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.
- Works must be completed after January 1, 2022
The processing fee helps to cover the shipping costs from all eligible locations for the semifinalists' artworks to be evaluated in-person.