2008-04-04 23:11:54 -

- Smithsonian Institution Bethany Bentley, 202-633-8293 bentleyb@si.edu The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery announces the call for entries to the "Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2009." The second installation of the triennial competition is open to portraits in any visual art medium that has been created after Jan. 1, 2007. Digital submissions may be submitted online at www.portraitcompetition.si.edu beginning June

2; the competition closes July 31. The exhibition of finalists will be presented in October 2009.

The inaugural "Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition" attracted more than 4,000 entries from every state in the United States. An exhibition of 51 semifinalists' painted and sculpted portraits followed. Of those exhibited, seven were chosen for the short list, and Shorewood, Wisconsin, artist David Lenz was awarded the grand prize for his thoughtful and provocative work, "Sam and the Perfect World."

"I am pleased to announce this call for entries to the second Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition," said Carolyn Kinder Carr, acting director of the National Portrait Gallery. "This initiative celebrates contemporary artists who work with portraiture and highlights the fact that the art of the figure is alive, well and flourishing."

Entries will be accepted online at the Portrait Gallery's Web site and will initially be judged using an online jury system. Jurors include Wanda Corn, the Robert and Ruth Halperin professor in art history at Stanford University; Kerry James Marshall, artist; Brian O'Doherty, artist and critic; and Peter Schjeldahl, art critic for "The New Yorker."

This competition invites submissions of portraits in all media, including painting, drawing, sculpture, prints, photography, electronic and digital media. All finalist works will be shown in a major exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, opening in October 2009. The grand prize is a $25,000 cash award. Additionally, entrants may be featured on "Portrait of an Artist," an online diary that will allow visitors to follow the updates of several artists as the competition unfolds.

The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competitions is held triennially. For more information, visit www.npg.si.edu or www.portraitcompetition.si.edu.

The National Portrait Gallery

The National Portrait Gallery tells the stories 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 who speak American history.

The National Portrait Gallery opened to the public in 1968. The museum's collection of nearly 20,000 works includes paintings, sculpture, photographs, drawings and new media. Located at Eighth and F streets N.W., Washington, D.C., it is open every day, except Dec. 25, from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Smithsonian information: (202) 633-1000; (202) 633-5285 (TTY). Web site: www.npg.si.edu.

Note to editors: High-resolution images are available from the National Portrait Gallery's FTP site. Call (202) 633-8295 or e-mail hahnj@si.edu for information to access the site.

Submissions will be accepted online June 2 through July 31