BP Award

BP Portrait Award

The BP Portrait Award is the most prestigious portrait competitions in the world. For over thirty years the exhibition has presented outstanding and innovative new work, and it continues to be a highlight of the annual art calendar.

Nathalie's work was been exhibited as part of the competition in 2004, 2010, 2012 and 2015.

2020

In 2020, Nathalie submited another painting from her 'Faces of Guildford' series, 'The findlays'. It was preselected from 1981 entries from 69 countries but unfortunately did not make it through to the final 50.

2019

In 2019, Nathalie submited her painting of Neil from her 'Faces of Guildford' series into the BP Award. He was preselected and went on to be in the last 100 portraits out of 2538 internationnaly. 45 were selected for the exhibition.

2015
Here is Nathalie's portrait of Bob Geldof which has been selected for inclusion in the 2015 BP Portrait Award Exhibition 2015.

Nathalie says "After meeting Bob Geldof in 2014 at Guilfest, a music festival where the Boom Town Rats were playing, I knew what I wanted to capture in his portrait. What I felt very strongly about was his strength and his vulnerability. Bob is portrayed as the person rather than as a rock star. The emptiness next to him represents the losses he experienced through the years. Loss being an inevitable part of life, I believe most people will be able to relate to the emotions expressed in the painting. The title of the painting is "Fuck Mondays".

2013

Nathalie's 2013 entry into the competition was a portrait of her husband, Tony. The painting made it through to the last 200 from a total of nearly two thousand entries.

2012

Nathalie's portrait for 2012, “Bruised”, was of her teenage son, Olivier who, during 2011, was involved in a serious car accident in France and was then the victim of a violent attack on the Greek island of Zante. Nathalie nearly lost him twice, and this painting expresses some of her trauma. His trauma can be seen in his injuries and in his eyes. All the items on the pinboard in the background are connected to these events, apart from a tiny version of the portrait Nathalie painted of him as a child (exhibited in the BP Award 2004) symbolising the feeling, so familiar to mothers, that her injured son —now a young man — is also still, in part, her baby.

There's an image of the car involved, while the clock records the time of the crash. Other items are a hospital bill and Olivier's wristband for that year's Guilfest. At the bottom of the pinboard is a postcard he sent home from Zante.

2010

The 2010 BP Portrait Award selected fifty-eight final pieces including Nathalie's portrait of famous entrepreneur, Theo Pathitis, best known for his appearances on the television series, Dragons' Den.

2004

In 2004 the judges selected 54 portraits out of a record number of 955 entries. A portrait of Nathalie's son, Olivier, was selected and exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, Royal Albert Memorial Museum (Exeter), Royal West of England Academy (Bristol), Aberystwyth Arts Center.

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