NEW YORK, March 23, 2018—The American Academy of Arts and Letters announced today the ten artists who will receive its 2018 awards in art. The awards will be presented in New York City in May at the Academy’s annual Ceremonial. The art prizes and purchases, totaling over $250,000, honor both established and emerging artists. The award winners were chosen from a group of 35 artists who had been invited to participate in the Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts, which opened on March 8, 2018. The exhibition continues through April 8, 2018, and features over 100 paintings, sculptures, installations, and works on paper. The members of this year’s award committee were: Judy Pfaff (chairman), William Bailey, Mary Heilmann, Richard Hunt, Yvonne Jacquette, Bill Jensen, Catherine Murphy, Martin Puryear, Dorothea Rockburne, and Joel Shapiro.
TOP ROW: Christina Tenaglia, Untitled; Marina Adams, January Out My Window; Todd Bienvenu, The Dude Abides; Sanford Biggers, Selah; Robert Barber, Pink Cartons. CENTER ROW: Didier William, Two Dads; Annabeth Rosen, Sample; Sedrick Huckaby, Frederick’s Family: Keep Your Head Up. BOTTOM ROW: Joan Waltemath, M’s Crossing (detail); Carrie Moyer, Conflagration with Bangs; Alison Saar, Rouse; Jim Melchert, When the Cat in Copycat Was a Dog (detail).
Award of Merit Medal in Painting
MARINA ADAMS
$25,000 to an outstanding American painter.
Arts and Letters Awards in Art
SANFORD BIGGERS ∙ SEDRICK HUCKABY ∙ JIM MELCHERT ∙ CARRIE MOYER ∙ ALISON SAAR
Five awards of $10,000 each to honor exceptional accomplishment and encourage creative work.
Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Award in Art
ANNABETH ROSEN
$10,000 to a visual artist.
Jacob Lawrence Award in Art
JOAN WALTEMATH
$10,000 to a visual artist.
Willard L. Metcalf Award in Art
TODD BIENVENU
$10,000 to an artist of great promise.
Rosenthal Family Foundation Award in Art
DIDIER WILLIAM
$10,000 to a young painter of distinction.
Art Purchase Program
Purchased Artists
CHESTER ARNOLD ∙ ROBERT BARBER ∙ SAM CADY ∙ ROY DOWELL ∙ JIM LONG ∙ NIKKI MALOOF ∙ JIM MELCHERT ∙ RUTH MILLER ∙ RUTH ROOT ∙ ROBERT STORR ∙ CHRISTINA TENAGLIA ∙ MARJORIE WELISH ∙ ROGER WHITE
The Academy’s purchase program began in 1946 to place the work of talented, living American artists in museums across the country. Since the inauguration of this program, the Academy has spent nearly $5 million to purchase over 1200 works of art. The American Impressionist painter Childe Hassam (1859-1935) founded this program through the bequest of over 400 of his works with the stipulation that the accumulated income from their sale be used to establish a fund to purchase paintings and works on paper. Similar bequests were made by Academy members Eugene Speicher (1883-1962), Louis Betts (1873-1961), and Gardner Symons (1861-1930). All works purchased through this program are donated to American museums.
Art Purchase Program for Sculpture
Purchased Artists
BARB SMITH ∙ NARI WARD
Since 2013, the Academy has allocated funds specifically for the purchase of sculpture to be donated to American museums.
Works by the winners of the 2018 Art Awards and Purchases are currently on display in the Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts, and will be shown in the Ceremonial Exhibition: Work by New Members and Recipients of Awards, which follows the Ceremonial in May. Details are available here.
Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts
MARCH 8 – APRIL 8, 2018
Thursdays through Sundays
1 to 4 p.m.
Enter on Audubon Terrace, west side of Broadway
between 155 and 156 Streets, New York City.
#1 train to 157 Street and Broadway; M4 or M5 bus to 155 Street and Broadway