BP PORTRAIT AWARD 2014

Chefs, dogs and a homeless man who washes car windscreens, present show-stealing narratives
Sam-Taylor-NEW-176A homeless man called Karel has just won the BP Portrait Award. Or rather, he has just helped the German artist Thomas Ganter to win (along with the £30,000 prize money). The painting was praised by the judging panel for its ‘intensity’; Ganter’s style and grasp of the subject also won him a National Portrait Gallery Trustees’ commission, worth another £5,000.

The pair originally met after the artist had visited a museum for an inspirational mooch around. ‘After being in a museum, I saw a homeless man and was stunned by a similarity: the clothes, the pose, and other details resembled what I just saw in various paintings,’ he explained after he won.

‘However, this time I was looking at a homeless person wrapped in a blanket and not at the painting of a saint or noble in their elaborate garment. By portraying a homeless man in a manner reserved for nobles or saints, I tried to emphasise that everyone deserves respect and care. Human dignity shouldn’t be relative or dependent on socio-economic status.’

They are admirable sentiments, although history doesn’t relate whether Ganter’s concerns about his subject’s socio-economic status drove him to share the prize money with Karel, who earns money by cleaning car windscreens.

Now in its 35th year, the competition received a recordbreaking 2,377 entries from 71 different countries, up from 1,969 last year. Portraiture is subjective (of course) and divides opinion more than any other genre. The final selection is hefty, with some of the strongest entries from those with no formal training. For instance, the self-taught Chinese artist Lantian D’s series of paintings, Passers By, of people sitting on the Tube, possess a luminous quality that belies their dim setting.

There are lots of portraits of pets. The pug Ollie, in Tim Hall’s Henrietta And Ollie, is a charmer. But the Best in Show goes to Gina, the white furry goddess, in Isabella Watling’s Gina And Cristiano, a masterful homage to Van Dyke and Crufts.

Until 21 September at the National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London WC2: 020-7306 0055, www.npg.org.uk