Portrait Society of America is an art organization based in

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Established in 1998, the Portrait Society of America is a

501(C)3 A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

registered charity was set to serve the purpose of an art education organization to foster the art of like

portraiture A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this r ...

figurative art Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork (particularly paintings and sculptures) that is clearly derived from real object sources and so is, by definition, representational. The term is often in contrast to abstract a ...

and Contemporary-Traditional Art through art programs and publications. The Portrait Society is dedicated to providing educational resources for everyone who has the curiosity for technical information, aesthetics in traditional art and history of portraiture and figurative art. The Portrait Society has more than 2,750 members around the globe. The Portrait Society was established by Edward Jonas, Gordon Wetmore, and Tom Donahue as a national non-profit organization in 1998. The organization is governed by an executive board and advisory board in which Daniel Greene,

James Gurney James Gurney (born June 14, 1958) is an American artist and author known for his illustrated book series ''Dinotopia'', which is presented in the form of a 19th-century explorer's journal from an island utopia cohabited by humans and dinosaurs. ...

Rhoda Sherbell Rhoda Sherbell (born 1933) is a contemporary American sculptor, consultant, and teacher whose work is displayed in prominent institutions and has won many awards. Life She was born in Brooklyn; New York gave her access to world class museums th ...

, Burton Silverman and Mary Whyte are members of the board.

Competitions

The Portrait Society of America hosts three competitions annually with The International Portrait Competition being the most prominent one. After many rounds of selection, twenty finalists are selected to exhibit their original work at The Art of the Portrait conference for a final round of judging and the selection of the awards. The William F. Draper Grand Prize is the top award given by the organization.

William F. Draper Prize Winners

https://www.portraitsociety.org/ipc-history

Gold medal recipients

References

{{Reflist Arts organizations based in Florida Arts organizations established in 1998 Figurative art Portrait art 1998 establishments in Florida Organizations based in Tallahassee, Florida 501(c)(3) organizations