Portrait Award 2025 - Artists with their paintings

The popularity of my "Artists with their Portraits" post every year - in relation to the Portrait Award Exhibition - is a great incentive to get as many pics as I can.

What my photographs help you to do - which the online gallery does NOT - is to see the size of the painting relative to the artist who painted it.

Inevitably, I don't manage to capture every artist. Although I've got most....

(Mainly, I think, because very many of the artists had not yet realised that the badge they get give to wear which says "artist" on it has a PURPOSE! ie. it enables all the journalists to recognise all those who have painted a portrait in the exhibition - so you can ask for a photo!)

At least this Press Preview morning was limited to the artists and their sitters and the press. Which was a HUGE improvement on past years where all the "hangers on" came along as well and well and truly got in the way.

So here are all the portraits of Artists with their Portraits. 
WARNING: This is A MAMMOTH POST and not a quick read. You will need sustenance to get to the end!

It provides:

• my photo of the artist with their painting
• LINKS for those who might wish to view/follow their work:
• website links are embedded in the artist's name - followed by their Instagram site 
• followed by text in quotes that has been written by somebody from information supplied by the artists but the author has included a few conclusions of their own and certainly has not understood all the words they used! See if you can work out which one I mean. The answer will be on Facebook in a few days
• Summary of education and appearances in exhibitions etc.

The latter might give some insight to aspiring artists as to the level of education and experience of most artists who are selected. That said, some are self taught and for at least one artist, this is their first exhibition!

Last year I organised my photos and associated artists in groups by country they live in.  

This year I'm organising the artists into groups by the TYPE OF SITTER - as follows

• Self Portraits
• Portraits of Parents and Children
• Portraits of Women
• Portraits of Men
• Portraits of Groups

The prizewinners come at the end of their relevant group.

Hopefully this will provide some insight into the very different ways people portray people who are "similar".

Self Portraits

I'm going to start with a couple of my favourites. The first is complex and needs three images! The second has a story behind it.

Shinji Ihara (Japan)

Light and Shadow (2025) By Shinji Ihara
Oil on canvas
(his self portrait appears in the shadow at the top - and....)

Shinji Ihara was in last year's Portrait Award with an absolutely stunning painting. He's returned this year with another one.

He's getting a special spot in this post because I think I'm going to be seeing him again (and again!). 

• His paintings are always about stories and are rather like a puzzle and get more and more interesting as you study them. His colouration and tonal control are also amazing!
• Last year he produced an an immaculate painting in terms of both story and the quality of the painting - where the focal point was a white cat which had just died.

Review: Contemporary British Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2025

Contemporary British Portrait Painters have grown since they were founded in 2018 - and now have an annual exhibition.  This is a review of this year's exhibition - but also the way in which members of the group work together which impresses me so much.

Don't forget - the exhibition continues until 5pm tomorrow 5th July!

the hang was beautifully balanced - in terms of colour, subjects and size

First, apologies for the late review. I've been preoccupied with various personal matters this week, which had to take priority. 

However I did manage to get my pics of the exhibition onto Facebook very fast - You can see my photographs in this Facebook Album Contemporary British Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2025 (39 items ).  I also recommended people visit the exhibition which continues

• downstairs at The Department Store, 248 Ferndale Road, Brixton SW9 8FR.
• until 5pm on Saturday 5th July

Review of the Group

This is one of the friendliest and most co-operative art societies I know - which gives the exhibition and its Private View a really positive and relaxed atmosphere. It's always a pleasure to be there on PV night.

While there are a few particularly key people organising behind the scenes - notably the Chair Sarah Jane Moon and the Exhibition Curator Lucy Stopford, there are a range of people playing key support roles within what is very much a team. What's more they've got all the angles covered - which is more than I can say for some!

The Team

         Left to right: Wendy Barratt, Catalogue; Sarah Jane Moon, Chair; Peter Davis, Graphics; Lucy Stopford, Exhibition Lead; Liesel Thomas; Peter James Field, Communications Lead ; Jonathan Chan, social media; Martyn Burdon, Development Officer; 

Clive Bryant, Secretary & Treasurer.

The CBPP are 

• intentionally run as a non-profit collective (you are expected to contribute) and 
• take no commission from the sales by individual artists at their exhibitions.  
• everybody has to apply - there are no invitations.

I think this is maybe because the age profile is maybe younger than some societies. Which is not to say people are inexperienced. Far from it. Their members include 

• a number of BP / HSF Portrait Award winners 
• plus regular exhibitors who haven't won just yet and/or have painted portrait commissions for the National Portrait Gallery
• a number of PAOTY competition winners. 
• As well as people who have won top prizes for portraiture internationally.

A very large portrait of a Philippine fisherman by Tim Benson
who is one of this year's HSF Portrait Award winners
(and we found out which one next week!)

Frances Bell with her self portrait "Yellow Trainers"
which won the Draper Grand Prize and People's Choice 
at the Portrait Society of America's "The Art of the Portrait Conference" 
(see other International Portrait Prize winners)

It's about championing one another and being supportive.

Together we aim to amplify a broader range of voices and practices Catalogue

What's really very positive and inclusive is that 

• classically trained people are embraced 
• just as much as those who have developed their own styles and techniques. 

There's none of that rather sniffy "trained in Florence - not what we're looking for" which we get with PAOTY.

It's also very inclusive in terms of the background and life choices of its members. In other words it's very much NOT an an anglo saxon white society where people mainly paint commissions for institutions. 

Which is not to say they don't. Just that you won't see them in the CBPP exhibition.

Indeed I'd go so far as to say they are more focused as to who and what they are looking for in terms of new members than some other societies. 

They're not really after people who can paint a portrait per se so much as artists who need to create portraits on a regular basis in order to express themselves and how they view the world - and develop their practice.  Their members include: