Edward MacDowell Medal

The Edward MacDowell Medal is an award which has been given since 1960 to one person annually who has made an outstanding contribution to American culture and the arts. It is given by MacDowell, the first artist residency program in the United States.

Background

The award is named for composer Edward MacDowell, who, with pianist Marian MacDowell, his wife, founded the MacDowell artist residency (formerly known as The MacDowell Colony) in 1907. The residency exists to nurture the arts by offering creative individuals of the highest talent an inspiring environment in which to produce enduring works of the imagination.[1] Each year, MacDowell welcomes more than 300[2][3] architects, composers, filmmakers, interdisciplinary artists, theatre artists, visual artists, and writers from across the United States and around the globe[4]

History of the award

Established in 1960 with the first award going to Thornton Wilder, the award is given to one artist each year, from among seven artistic disciplines, "architecture, visual art, music composition, theater, writing, filmmaking and interdisciplinary art."[5]

Composer Aaron Copland was the second recipient of the award in 1961. Copland had been a resident of the artist's residency eight times between 1925 and 1956, and served as MacDowell's president from 1962 to 1968.[6]

Painter Georgia O'Keeffe received the award in 1972. O'Keeffe, who was then 84 years old, decided not to attend, and asked art historian Lloyd Goodrich to accept the award on her behalf. Goodrich explained that O'Keeffe believed that her paintings were more important than her words. [7]

When writer Mary McCarthy won the award in 1984, The New York Times sent culture reporter Samuel G. Freedman to Peterborough to interview McCarthy and cover the ceremony. McCarthy commented that if she knew that her nemesis, writer Lillian Hellman had won the award in 1976, she would have "probably not" accepted it. [8] McCarthy conceded that the fact that her former husband, writer Edmund Wilson, had received the award in 1964 lent credibility to the honor.

Composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein won the award in 1987. Bernstein observed that it was the first award he had received solely for musical composition. Bernard Holland, writing in The New York Times, noted that Bernstein had "made full use of the quiet and solitude of this venerable refuge for artists" three times previously, having been a resident there in 1962, 1970 and 1972.[9]

Award winner and writer William Styron spoke at the 1988 awards ceremony. He said that the group of previous winners "represents the brightest constellation of American talent that could be assembled in the latter half of this century", and that "their work has been of supreme value to the world".[10]

Composer Stephen Sondheim, who won the award in 2013, was the first winner with a background in musical theater.[11]

When California artist Betye Saar won the 2014 award, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times commented that she was "joining an elite roster of honorees."[5]

Jazz composer and musician Gunther Schuller was scheduled to receive the 2015 award on his 90th birthday.[12] However, Schuller died June 21, 2015, before he could receive the award.[13]

Medal Day

The Edward MacDowell Medal[14] has been awarded during a free, public ceremony at MacDowell grounds in Peterborough, NH, to such figures as Aaron Copland (1961), Robert Frost (1962), Georgia O'Keeffe (1972), Leonard Bernstein (1987),[9] Stephen Sondheim (2013), and Betye Saar (2014). MacDowell Chair, Fellow, and author Nell Irvin Painter, hosts the ceremony typically held on a summer Sunday in July or August beginning at noon. Following the award ceremony, guests can have picnic lunches before open studio tours, which are hosted by MacDowell artists-in-residence.

