American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medals
Two American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medals are awarded each year by the academy for distinguished achievement. The two awards are taken in rotation from these categories:
- Belles Lettres and Criticism, and Painting;
- Biography and Music;
- Fiction and Sculpture;
- History and Architecture, including Landscape Architecture;
- Poetry and Music;
- Drama and Graphic Art.
The Academy voted in 1915 to establish an additional Gold Medal for "special distinction" to be given for the entire work of the recipient who is not a member of the academy.[1] The first of these occasional lifetime achievement gold medals was awarded in the next year to former Harvard President, Charles Eliot.[2]
Awards in individual categories are listed below (in alphabetical order) followed by a list of all prizes in reverse chronological order:Source: [3]
- This is an incomplete list that may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.
Architecture
Source: American Academy of Arts and Letters
- 2014 – Henry N. Cobb
- 2008 – Richard Meier[4]
- 2002 – Frank O. Gehry
- 1996 – Philip Johnson
- 1990 – Kevin Roche
- 1984 – Gordon Bunshaft
- 1979 – I. M. Pei
- 1973 – Louis I. Kahn
- 1968 – R. Buckminster Fuller
- 1963 – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
- 1958 – Henry R. Shepley
- 1953 – Frank Lloyd Wright
- 1949 – Frederick Law Olmsted
- 1940 – William Adams Delano
- 1930 – Charles Adams Platt
- 1921 – Cass Gilbert
- 1912 – William Rutherford Mead[5]
Belles lettres, criticism, essays
Source: American Academy of Arts and Letters
- 2011 – Eric Bentley
- 2005 – Joan Didion[6]
- 1999 – Harold Bloom
- 1993 – Elizabeth Hardwick
- 1987 – Jacques Barzun
- 1981 – Malcolm Cowley
- 1975 – Kenneth Burke
- 1970 – Lewis Mumford
- 1965 – Walter Lippmann
- 1960 – E. B. White
- 1955 – Edmund Wilson
- 1950 – H. L. Mencken
- 1946 – Van Wyck Brooks
- 1935 – Agnes Repplier
- 1925 – William Crary Brownell
- 1916 – John Burroughs
Biography
Source: American Academy of Arts and Letters
- 2012 – David McCullough
- 2006 – Robert Caro
- 2000 – R. W. B. Lewis
- 1994 – Walter Jackson Bate
- 1988 – James Thomas Flexner
- 1982 – Francis Steegmuller
- 1976 – Leon Edel
Drama
Source: American Academy of Arts and Letters
- 2010 – Romulus Linney
- 2004 – John Guare
- 1998 – Horton Foote
- 1992 – Sam Shepard
- 1986 – Sidney Kingsley
- 1980 – Edward Albee
- 1969 – Tennessee Williams
- 1964 – Lillian Hellman
- 1959 – Arthur Miller
- 1954 – Maxwell Anderson
- 1941 – Robert E. Sherwood
- 1931 – William Gillette
- 1922 – Eugene O'Neill
- 1913 – Augustus Thomas[7]
Fiction, novel, short story
Source: American Academy of Arts and Letters
- 2013 – E. L. Doctorow
- 2007 – John Updike[8]
- 2001 – Philip Roth
- 1995 – William Maxwell
- 1989 – Isaac Bashevis Singer
- 1983 – Bernard Malamud
- 1978 – Peter Taylor
- 1977 – Saul Bellow
- 1972 – Eudora Welty
- 1967 – Katherine Anne Porter
- 1962 – William Faulkner
- 1957 – John Dos Passos
- 1952 – Thornton Wilder
- 1944 – Willa Cather
- 1933 – Booth Tarkington
- 1929 – Edith Wharton
- 1915 – Charles William Eliot
- 1915 – William Dean Howells[9]
Graphic art
Source: American Academy of Arts and Letters
- 2010 – Ed Ruscha
- 2004 – Chuck Close
- 1998 – Frank Stella
- 1992 – David Levine
- 1986 – Jasper Johns
- 1980 – Peggy Bacon
- 1974 – Saul Steinberg
- 1969 – Leonard Baskin
- 1964 – Ben Shahn
- 1959 – George Grosz
- 1954 – Reginald Marsh
History
Source: American Academy of Arts and Letters
- 2014 – Natalie Zemon Davis
- 2008 – Edmund S. Morgan[4]
- 2002 – John Hope Franklin
- 1996 – Peter Gay
- 1990 – C. Vann Woodward
- 1984 – George F. Kennan
- 1978 – Barbara W. Tuchman
- 1972 – Henry Steele Commager
- 1967 – Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
- 1962 – Samuel Eliot Morison
- 1957 – Allan Nevins
- 1952 – Carl Sandburg
- 1948 – Charles Austin Beard
- 1937 – Charles M. Andrews
- 1927 – William M. Sloane
- 1918 – William Roscoe Thayer
- 1910 – James Ford Rhodes
Music
- 2009 – Leon Kirchner
- 2006 – Stephen Sondheim
- 2003 – Ned Rorem[10]
- 2000 – Lukas Foss
- 1997 – Gunther Schuller
- 1994 – Hugo Weisgall
- 1991 – David Diamond
- 1988 – Milton Babbitt
- 1985 – Leonard Bernstein
- 1982 – William Schuman
- 1976 – Samuel Barber
- 1971 – Elliott Carter
- 1966 – Virgil Thomson
- 1961 – Roger Sessions
- 1956 – Aaron Copland
- 1951 – Igor Stravinsky
- 1947 – John Alden Carpenter
- 1938 – Walter Damrosch
- 1928 – George W. Chadwick
- 1919 – Charles Martin Loeffler
Painting
- 2011 – Cy Twombly
- 2005 – Jane Freilicher
- 1999 – Robert Rauschenberg
- 1993 – Richard Diebenkorn
- 1987 – Isabel Bishop
- 1981 – Raphael Soyer
- 1975 – Willem de Kooning
- 1970 – Georgia O'Keeffe
- 1965 – Andrew Wyeth
- 1960 – Charles E. Burchfield
- 1955 – Edward Hopper
- 1950 – John Sloan
- 1942 – Cecilia Beaux
- 1932 – Gari Melchers
- 1923 – Edwin Howland Blashfield
- 1914 – John Singer Sargent
Poetry
- 2009 – Mark Strand
- 2003 – W. S. Merwin[10]
- 1997 – John Ashbery
- 1991 – Richard Wilbur
- 1985 – Robert Penn Warren
- 1979 – Archibald MacLeish
- 1973 – John Crowe Ransom
- 1968 – W. H. Auden
- 1963 – William Carlos Williams
- 1958 – Conrad Aiken
- 1953 – Marianne Moore
- 1939 – Robert Frost
- 1929 – Edwin Arlington Robinson
- 1911 – James Whitcomb Riley
Sculpture
- 2013 – Mark di Suvero
- 2007 – Martin Puryear[8]
- 2001 – Richard Serra
- 1995 – George Rickey
- 1989 – Louise Bourgeois
- 1983 – Louise Nevelson
- 1977 – Isamu Noguchi
- 1971 – Alexander Calder
- 1966 – Jacques Lipchitz
- 1961 – William Zorach
- 1956 – Ivan Meštrović
- 1951 – James Earle Fraser
- 1945 – Paul Manship
- 1936 – George Grey Barnard
- 1930 – Anna Hyatt Huntington
- 1926 – Herbert Adams
- 1917 – Daniel Chester French
- 1909 – Augustus Saint-Gaudens[11]
All winners
Source: American Academy of Arts and Letters List of Awards]
- 2014 – Henry N. Cobb, Architecture
- 2014 – Natalie Zemon Davis, History
- 2013 – E. L. Doctorow, Fiction
- 2013 – Mark di Suvero, Sculpture
- 2011 – Eric Bentley, Belles Lettres and Criticism
- 2011 – Cy Twombly, Painting
- 2010 – Romulus Linney, Drama
- 2010 – Ed Ruscha, Graphic Art
- 2009 – Leon Kirchner, Music
- 2009 – Mark Strand, Poetry
- 2008 – Richard Meier, Architecture[4]
- 2007 – Martin Puryear, Sculpture[8]
- 2007 – John Updike, Fiction[8]
- 2006 – Robert Caro, Biography
- 2006 – Stephen Sondheim, Music
- 2005 – Joan Didion, Belles Lettres and Criticism[6]
- 2005 – Jane Freilicher, Painting
- 2004 – Chuck Close, Graphic Art
- 2004 – John Guare, Drama
- 2003 – W. S. Merwin, Poetry[10]
- 2002 – John Hope Franklin, History
- 2002 – Frank O. Gehry, Architecture
- 2001 – Philip Roth, Fiction
- 2001 – Richard Serra, Sculpture
- 2000 – Lukas Foss, Music
- 2000 – R. W. B. Lewis, Biography
- 1999 – Harold Bloom, Belles Lettres
- 1999 – Robert Rauschenberg, Painting
- 1998 – Horton Foote, Drama
- 1998 – Frank Stella, Graphic Art
- 1997 – John Ashbery, Poetry
- 1997 – Gunther Schuller, Music
