Monday, December 04, 2017

What do paintings by BP Portrait Award winners look like?

This is about BP Portrait Award Winners and 
  • the portraits they paint than won the BP Portrait Award; and 
  • the commissions they undertake for the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Below you can find a chronological list of names of all the past winners of the BP Portrait Award - together with
The BP Portrait award winners wall in 2017
- much smaller portraits compared to most previous years
What I didn't know before I produced this listing is that:
  • not all winners produce a commission. Typically the international artists have not painted a portrait of a 'significant Briton' commissioned by the NPG 
  • there is sometimes a very long gap between the BP Portrait Award win and the production of the commission. I can only imagine that this is because some effort is made to match sitter and painter and that prior commitments and available dates don't always work out as the NPG might wish.
ALERT This post a preamble to my next blog post which will be about the Call for Entries for the 2018 BP Portrait Award.

BP Portrait Award Winners


2017 - Benjamin Sullivan RP (UK)


Ben Sullivan with Ginnie and 15 month old Edie (at her second BP Awards ceremony!)
Breech! - Winner of the BP Portrait Award 2017
Oil on canvas, 820 x 400mm

2016 - Clara Drummond (UK)


Clara Drummond with the portrait which won the First Prize
in the BP Portrait Award 2016
Girl in a Liberty Dress (260 x 370 mm, oil on board)

2015 - Matan Ben Cnaan (Israel)


Matan Ben Cnaan, Winner of the BP Portrait 2015 First Prize
with allegorical portrait painting of Annabelle and Guy
- a reworking of the Biblical story of Jephthah

2014 - Thomas Ganter (Germany)


Thomas Ganter, winner of the BP Portrait Award 2014
with his winning portrait "Man with a Plaid Blanket"
oil on vanvas 1600mm x 600mm

2013 - Susanne de Toit (UK)


Susanne de Toit - Winner of the BP Portrait Award 2013
(left to right: Bob Dudley, CEO of BP, Sandy Nairne, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, 
Susanne du Toit and guest presenter Joanna Trollope)

I've actually been sketched by Susanne - while I was sketching the view out the window!

KT sketching by Susanne du Toit (2014)

2012 - Aleah Chapin (USA)


Aleah Chapin holding her BP Portrait Award 2012
in front of Auntie

2011 - Wim Heldens (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

2010 - Daphne Todd OBE PPRP (UK)


Daphne Todd with her Last Portrait of Mother

2009 - Peter Monkman (UK)


Peter Monkman with his daughter and her portrait
Changeling 2
(oil on canvas, 1220 x 900 mm) 

2008 - Craig Wylie (UK - but born in Zimbabwe)


BP Portrait Award 2008: Tony Hayward (Group CEO, BP) and Craig Wylie - in front of 'K'
(this was during the big heads era!)
(This was the first BP Portrait Awards Ceremony I attended; I've now attended 9 having missed the one in 2011)

2007 - Paul Elmsley (UK)


Winner of the BP Portrait Award 2007
Michael Simpson by Paul Emsley
Oil on Canvas, 1370 x 1120mm (53 7/8 x 44")
© Paul Emsley

His portrait drawings are impeccable!  I also wrote a blog post about him when he was commissioned to paint a portrait of the Duchess of Cambridge - see Paul Emsley and the Duchess of Cambridge - two videos and a drawing

2006 - Andrew Tift (UK)


2005 - Dean Marsh (UK)

    Dean Marsh's small-scale portrait of his girlfriend, Giulietta Coates, has been praised for its insight, honesty and superior craftsmanship; our critic Brian Sewell, on the judging panel for the first time, announced that it "trounces canvases twice its size as surely as David did Goliath". (Evening Standard)
I loved the commissioned portrait. Sadly it's now been tarnished due to the fall out from the scandal associated with her charity.  See my blog post about the portrait and the scandal - The Camila Batmanghelidjh portrait at the NPG - and what happened next....

I'd like to see another painting by Dean...

2004 - Stephen Shankland (UK)


2003 - Charlotte Harris (UK)


2002 - Catherine Goodman (UK)

Catherine Goodman co-founded the Royal Drawing School with HRH The Prince of Wales.

2001 - Stuart Pearson Wright (UK)


The artwork he produced for the commission has got to be one of the most unusual in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery. I do wonder if that's why he did it in this way! The media is described as oil on board construction with coloured pencil on paper

2000 - Victoria Russell (UK)


I like her website!

1999 - Clive Smith (UK)


1998 - Tomas Watson (UK)


1997 - James Lloyd (UK)


James teaches 'Drawing a Head' at The Royal Drawing School - and c.10 years ago I used to attend his class

1996 - James Hague (UK)


1995 - Ishbel Myerscough (UK)


1994 - Peter Edwards (UK)


He has also painted the portrait of Sir Bobby Charlton which has frequently been on display in the 20th century galleries. This is an article about the process - THE SITTER'S TALE: Sir Bobby Charlton

1993 - Philip Harris (UK)


This was (I think) the very first BP Portrait Award exhibition I ever went to. I certainly remember the painting which won as it was/is simply stunning - and I've never seen its equal since....  (The photographs in no way convey the quality of this painting due to the low resolution)

Philip also won the 3rd Prize in 1993

It's unclear whether he is still painting.

1992 - Lucy Willis (UK)


1991 - Justin Mortimer (UK)


1990 - Annabel Cullen (UK)

Posted by Making A Mark on Monday, December 04, 2017
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