In 2018, artist Ian Goldsmith sent a message to a group of friends and contacts on Instagram pondering the fact that there was, to his knowledge, as yet no independent society to celebrate and give voice to contemporary British portraiture and figurative painting. What started out as a general enquiry got an almost unanimously enthusiastic response from its recipients – and soon afterwards a new collective, Contemporary British Portrait Painters (CBPP for short) was born.

The CBPP as a group seeks to find a more contemporary definition of portraiture which reflects our modern society in its diversity, and celebrates the artists’ ability to interpret their subject without always being reliant on monetary constraints. As a non-profit making group, the CBPP does not gear itself towards the purely commercial – celebrating instead the individual voices of its members. The group itself is diverse, too, featuring an almost equal split between male and female – plus, due to a quick membership application process which is open to all living in the UK, the age split is incredibly wide, featuring recent graduates alongside painters with already long and distinguished careers. It’s not a closed shop.

The interest in figurative painting couldn’t be higher, from TV shows on Sky to the BP Portrait prize, yet the landscape is changing. In 2019, one judge of the BP portrait competition, alongside other leading artists spoke out, calling for the competition to end its connection with BP. Where profit and entertainment take the lead, the art as a consequence, will fall into the background. The CBPP want to put the art at the front, at all times.