List of recipients and speakers
YearMedalistSpeaker
1960Thornton Wilder[15]Edward Weeks
1961Aaron Copland[15]Irving Kolodin
1962Robert Frost[15]Aaron Copland
1963Alexander Calder[15]Meyer Shapiro
1964Edmund Wilson[15]Aaron Copland
1965Edgard Varese[15]Milton Babbitt
1966Edward Hopper[15]Lloyd Goodrich
1967Marianne Moore[15]Glenn Wescott
1968Roger Sessions[15]Edward T. Cone
1969Louise Nevelson[15]John Canaday
1970Eudora Welty[15]Elizabeth Janeway
1971William Schuman[15]Aaron Copland
1972Georgia O'Keeffe[15]Eric Larrabee
1973Norman Mailer[15]John Leonard
1974Walter Piston[15]Michael Steinberg
1975Willem de Kooning[15]Dore Ashton
1976Lillian Hellman[15]John Hersey
1977Virgil Thomson[15]Alfred Frankenstein
1978Richard Diebenkorn[15]John Canaday
1979John Cheever[15]Elizabeth Hardwick
1980Samuel Barber[15]Charles Wadsworth
1981John Updike[15]Wilfred Sheed
1982Isamu Noguchi[15]William Lieberman
1983Elliott Carter[15]Michael Steinberg
1984Mary McCarthy[15]Elizabeth Hardwick
1985Robert Motherwell[15]Varujan Boghosian
1986Lee Friedlander[15]John Szarkowski
1987Leonard Bernstein[15]Ned Rorem
1988William Styron[15]George Plimpton
1989Stan Brakhage[15]John Hanhardt
1990Louise Bourgeois[15]Robert Storr
1991David Diamond[15]Joseph Polisi
1992Richard Wilbur[15]Richard Howard
1993Harry Callahan[15]Anne Tucker
1994Jasper Johns[15]Kirk Varnedoe
1995George Crumb[15]Christopher Rouse
1996Joan Didion[15]Elizabeth Hardwick
1997Chuck Jones[15]John Canemaker
1998I. M. Pei[15]J. Carter Brown
1999Ellsworth Kelly[15]James Cuno
2000Lou Harrison[15]Dennis Russell Davies
2001Philip Roth[15]William Styron
2002Robert Frank[15]Philip Brookman
2003Merce Cunningham[15]Meredith Monk
2004Nam June Paik[15]John Hanhardt
2005Steve Reich[15]David Lang and Richard Serra
2006Alice Munro[15]Virginia Barber
2007Les Blank[15]Frederick Wiseman
2008Thom Mayne[15]Robert Campbell
2009Kiki Smith[15]Lynne Tillman
2010Sonny Rollins[15]Gary Giddins
2011Edward Albee[15]Mike Nichols
2012Nan GoldinLucy Sante
2013Stephen SondheimFrank Rich
2014Betye SaarLowery Stokes Sims
2015Gunther Schuller (posthumous)Yehudi Wyner and Terrance McKnight
2016Toni MorrisonPeter Sellars
2017David Lynch[16]Kristine McKenna
2018Art SpiegelmanHillary Chute
2019Charles Gaines[17]Thelma Golden
2021 Rosanne Cash Kurt Andersen
2022 Sonia Sanchez Walter Mosley

References
  1. "The MacDowell Colony". ResArtis: worldwide network of artist residencies. ResArtis. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  2. "Artists Retreat into Solitude at MacDowell Colony". NPR. NPR. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  3. "Artists and Works Supported by MacDowell". MacDowell Colony. MacDowell Colony. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  4. "History of MacDowell Colony". MacDowell Colony. MacDowell Colony. Archived from the original on 15 March 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  5. Boehm, Mike. "L.A. artist Betye Saar wins art colony medal, joining elite club". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 4, 2015.
  6. Rausch, Robin. "A Century of Creativity: The MacDowell Colony, 1907-2007". Information Bulletin. Library of Congress. Retrieved July 4, 2015.
  7. Reily, Nancy Hopkins (2009). Georgia O'Keeffe, a Private Friendship: Walking the Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch land. Sunstone Press. pp. 426–428. ISBN 9780865344525.
  8. Freedman, Samuel G. (August 27, 1984), "McCarthy Is Recipient of MacDowell Medal", The New York Times, retrieved July 4, 2015
  9. Holland, Bernard. "Bernstein Wins MacDowell Medal". The New York Times. Retrieved July 4, 2015.
  10. Styron, William (2015). My Generation: Collected Nonfiction. Random House. ISBN 9780812997064.
  11. "Stephen Sondheim honoured with Edward MacDowell medal". BBC News. August 12, 2013. Retrieved July 4, 2015.
  12. Shanahan, Mark (April 14, 2015). "Gunther Schuller to receive prestigious honor at MacDowell Colony". The Boston Globe. Retrieved July 4, 2015.
  13. Schudel, Matt (June 22, 2015). "Gunther Schuller, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer who bridged jazz and classical music, dies at 89". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 4, 2015.
  14. "Medal Day". MacDowell Colony. Archived from the original on 6 November 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  15. "MacDowell Medal winners — 1960–2011". The Daily Telegraph. 13 April 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  16. "David Lynch to receive medal from MacDowell artist colony". The Seattle Times. 2017-05-14. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
  17. Staff. "Artist Charles Gaines to receive 60th MacDowell Medal". Sentinel Source. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
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