BP Portrait Award 2009

Featuring sixty works from an international list of artists, the 'BP Portrait Award' highlights the vitality of portrait painting today. This book not only presents the diverse range of styles in contemporary portraiture but also the variety of techniques used. Sarah Dunant's insightful essay explores how artists attempt to reveal the inner workings of the human form, which has remained a key element in portraiture from the Renaissance to the present day.nnThe 'BP Portrait Award', now in its twentieth year, is a popular fixture on the summer calendar, and is the leading showcase for artists throughout the world specialising in portraiture. Last year over 176,000 people visited the exhibition, which is based on the competition open to all artists aged eighteen and over from around the world. nnThe catalogue features sixty works from an international list of artists, which together display a diverse range of styles and painterly techniques. It also includes a fascinating and inspiring essay by best-selling novelist Sarah Dunant and an illustrated article by the 2008 Travel Award winner Emmanouil Bitsakis. His text describes the journey he undertook to Xinjiang County in northwest China to document the Uigur community, who remain culturally distinct from the majority Han Chinese.