The Portraitists’ Muse in the Washington Metropolitan Area

Every year, artists and art lovers alike are drawn to the Portrait Society of America’s ‘The Art of the Portrait' Conference for fun, beauty, and inspiration.

Portrait Society of America board member, American watercolorist Mary Whyte demonstrated painting from a live model at the 26th Portrait Society of America’s "The Art of the Portrait" Conference, at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta, in Buckhead Ga., on April 25, 2024. While Whyte painted, Portrait Society chairman American portraitist Michael Shane Neal gave a presentation on the historical connection between watercolor and oil painting. He included examples of 19th-century watercolor paintings by Sweden’s Anders Zorn and America’s Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent. Courtesy of the Portrait Society of America

Religious art aside—if God created man in his image, there’s no art more divine than the portrait.

From May 8 to 11, some of the world’s leading portrait and figurative artists will be drawing, painting, sculpting, and sharing their expertise at the annual Portrait Society of America’s “The Art of the Portrait” Conference, at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Virginia.