The winner of this year’s BP Portrait Award has been announced as Matan Ben-Cnaan. The 35-year-old Israeli artist will receive £30,000 in prize money for his work Annabelle and Guy.
The allegorical portrait, inspired by the bible story of Jephthah and his daughter, features one of the artist’s friends and his step-daughter. Ben-Cnaan also wins a special commission from the National Portrait Gallery Trustees’, worth £5,000.
Pim Baxter, chair of judges and deputy director, National Portrait Gallery, London, said: “We were all drawn to the winning portrait by Matan Ben-Cnaan at a very early stage, the quality of light is extraordinary, together with the intensity of the gaze of the subjects.”
A second prize of £10,000 went to Leicester-based artist Michael Gaskell for Eliza, a portrait depicting his niece. The third prize of £8,000 went to Spanish artist Borja Buces Renard for My Mother and My Brother on a Sunday Evening. In addition, the BP Young Artist Award of £7,000, presented to an entrant aged between 18 and 30, was won by New York-based artist Eleana Antonaki for J.
This year’s competition was judged by: Baxter; Sarah Howgate, contemporary curator, National Portrait Gallery, London; Kim Mawhinney, head of art, National Museums Northern Ireland; Peter Monkman, artist and winner of the BP Portrait Award 2009; Simon Schama, historian; and Des Violaris, director, UK Arts & Culture, BP.
The winners were selected anonymously out of a total of 2,748 entries from 92 countries, with 55 portraits selected for an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London.
The BP Portrait Award continues until 20 September at the National Portrait Gallery, London. www.npg.org.uk
