The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery has commissioned a photographic portrait of food pioneer Alice Waters, founder of the Chez Panisse Restaurant and Cafe, the Edible Schoolyard and champion of the Slow Food movement. The portrait was created by Dave Woody, the first-place winner of the museum’s 2009 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. It will be unveiled Aug. 26 at the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive as a part of the 40th anniversary celebration of the restaurant’s founding.
This presentation is the first for the Portrait Gallery that will take place outside of the museum; the portrait will be installed in Washington, D.C., during a presentation at the Portrait Gallery in late January 2012.
“I am delighted to present this newly created portrait by Dave Woody taken in Alice Waters’ Edible Schoolyard,” said Martin E. Sullivan, director of the museum. “In this compelling photograph, he captures Alice Waters’ commitment to local, organic food. The Portrait Gallery recognizes Waters for changing the way the nation thinks about how people are connected to food and the environment.”
As part of the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition the National Portrait Gallery commissions the winning artist to create a work that depicts a living subject for its collection. This competition is made possible by Virginia Outwin Boochever, whose gift fosters the acquisition of contemporary portraiture for the Portrait Gallery.
A call for entries for the next Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition will run from Sept. 1 through Oct. 30. More information can be found at portraitcompetition.si.edu