Events for the exhibition “The Outwin 2025: American Portraiture Today”, which is slated to open at the National Portrait Gallery on October 18, have been rescheduled due to the ongoing government shutdown.
Drawing from more than 3,300 entries, “The Outwin 2025: American Portraiture Today” is a juried show featuring 35 portraits by 36 artists from 14 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, as part of the museum’s seventh triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition.
A letter, now circulating on social media, informing participants of the postponement of events surrounding “The Outwin 2025: American Portraiture Today”, was sent by the Portrait Gallery’s acting director Elliot Gruber on October 7.
Citing the government shutdown as the reason for cancelation, the letter explains, “After careful review and consultation with our team and with Smithsonian executive leadership, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the opening events associated with The Outwin 2025: American Portraiture Today from October 16 through 17.”
Though the letter cites this as “an uncertain time”, it reassuringly adds, “The National Portrait Gallery is looking forward to sharing this exhibition with you and the public and look forward to the moment when we can recognize our finalists and prizewinners. We will announce a rescheduled date for the opening events and of the exhibition following the resolution of lapsed funding.”
Established in 2006, the show also awards prizes, with a commission to portray a remarkable living American for the National Portrait Gallery’s collection and a $25,000 purse for the first-prize winner; the second and third place winners receive $10,000 and $7,500, respectively. Past recipients include such notable artists as Amy Sherald in 2016 and Hugo Crosthwaite in 2019.
Prize winners for this year’s iteration of the competition are David Antonio Cruz, Kameron Neal, and Jared Soares.
They were selected by the 2025 guest jurors curator and writer Carla Acevedo-Yates, University of Pennsylvania professor and writer Huey Copeland, artist LaToya Ruby Frazier, and artist Daniel Lind-Ramos.
This is latest change in programing amid the ongoing government shutdown, which has seen a number of museum and national park services suspended.
