Prizes for The American School: Artists and Status in the Late Colonial and Early National Era (Book)

New England Society Book Award: Art [link]
Date: 6/8/2017 12:00:00 AM
Organization: New England Society [link]
Abstract: This fascinating book is the first comprehensive art-historical study of what it meant to be an American artist in the 18th- and early 19th-century transatlantic world. Rather examines the status of artists from different geographical, professional, and material perspectives and delves into topics such as portrait painting in Boston and London; the trade of art in Philadelphia and New York; the negotiability and usefulness of colonial American identity in Italy and London; and the shifting representation of artists in and from the former British colonies after the Revolutionary War, when London remained the most important cultural touchstone. The book interweaves nuanced analysis of well-known artists—John Singleton Copley, Benjamin West, and Gilbert Stuart, among others—with accounts of non-elite painters and ephemeral texts and images such as painted signs and advertisements.

Charles C. Eldredge Prize for Outstanding Scholarship in American Art [link]
Date: 5/10/2018 12:00:00 AM
Organization: Smithsonian American Art Museum [link]
Abstract: A cash award of $3,000 is made to the author of a recent book-length publication that provides new insight into works of art, the artists who made them, or aspects of history and theory that enrich our understanding of America’s artistic heritage. The Eldredge Prize seeks to recognize originality and thoroughness of research, excellence of writing, clarity of method, and significance for professional or public audiences. It is especially meant to honor those authors who deepen or focus debates in the field, or who broaden the discipline by reaching beyond traditional boundaries. Funding for the Charles C. Eldredge Prize is provided by the American Art Forum, a patrons’ support organization of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The prize was instituted to honor Charles C. Eldredge, who founded the American Art Forum in 1986 during his tenure as director of the museum.

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