Image: L-R Jacqueline with Still Life, 2020 © Antony Williams; Before it’s Ruined (or an Unrealized Mean Side), 2020 © Rebecca Orcutt
The recently renamed competition, now in its forty-second year, results in an exhibition of submitted work which begins this month.
The National Portrait Gallery has named the winner of its portrait competition as Antony Williams, for his work, Jacqueline with Still Life.
The first prize-winning portrait will be temporarily displayed in the National Portrait Gallery’s ground-floor History Makers space.
The competition, which was until last year known as the BP Portrait Award, returns for its forty-second with new headline sponsor, international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills.
Other winners announced in the 2024 competition include Rebecca Orcutt, who received the Young Artist Award for her self-portrait Before it’s Ruined (or an Unrealized Mean Side).
Second prize was awarded to Isabella Watling for Zizi, and third prize was awarded to Catherine Chambers for Lying.
The winning portraits are among 50 now on display, selected by a panel of judges including the National Portrait Gallery’s former Director, Dr Nicholas Cullinan OBE; visual artist, Barbara Walker MBE RA; sociologist and bioethicist, Sir Tom Shakespeare; actor and host of the podcast, Talk Art, Russell Tovey; and the Gallery’s Curator for Contemporary Collections, Tanya Bentley.
Williams receives £35,000 as the first prize winner. The artist has exhibited at the Portrait Award on eleven occasions, notably winning third prize in 2017 for his work Emma, and his 2003 portrait of economist, philosopher and social thinker, Amartya Kumar Sen, was commissioned for the National Portrait Gallery’s collection.
Second prize winner Watling received £12,000 from the competition. Her work has been exhibited by the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and as part of The Portrait Society of America’s International Portrait Prize. Watling’s work was previously selected for the Portrait Award in both 2012 and 2014.
Third Prize winner Catherine Chambers receives £10,000 for her work , ‘Lying’. The artist has previously had her work exhibited at the Embassy of Ethiopia, at the Royal Academy of Arts’ Summer Exhibition and as part of the Football Art Prize at the Millennium Gallery in Sheffield. She was also selected for the Royal Society of British Artists Rising Stars Shortlist in 2024. This is the first time her work has been selected for display as part of the Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award.
As part of the competition, a new commission will also be awarded to one artist every two years. All artists chosen to exhibit in 2024 and 2025’s Portrait Award exhibitions will be considered for this commission, which has an increased value of £14,000.
Michael Elliott, Interim Director of the National Portrait Gallery said: “Congratulations to the prize winners and all exhibiting artists taking part in this year’s Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award.
“It is wonderful to see the show return to the Gallery and once again demonstrate the diversity and quality of talent present within the portrait-painting community today. I hope visitors will enjoy the exciting range of styles and sitters in this year’s exhibition.”
