portrait Gallery in London". xamou art. 3 January 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  7. ^ "Fine Art Connoisseur – The Best In Contemporary Portraiture At London's National Portrait Gallery". Fine Art Connoisseur. Archived from the original on 22 March 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  8. ^ National Portrait Gallery criticised over choice of sponsor to replace BP., The Guardian, London, 2023
  9. ^ New sponsor for National Portrait Gallery's former BP Portrait Award., Museums and Heritage, UK, 2023
  10. ^ "BP PORTRAIT AWARD DEMO: GUESTS AND JUDGES FILE PAST FACES OF THE GULF SPILL, 14.6.11". Aart Not Oil. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  11. ^ "BP Portrait Award 2007 Opens At National Portrait Gallery, London". culture24.org.uk. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  12. ^ "Fineart". Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  13. ^ "Naked 'Auntie' wins £25,000 art prize". The Telegraph. London. 19 June 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  14. ^ "Profile". The Glasgow School of Art. Archived from the original on 25 September 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  15. ^ "JEFF STULTIENS RP". Royal Society of Portrait Painters. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  16. ^ "Biography".
  17. ^ "Artist – Annabel Cullen". ARTUK.ORG. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  18. ^ Maev Kennedy (19 June 2012). "US artist wins £25,000 BP Portrait prize with painting of 'Auntie'". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
  19. ^ Michael Glover (18 June 2013). "Art review: The BP Portrait Award 2013 reveals our endless fascination with self-scrutiny and the human face". The Independent. London. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  20. ^ "Homeless man painting wins BP Portrait Award". BBC News. 24 June 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  21. ^ Bakare, Lanre (10 June 2019). "Charlie Schaffer wins 2019 BP portrait award". The Guardian.
  22. ^ The Royal Society of Portrait Painters: Jan Mikulka: SELF, 2013
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