- 1996 – Philip Johnson, Architecture
- 1995 – William Maxwell, Fiction
- 1995 – George Rickey, Sculpture
- 1994 – Walter Jackson Bate, Biography
- 1994 – Hugo Weisgall, Music
- 1993 – Richard Diebenkorn, Painting
- 1993 – Elizabeth Hardwick, Belles Lettres/Criticism
- 1992 – David Levine, Graphic Art
- 1992 – Sam Shepard, Drama
- 1991 – David Diamond, Music
- 1991 – Richard Wilbur, Poetry
- 1999 – Kevin Roche, Architecture
- 1990 – C. Vann Woodward, History
- 1989 – Louise Bourgeois, Sculpture
- 1989 – Isaac Bashevis Singer, Fiction
- 1988 – Milton Babbitt, Music
- 1988 – James Thomas Flexner, Biography
- 1987 – Jacques Barzun, Belles Lettres
- 1987 – Isabel Bishop, Painting
- 1986 – Jasper Johns, Graphic Art
- 1986 – Sidney Kingsley, Drama
- 1985 – Leonard Bernstein, Music
- 1985 – Robert Penn Warren, Poetry
- 1984 – Gordon Bunshaft, Architecture
- 1984 – George F. Kennan, History
- 1983 – Bernard Malamud, Fiction
- 1983 – Louise Nevelson, Sculpture
- 1982 – William Schuman, Music
- 1982 – Francis Steegmuller, Biography
- 1981 – Malcolm Cowley, Belles Lettres
- 1981 – Raphael Soyer, Painting
- 1980 – Edward Albee, Drama
- 1980 – Peggy Bacon, Graphic Art
- 1979 – Archibald MacLeish, Poetry
- 1978 – Peter Taylor, Short Story
- 1978 – Barbara W. Tuchman, History
- 1977 – Saul Bellow, Novel
- 1977 – Isamu Noguchi, Sculpture
- 1976 – Samuel Barber, Music
- 1975 – Kenneth Burke, Belles Lettres
- 1975 – Willem de Kooning, Painting
- 1974 – Saul Steinberg, Graphic Art
- 1973 – Louis I. Kahn, Architecture
- 1973 – John Crowe Ransom, Poetry
- 1972 – Henry Steele Commager, History
- 1972 – Eudora Welty, Novel
- 1971 – Alexander Calder, Sculpture
- 1971 – Elliott Carter, Music
- 1970 – Lewis Mumford, Belles Lettres
- 1970 – Georgia O'Keeffe, Painting
- 1969 – Leonard Baskin, Graphic Art
- 1969 – Tennessee Williams, Drama
- 1968 – W. H. Auden, Poetry
- 1968 – R. Buckminster Fuller, Architecture
- 1967 – Katherine Anne Porter, Fiction
- 1967 – Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., History
- 1966 – Jacques Lipchitz, Sculpture
- 1966 – Virgil Thomson, Music
- 1965 – Walter Lippmann, Essays
- 1964 – Lillian Hellman, Drama
- 1963 – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Architecture
- 1963 – William Carlos Williams, Poetry
- 1962 – William Faulkner, Fiction
- 1962 – Samuel Eliot Morison, History
- 1961 – Rogers H. Sessions, Music
- 1961 – William Zorach, Sculpture
- 1960 – Charles E. Burchfield, Painting
- 1960 – E. B. White, Essays
- 1959 – George Grosz, Graphic Art
- 1959 – Arthur Miller, Drama
- 1958 – Conrad Aiken, Poetry
- 1958 – Henry R. Shepley, Architecture
- 1957 – John Dos Passos, Fiction
- 1957 – Allan Nevins, History
- 1956 – Aaron Copland, Music
- 1956 – Ivan Meštrović, Sculpture
- 1955 – Edward Hopper, Painting
- 1955 – Edmund Wilson, Essays
- 1954 – Maxwell Anderson, Drama
- 1954 – Reginald Marsh, Graphic Art
- 1953 – Marianne Moore, Poetry
- 1953 – Frank Lloyd Wright, Architecture
- 1952 – Carl Sandburg, History
- 1952 – Thornton Wilder, Fiction
- 1951 – James Earle Fraser, Sculpture
- 1951 – Igor Stravinsky, Music
- 1950 – H. L. Mencken, Essays
- 1950 – John Sloan, Painting
- 1949 – Frederick Law Olmsted, Architecture
- 1948 – Charles Austin Beard, History
- 1947 – John Alden Carpenter, Music
- 1946 – Van Wyck Brooks, Essays
- 1945 – Paul Manship, Sculpture
- 1944 – Willa Cather, Fiction
- 1943 – Stephen Vincent Benet, Literature
- 1942 – Cecilia Beaux, Painting
- 1941 – Robert E. Sherwood, Drama
