Edinburgh-born painter Clara Drummond, a veteran contestant for the BP Portrait Award, has taken home the £30,000 ($44,000) prize in the 2016 edition. She won with a portrait of fellow artist Kirsty Buchanan, whom she painted for her 2013 and 2014 entries; Drummond has made it into the exhibition of finalists five times. She also earns a £5,000 ($7,400) commission.
The winning portrait, Girl in a Liberty Dress (2016), goes on view at the National Portrait Gallery, London, which hosts the award, on Thursday.
Bo Wang, Silence, 2016. Courtesy National Portrait Gallery, London.
The £10,000 ($14,800) second prize went to Chinese artist Bo Wang for Silence, his painting of his grandmother in the terminal stage of cancer, when she was no longer able to speak. Grimsby-born painter Benjamin Sullivan won the £8,000 ($11,800) third prize for his portrait of poet Hugo Williams.
The winners were selected from more than 2,500 entrants from 80 countries.
Benjamin Sullivan, Hugo, 2016. Courtesy National Portrait Gallery, London.
In recent years, the energy company’s support for the arts has come into the cross hairs of environmental activists. The British Museum closed its doors for several hours in May when Greenpeace activists scaled its columns and wrapped them with banners in protest of a BP-sponsored exhibition. Climate activists also recently occupied Tate Modern’s iconic turbine hall for 25 hours to protest BP’s sponsorship of the institution.
An exhibition of the BP Portrait Award winners will be on view at London’s National Portrait Gallery from June 23–September 4.