Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2023: Prizewinners and selected artists

Yesterday the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters opened to the public at the Mall Galleries and I visited. In this post I'm going to focus on 

• those winning prizes and 
• those whose artwork was selected for this very prestigious annual exhibition.

My review of the actual exhibition will follow on Sunday and will highlight:

• commentary on what's different this year
• observations on the content
• portraits I particularly liked

Prizewinners | RP Annual Exhibition 2023

The William Lock Portrait Prize: £20,000 for the most timeless portrait with a real feeling for paint and its aesthetic potential

Charlotte, by Saied Dai RP NEAC, 

80.5 x 60.5 cm (90.5 x 70.5 cm framed)

Saied Dai's portrait of his artist wife Charlotte Sorapure is timeless. It's both classical and contemporary. It's colourful and yet shows wonderful appreciation of tonal planes and light.

He's painted his wife before but somehow this time we get much more sense of the real woman.

This couple are both very accomplished and have won many awards.

What I'd really like to see is an exhibition which includes a couple of portraits from them - painted at the same time - of each painting the other.

The Ondaatje Prize for Portraiture: £10,000 plus the Society’s Gold Medal
- awarded for the most distinguished portrait in the Society’s annual exhibition

Toby Wiggins RP

Winter's Work; Russell Woodham at rest while laying a hazel hedge in the Dorset Style,

121.5 x 151 cm (125.5 x 155 cm framed)

Toby was elected a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 2006. He won the Prince of Wales Drawing Award in 2005 and 2013, the Changing Faces Prize in 2006 and the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize for figurative painting in 2009.

In 2006, after winning the BP Travel Award, Toby made portraits of the rural community of Wessex, which were exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in 2007 and subsequently at Dorset County Museum in 2008.

One of his drawings for the painting is also in the show. My first encounter with Toby was seeing his wonderful drawings of people working in rural communities which were completed for the BP Travel Award.

Toby Wiggins
A Blackbird's Tongue: Russell Woodham, the Dorset Hedgelayer
Pencil, charcoal, ink on prepared paper

 

The de Laszlo Foundation Award: £3,000 plus a Silver Medal for the most outstanding portrait by an artist aged 35 years or under

Phoebe-Louise Stewart Carter, 
Self Portrait in the Winter,
85 x 50 cm (105 x 70 cm framed)

This is a very quiet but extremely well painted portrait. It's a curious pose as it would be one difficult to ask an artist to hold - but easier if the subject is yourself!

The RP Award 

£2,000 will be awarded to the artist whose work best represents the year's chosen theme - which for 2023 is "Clothing"

Zac Lee, 
Sunday Afternoon, 73 x 53 cm

It's unclear who Zac Lee is online. Which is a missed opportunity for this artist.

The RP Prize for the Best Small Portrait: A prize of £2,000 for the best small portrait in the exhibition, measuring not more than 38 x 30.5 cm (15 x 12 inches) unframed

Carles Belda

Study for Something Never Ends, 19 x 15 cm (29 x 25 cm framed)

To be perfectly honest, I thought there were a LOT of small portraits which were excellent and certainly provided very worthy competition for this portrait. Which is a polite way of saying I'm really not sure why this one won the prize.

I feel art societies would generally be very helpful to ALL artists if they provided a brief explanation of why someone won a prize. Its omission in this instance left me wondering....

Raw Umber Studios Prize Value £2,000.

This is a new prize in 2023 - and was won by the current Vice President of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.

Raw Umber Studios believes that the most exciting contemporary portraiture lies at the intersection of technical excellence and creative expression. Their annual prize, inaugurated in 2023, encourages and rewards such work.

Simon Davis RP RBSA, 
Warren Ellis
61 x 51 cm (67 x 57 cm framed)

The Smallwood Architects Prize for Contextual Portraiture: £1,000 for a portrait in which architectural or interior features play an important part.

Paul's Emporium by Martyn Harris

80 x 110 cm (86 x 116 cm framed)

Rather less architectural than usual.

Missing prizes?

I couldn't find

• a drawing awarded The Prince of Wales's Award for Portrait Drawing (£2,000 and framed certificate for a portrait in any recognised drawing medium) and note it's not part of the list if prizewinners on the Mall Galleries website. If it has come to an end that would be a very great pity - although obviously it needs a name update!
• any reference to The Burke’s Peerage Foundation Award for Classically Inspired Portraiture - which also appears to no longer awarded. 

Selected Art and Artists | RP Annual Exhibition 2023

Last November, I wrote my annual blog post about the Call for Entries: Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2023. 

Subsequently artists who entered via the open entry were notified (you can see a list of who made it to the exhibition below) and yesterday I visited the exhibition on the first day it was open to the public.

The RSPP got 3,466 entries for this very prestigious exhibition with over 1,000 coming from artists living and working outside the UK.

Some of the names are odd - insofar as they are very obviously extremely competent career portrait painters - and yet they've not applied for membership of the RP. I can name names! :). It occurs to me that:

• either, nobody has ever told them how they can apply for membership
• or the artists like it just the way it is at the moment.

I'll be featuring some of them in my review on Sunday - in which I'll be highlighting a number of portraits I particularly liked.

However it was pleasing to see a lot of names of people I don't know. It's always good to see lots of fresh new talent.

These are the names of the selected artists - in surname, first name format.

