Painting Alum Marianna Olague, Outwin Boochever Finalist, Featured in Smithsonian Magazine

Marianna Olague, Customer Service Representative, 2020.

Smithsonian Magazine featured “the new faces of American portraiture” from the 16th annual Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition and among the finalists is Cranbrook Academy of Art alum, Marianna Olague (MFA Painting 2019). Olague’s Customer Service Representative (2020) brings attention to a cash register attendant from the view of a customer next in line. Olague’s practice has focused on her family and friends living along the Mexico-U.S. border in El Paso, Texas, her sister is the one behind the counter in this work.

The triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition is named for Virginia Out Boochever, a Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery docent who died in 2005 and left an endowment to the museum, making the competition possible. The competition has become a force in the art world for expanding representation and emphasizing the portrayal of marginalized communities.

Read the article from Smithsonian Magazine

More about the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition

Learn more about Olague and her work from David Klein Gallery