Featuring works from an international list of artists, the BP Portrait Award highlights the vitality of portrait painting today. This book presents the diverse range of styles in contemporary portraiture and the variety of techniques used by artists working in the field today.

The BP Portrait Award, now in its thirty-ninth year, is one of Britain's most prestigious art prizes, and is the leading showcase for artists throughout the world specialising in portraiture.

In 2017 more than 230,000 people visited the exhibition based on the competition open to all artists aged eighteen and over from around the world.

The catalogue features around fifty-three works from an international list of artists, which together display a diverse range of styles and painterly techniques. It also includes an essay, an illustrated interview with the previous year's Travel Award winner and interviews with the prizewinners by Richard McClure, which give further insight into the artists behind the portraits.