NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 16, 2024 – The American Academy of Arts and Letters announces the 11 recipients of its 2024 Awards in Art, totaling $125,000 to honor both established and emerging artists. Since 1942, art awards have been selected annually by Arts and Letters members to recognize and support fellow artists. The 300 members of Arts and Letters nominate candidates for awards, and a rotating committee of artists selects the winners. This year, the art awards committee members were Mel Chin, Charles Gaines, Ann Hamilton, Joan Jonas, and Amy Sillman.
Given annually since 1942, the Award of Merit Medal, which is accompanied by $25,000, is given in rotation to outstanding American painters, short story writers, sculptors, novelists, poets, and playwrights. This year, the Award of Merit Medal in Painting goes to Matt Connors.
Each year, the awards committee selects five artists to receive Arts and Letters Awards of $10,000 each to honor and encourage creative work. The 2024 recipients are: An-My Lê, Dara Birnbaum, Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds, Walid Raad, and Fred Wilson.
Since 2013, the annual Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Awards, each $10,000, recognize extraordinary achievement in the visual arts. This year, the Jacob Lawrence Award will go to Pepón Osorio and the Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Award to Sharon Hayes.
In addition, Arts and Letters recognizes three young artists for their outstanding achievements: Gala Porras-Kim will receive the biannual Willard L. Metcalf Award of $10,000 to honor a young artist of great promise; Jordan Casteel will receive the John Koch Award of $10,000 to honor a young artist making figurative work; and Adam Pendleton will receive the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award of $10,000, which has been awarded annually to a young painter of distinction since 1960.
The art awards will be presented alongside the architecture, literature, and music awards at Arts and Letters’s annual Ceremonial in May.
A list of the 2024 art award recipients follows.
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is an honor society of artists, architects, composers, and writers who foster and sustain interest in the arts. Its 300 members distribute over $1.2 million in awards annually; fund concerts and new works of musical theater; purchase and commission contemporary art for donation to museums across the country; and present exhibitions, talks, and events for the public at our historic buildings in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City.
To learn more about the American Academy of Arts and Letters, please visit artsandletters.org.
Media Inquiries
Jenny Jaskey
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jjaskey@artsandletters.org
Matt Connors
An-My Lê, Dara Birnbaum, Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds, Walid Raad, Fred Wilson
Pepón Osorio
Sharon Hayes
Gala Porras-Kim
Jordan Casteel
Adam Pendleton
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