• Ali Kazmi, Imran - Girl with the Red Rose
• Allen, Richard - Els I
• Arenson, Laura - Don't Tell Anyone I'm Here
• Arenson, Laura - December's Goodbye
• Attie, Philippe - 800-pound Gorilla
• Avila, Jeff - Uneasy Sleep
• Barratt, Wendy - Grief
• Bays, Caroline - Stripey T-shirt
• Bedeman, Oliver - T'Nia Miller
• Beecht, Thomas - Georg
• Beharrell, Jane - Girl in Black
• Belda Roman, Carles - Study for Something Never Ends
• Birch, Ashley - Artist Mother ('In a field of its own')
• Braiden, Simon - Girl on a Sofa (Gemma)
• Burton, Abigail - Mauricia
• Burton, Abigail - Priscilla
• Butterworth, Hillary - Juana
• Caldwell, Steve - Reid 2
• Caldwell, Steve - June
• Cannon, Steve - Adrian Seated
• Cannon, Steve - Self Portrait with Avocado Plant
• Classi, Angela - Gaetano
• Clatworthy, Jane - Claudio in the Red Chair
• Clayden, Sam - Josh
• Clayton, Tom - Her Name was Magill
• Coles, Lizzie - Tameka
• Comoretti, Vania - Shadow
• Conway, Anita - Clive Myrie
• Cosgrove, Ken - Shannon
• Coulson, Alan - Elly

Elly by Alan Coulson

​Alan exhibits regularly in both the UK and US, notably as part of the prestigious BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery London, where in 2012 he was awarded third prize for his portrait of Richie Culver. Alan has produced commissioned work ​​for clients including The New York Times Magazine, The Sunday Times Magazine, Bloomberg Markets Magazine, Carlton Books, The Chronicle Review and Club Wembley.

• Crozier, Belinda - Friday Art Club
• Crozier, Belinda - Judith
• Cullen, Annabel - Untitled
• Davies, Kerry Lisa - Gabriel
• Day, Estelle - Small Self Portrait in Studio
• Di, Kexin - Mama
• Di Taranto, Davide - Andreas
• Di Taranto, Davide - James Edward
• Doherty, Mark - Self Portrait in Studio
• Donadeo, Jacqueline - Enough
• Dorothee, Clauss - Alex
• Draisey, Mark - Jack
• Draisey, Mark - Jatinder Singh Durhailay
• Dury, Amy - Rae
• Ejoh, Wallace - Red Shawl
• Fei, Yangtao - The End of Life of the Father Series
• Fletcher, Nancy - Portrait of Bea, Otis & Rufus
• Granitsioti Mathianaki, Panagiota - In the Studio
• Hanbury, Clementine - Self Portrait at 25
• Harris, Martyn - Paul's Emporium
• Hawkins, Julia - Self-portrait with casts
• Hayes, James - Self Portrait
• Hillman, Aelfred - Guitarist in a Red Shirt
• Holder, Curtis - Hirsute III
• Hope, Laura - Self Portrait
• Houston, Florence - Bella and Bakelite
• Hume, Celia - Juniper
• Johnson, Hero - Winter PJs
• Kinsler, Jeannie - Byrne at the V&A
• Kitson, Richard - Portrait of Suzi
• Korteweg, Anna - Portrait of Lotus
• Larin, Anna - Gaia
• Lee, Keh Wee - Sunday Afternoon
• Leho, Stephen - Leaning on the History of Art
• Lorentzen, Mette - Mom September 2021
• Marrucchi, Alessandra - Self Portrait with Pearl Earring
• McKendry, Kenny - Back to the Light
• McNicholas, Mick - Lockdown - Self-Portrait
• Medhurst, Asa - Maxim with Avatars
• Melling, George - Portrait of an Unknown Painter
• Milne, Janis - Gazelle
• Moock, Helena - Kember's Room
• Moock, Helena - Self Portrait with Covid
• Morgan, Jordan - Portrait of the Artist's Parents
• Morris, Luis - Girl on a Chair
• Morris, Luis - Self Portrait
• Morzuch, Joe - Blue Self-Portrait, 5
• Muller, Robin L - Astrid
• Munday, Daniel - Intersection
• Munro, Jason - Caspernaut
• Nelis, Daniel - Man with Closed Eyes
• Orlowski, Stefan - Estuary Days
• Ozel, Mustafa - Portrait of James Bland
• Ozel, Mustafa - Marina
• Pierrepoint, Oriane - Dr Sinan Rawi
• Poderys, Mantas - Family at the Table - Daly MacGabhanns
• Purtill, Liz - Paulus Seeing Me
• Ribeiro Lyra Leite, Filippe - Self-portrait with Striped Shirt
• Riley Shope, Tucker - Portrait of Claudio
• Rivilis, Tania - An Endless Summer Afternoon
• Robertson, Saul - Journeys
• Rooney, Alex - Henry Marsh
• Shadbolt, Daniel - Catherine
• Shaw, Sarah - Portrait of J.P
• Sidelnikova, Valeriia - Halya
• Sidelnikova, Valeriia - Mama
• Slater, Hattie - Soldiers
• Smith, Paul P - Portrait of Vanessa Lubach
• Stern, Varvara - The Wisdom
• Stevanovic, Milenko - Leontios and Michalis
• Stewart Carter, Phoebe-Louise - Self Portrait in the Winter
• Stopford, Lucy - Artist’s Son
• Stopford, Lucy - Fred
• Timko, Bernadett - Jimmy
• Toal, Sarah - Self Portrait at 64
• Vercesi, Cristina - Reflection
• Wang, Binhong - Journey
• Waterhouse, Joshua - The Surgeon
• Watkins, Rosalie - Jessica
• Wattles, Mike - Sculpture
• Wilcox, Graeme - D in Stripes
• Williams, Sophie - Brother in Stripy T-Shirt
• Wood, Steven - Aster
• Yuqing, Florence - Self Portrait
• Yuqing, Florence - Clementine
• Zeoli, Monica - Carnage
• Zhou, Congran - Grandma