The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery has announced an open call from Oct. 2 through Jan. 26, 2024, for submissions to its seventh triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. Established in 2006, the competition invites artists to submit one portrait created in the past three years for consideration by a panel of experts. Selected artworks, including three prizewinners, are then featured in a museum exhibition. The competition focuses on broadening the definition of portraiture while highlighting the genre’s wider relevance to society and within the field of contemporary art. It aims to bring together works that attend to the country’s diversity in terms of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and other conditions that shape a person’s individual and collective identities. The first-prize winner will receive $25,000 and a commission to portray a remarkable living American for the National Portrait Gallery’s collection. Additional prizes will be awarded to second- and third-place winners, respectively. Selected artworks will form “The Outwin 2025: American Portraiture Today” exhibition, which will be displayed at the Portrait Gallery from April 26, 2025, through Feb. 22, 2026, before traveling to other cities in the United States. All entries by eligible artists must be submitted electronically through the online submission site. Visit the website for further instructions and details.
