Portrait contest whittled down to top three
ARTISTS from almost 100 countries have been cut down to a trio in the search for the world’s best portrait painter.
The three people in the running for the BP Portrait Award include Leicester-based Michael Gaskell, who has been runner-up three times already.
His painting of his then 14-year-old niece Eliza is up against Israeli artist Matan Bencnaan’s oil painting of a friend and their stepdaughter, and Spanish painter Borja Buces Renard’s portrait of his mother and brother.
Mr Gaskell said: “I hope this painting conveys a sense of Eliza’s growing confidence as she develops into a woman but retains some of the selfconsciousness which was also present at the time.”
The judges, who include historian Simon Schama, drew up the shortlist from 2,748 portraits. The winner will receive £30,000 and a commission for a picture for the National Portrait Gallery.