- 1940 – William Adams Delano, Architecture
- 1939 – Robert Frost, Poetry
- 1938 – Walter Damrosch, Music
- 1937 – Charles M. Andrews, History
- 1936 – George Grey Barnard, Sculpture
- 1935 – Agnes Repplier, Belles Lettres
- 1933 – Booth Tarkington, Fiction
- 1932 – Gari Melchers, Painting
- 1931 – William Gillette, Drama
- 1930 – Anna Hyatt Huntington, Sculpture
- 1930– Charles Adams Platt, Architecture
- 1929 – Edwin Arlington Robinson, Poetry
- 1928 – George W. Chadwick, Music
- 1927 – William M. Sloane, History
- 1926 – Herbert Adams, Sculpture
- 1925 – William Crary Brownell, Belles Lettres
- 1924 – Edith Wharton, Fiction
- 1923 – Edwin Howland Blashfield, Painting
- 1922 – Eugene O'Neill, Drama
- 1921 – Cass Gilbert, Architecture
- 1919 – Charles Martin Loeffler, Music
- 1918 – William Roscoe Thayer, History
- 1917 – Daniel Chester French, Sculpture
- 1916 – John Burroughs, Belles Lettres
- 1916 – Charles William Eliot, Fiction[2]
- 1915 – William Dean Howells, Fiction[9]
- 1914 – John Singer Sargent, Painting
- 1913 – Augustus Thomas, Drama[7]
- 1912 – William Rutherford Mead, Architecture[5]
- 1911 – James Whitcomb Riley, Poetry
- 1910 – James Ford Rhodes, History
- 1909 – Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Sculpture[11]
Notes
- ↑ "Mr. Howells and Dr. Eliot," New York Times. November 21, 1915.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Gold Medal for Dr. Eliot; President Emeritus of Harvard Honored by American Academy of Arts," New York Times. November 21, 1915; "Gold Medal for Dr. Eliot; American Academy Honors Educator's Work for Literature," New York Times. January 28, 1916.
- ↑ American Academy of Arts and Letters. List of Awards. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 van Gelder, Lawrence. "Arts, Briefly: American Academy Picks Caro and Trillin," New York Times. April 17, 2008.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "National Institute Honors W.R. Mead; Its Gold Medal Awarded to Noted Architect at the Annual Dinner," New York Times. December 13, 1912.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 van Gelder, Lawrence. "Arts, Briefly: American Academy Honors," New York Times. May 19, 2005.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Thomas Visits Mother; Playwright Shows Her the Medal Presented to Him by Academy," New York Times. November 17, 1913.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 van Gelder, Lawrence. "Arts, Briefly: American Academy Honors," New York Times. May 17, 2007.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "National Institute Honors Howells; His Letter, Thanking It for Gold Medal, Says Fashion in Novels Has Changed," New York Times. November 20, 1915.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 van Gelder, Lawrence. "Arts Briefing: American Academy Honors," New York Times. May 19, 2003.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Men of Letters Honor St. Gaudens; First Gold Medal of Their Institute Is a Tribute to Memory of the Dead Sculptor. Given to Mrs. St. Gaudens; Notable Men at Ceremonial Where Dr. Van Dyke Makes Principal Address -- Letter from President," New York Times. November 21, 1909.
See also
- List of American literary awards
- List of literary awards
- List of prizes, medals, and awards
- List of poetry awards
- American literature
- American poetry
- List of poetry awards
- List of literature awards
- List of years in poetry
- List of years in literature
- List of years in art