The Portrait Award named after the brewer J. K. Jacobsen is held by the National History Museum at Frederiksborg (Denmark) and sponsored by Carlsberg Foundation. The contest aims to draw attention to the portrait genre of both artists and audience. Every year the competition features sculptors, painters, graphic and new media artists, considering any means of expression and techniques.

Official partner of the competition in Russia is Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art.

Initially, the competition was held only among the artists from Scandinavian countries. But the geography was expanded with the support of “Baltika” and other Carlsberg Group companies from Eastern Europe. Now artists from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine have the opportunity to present their works. Moreover, China has also joined the competition this year.

The first stage of competition for the participants from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine finished in December 2014. About 760 applications were registered. International jury chose the best authors, whose works will be presented at Erarta exhibition. The semi-finalists will be selected from thess artists and they will compete with the other participants from the Nordic countries and China. The Final will be held in the castle of Frederiksborg in May 2015.

Mette Skougaard, Director of Frederiksborg Museum:

“Portrait genre constantly evolves, and it’s fascinating to observe works of contemporary artists, their perception of reality and expressive means that they use in their creative work. We have high expectations of this year contest, as for the first time together with Scandinavian artists their colleagues from Eastern Europe and China take part in it.  We already have seen a lot of unique portraits, revealing diversity of characters, cultural peculiarities, which are at the same time united by the idea of humanism: understanding the value of a person as an individual, respecting his spiritual world”.

Pavel Markaytis, Head of Exhibition Department of Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art:

“The beauty of all art competitions is in the possibility to get acquainted with a large number of authors. The eternal theme of the competition brings together artists of different generations, and different aesthetic views. We received applications from realist painters and young street artists, from professional and amateur photographers. The exposition is going to be breathtaking, colorful, fascinating. It will certainly give a good idea of what ‘Portrait Now’ is”.