BP Portrait Award 2018: Everything you need to know

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Ailis Brennan5 June 2018

A regular among London’s hottest summer exhibitions, the BP Portrait Award is returning to the National Portrait Gallery this month.

If you are planning on taking a peep at the contemporary face (or faces) of portraiture, then this is what you need to know.

It’s both a competition and a big summer exhibition

The BP Portrait Award is first and foremost a portraiture competition – and a pretty revered one at that. Formerly known as the John Player Portrait Award it has, since its inception in 1980, become widely considered the most respected portrait prize in the world. The creme de la creme of entrants are displayed in an exhibition every year at the National Portrait Gallery, which this year runs from June 14 to September 23. And yes, it’s now sponsored by British Petroleum.

Pretty much anyone can enter a painting

Time Traveller, Matthew Napping, by Felicia Forte

From professional artists with 50 year careers behind them to student artists just starting out, anyone over the age of 18 can get themselves in the running for the competition. It may be a British-based competition, but it is open to artists from all around the world: this year the exhibition has been narrowed down from 2,667 entries from 88 countries.

There are some big prizes up for grabs

An Angel At My Table, by Miriam Escofet

There is both big kudos and big money involved in a BP Portrait win. The prize money across the awards totals £74,000 with a main prize worth £35,000 alone. The winner of that gong also gets commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery to paint a painting, which will go on display there the following year.

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Who’s in the running this year?

Simone, by Zhu Tongyao 

Shortlisted artists up for the main prize this year include Miriam Escofet, a life drawing teacher at Central Saint Martins art school who has submitted a portrait of her mother. Ania Hobson carries on the family theme with a portrait of herself with her sister-in-law, while Felicia Forte captured her sleeping boyfriend in a boldly coloured slumber. The fourth shortlisted artist is Chinese painter Zhu Tongyao, who submitted a portrait of Simone, the child of a family he became close to during a stay in Italy.

BP Portrait Award 2018 runs from June 14 - September 23 at National Portrait Gallery. For more information, visit npg.org.uk

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