Explore portraits from The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today at the National Portrait Gallery in this Learning Lab collection.
The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today presents 42 portraits selected through an open call that garnered more than 2,700 entries from artists working across the United States and Puerto Rico. The artists responded with works that engage contemporary society, many providing new insights into the unprecedented reality we have experienced in the time surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
The selected finalists create artworks in a wide range of media, including painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, textiles, video, and performance. They demonstrate how capacious and changing the genre of portraiture can be, and illuminate the genre's power to make visible a multitude of life experiences.
To best view the video and performance pieces, visit the The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today's website.
Every three years, the National Portrait Gallery invites both emerging and established artists working in the U.S. to submit a recent portrait to the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. Around fifty works are then selected by expert jurors who, on average, review more than 2,500 entries. The competition has evolved since its inception in 2006 to include performance art and time-based media alongside painting, photography, drawing, and sculpture.
As part of its deep commitment to supporting contemporary artists working in portraiture, the National Portrait Gallery looks to the Outwin to share the genre’s remarkable relevance and strengthen the visual representation of American history. Each iteration of the competition gauges portraiture’s progression while underscoring the potential of one person to make an impact.
The Outwin is made possible through the Virginia Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition Endowment, established by Virginia Outwin Boochever (1920–2005), who served as a docent for the National Portrait Gallery for nearly two decades. Mrs. Boochever’s vision for the Outwin is now carried out by her children.
Educators, to explore these portraits with your students through close looking and visible thinking routines, see the resources at the end of this collection for ideas.
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