Call Detail
Application Closed
Entry Fee (Entry Fee): $50.00
Images | Minimum:Min. 0, Maximum:Max. 2
Audio | Minimum:Min. 0, Maximum:Max. 1
Video | Minimum:Min. 0, Maximum:Max. 1
Total Samples | Minimum:Min. 1, Maximum:Max. 3
Eligibility: National
State: District of Columbia
The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery invites artists to submit one portrait in any media for consideration in the seventh triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. The competition seeks to broaden the definition of portraiture and highlight the genre’s relevance in society and contemporary art. Artworks may originate from direct encounters between artist and subject or draw upon existing imagery or archival research in response to history. Artists are encouraged to think about portraiture’s potential to engage with the social and political landscape of our time.
All finalists’ works will form a major exhibition that will be on view at the Portrait Gallery from April 2025 through February 2026, with plans for a subsequent national tour. The competition is named for Virginia Outwin Boochever (1920–2005), a former Portrait Gallery volunteer whose generous gift endowed the program.
The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2025 is open to artists who are at least 18 years old (by time of entry) and who are living and working in the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, or the Northern Mariana Islands. Each artist may enter only one work.
The competition welcomes all media, including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, printmaking, textiles, performance art, and digital or time-based art.
The processing fee helps to cover the shipping costs from all eligible locations for the semifinalists' artworks to be evaluated in-person.
Application Requirements
Works must be new; any works completed before January 1, 2022, will be disqualified.
Paintings, drawings, photographs, and other works on paper should be framed (strip frames on paintings are acceptable).
Works on paper should be framed and glazed with UV filtering acrylic (i.e. Plexiglas) or UV filtering anti-static acrylic in the case of pastels and charcoals.
All two-dimensional works shall measure no more than 7 feet (H) x 7 feet (W) x 8 inches (D) (including frame) and should weigh no more than 150 pounds. Wall-mounted works should be submitted with mounting hardware (D-rings, cleats, etc.). In the event that no hardware is included with a submission, the Portrait Gallery will add hardware at our discretion and according to best museum practices. The Portrait Gallery will provide corresponding wall-side hardware when installing works selected for exhibition.
For time-based media art, artists should submit a compressed exhibition copy not to exceed 10 MB for audio and 100 MB for video. See Artist Help Page for acceptable file types, bit rate and codec (audio), resolution, aspect ratio, and frame rate (video). YouTube and Vimeo are supported. Up to one video with two images of the artwork can be submitted.
Performance art submissions should include a fully developed, finished written concept and visuals. If the work has already been performed, photographic or video documentation of the work should be included as a compressed video file not to exceed 100 MB, or two still images. See Artist Help Page for acceptable file types, bit rate and codec (audio), resolution, aspect ratio, and frame rate (video). YouTube and Vimeo are supported. If work has never been performed, a storyboard or drawings outlining the action should be submitted as an image file.
Sculptures may be freestanding or wall-mounted and may be composed of any sculptural media. Sculptures should not exceed 7 feet (H) x 7 feet (W) x 4 feet (D) in size, nor should they weigh more than 150 pounds. The Portrait Gallery will provide platforms or pedestals.
It is the artist’s responsibility to obtain consent from their subject or their heirs to submit the work for consideration and display the work in The Outwin: American Portraiture Today. If for any reason consent is not obtainable, the artist is responsible for resolving any issues raised by the subject related to the submission of the work for consideration and display.