Carnegie Prize
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The Carnegie Prize is an international art prize awarded by the
Carnegie Museum of Art The Carnegie Museum of Art, is an art museum in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was at what is now the Main Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsbur ...
in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
. It currently consists of a $10,000 cash prize accompanied by a gold medal.


History

The Carnegie Prize was established in 1896, to recognize the best painting shown in the first annual exhibition of the Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute. Unlike most American annual exhibitions, which were limited to artists born or resident in the United States, the Carnegie exhibitions were international. To attract top painters from home and abroad, the Carnegie exhibitions offered high cash prizes—$1,500 for the First Class winner, $1,000 for the Second-Class winner and $500 for the Third-Class winner. The First-Class winner's cash prize was accompanied by the ''Carnegie Gold Medal of Honor'' (1896), designed by Tiffany & Co. and cast by J.E. Caldwell & Co. Often, especially in the early years, the prize-winning painting was purchased for the museum's permanent collection. The exhibition has undergone a series of name changes and transformations—adding a gold medal for sculpture (beginning in 1958),''The 1958 Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture''
from Amazon.
and going from a schedule of every year to every second or third year, and now, to every fourth or fifth year. The exhibitions in the late 1970s were retrospectives of established artists. In 1982, the exhibition was renamed the Carnegie International, and returned to its original mission of showing recent works by a host of artists. In 1985, the Carnegie Prize was refocused to recognize not just a single work of art but an honoree's entire body of work. In the 1990s, the exhibition expanded to include non-traditional artists and filmmakers. As of 2019, 67 Carnegie Prizes had been awarded and one was refused (Irish painter
Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
, 1967). The Spanish sculptor
Eduardo Chillida Eduardo Chillida Juantegui, or Eduardo Txillida Juantegi in Basque (10 January 1924 – 19 August 2002), was a Spanish Basque sculptor notable for his monumental abstract works. Early life and career Born in San Sebastián (Donostia) to P ...
was awarded it twice (1964 for an individual sculpture, 1979 for his body of work). American painter
Cecilia Beaux Eliza Cecilia Beaux (May 1, 1855 – September 17, 1942) was an American society portraitist, whose subjects included First Lady Edith Roosevelt, Admiral Sir David Beatty and Georges Clemenceau. Trained in Philadelphia, she went on to study in ...
was the first woman awarded the Carnegie Prize (1899); German sculptor
Rebecca Horn Rebecca Horn (born 24 March 1944, in Michelstadt, Hesse) is a German visual artist, who is best known for her installation art, film directing, and her body modifications such a''Einhorn'' (Unicorn) a body-suit with a very large horn projecting ve ...
was the second woman (1988). South African artist
William Kentridge William Kentridge (born 28 April 1955) is a South African artist best known for his prints, drawings, and animated films, especially noted for a sequence of hand-drawn animated films he produced during the 1990s. The latter are constructed by ...
was the first filmmaker awarded it (1999). Documenta, the German contemporary art exhibition, was the only organization awarded the prize (1979). English artist
Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Lynette Yiadom-Boakye (born 1977) is a British painter and writer. She is best known for her portraits of imaginary subjects, or ones derived from found objects, who are painted in muted colours. Her work has contributed to the renaissance in pai ...
was the first woman of color awarded the prize (2018). The Carnegie International's prize should not be confused with the Carnegie Prize of the
National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...
, the Carnegie Prize of the
Society of American Artists The Society of American Artists was an American artists group. It was formed in 1877 by artists who felt the National Academy of Design did not adequately meet their needs, and was too conservative. The group began meeting in 1874 at the home of ...
, the
Carnegie Art Award The Carnegie Art Award was a Swedish art award event established in 1998 by Swedish financial group Carnegie Investment Bank to recognize and promote Nordic contemporary painting and artists. With a total prize sum of SEK 2.1m, the Carnegie Ar ...
(Sweden), or with the
Carnegie Medal (literary award) The Carnegie Medal is a British literary award that annually recognises one outstanding new English-language book for children or young adults. It is conferred upon the author by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals ...
.


List of Gold Medal winners


See also

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Lists of art awards Lists of art awards cover some of the notable awards presented for art, some for a specific form or genre, some for artists from one country or region, some more general. The lists are organized by the region of the body issuing the award, althoug ...
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Prizes named after people A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.
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Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...


References

{{reflist Awards established in 1896 Andrew Carnegie American visual arts awards Lists of artists Carnegie Museum of Art 1896 establishments in the United States