2020 Invitational Exhibitionof Visual Arts: Diana Al-Hadid, Amy Bennett, Mike Cloud, Janiva Ellis,
Barbara Ess, Erik Foss, Nicholas Galanin,Elliott Green,
Trenton Doyle Hancock, Sheila Hicks, Lonnie Holley,
Ridley Howard, David Huffman, Jessica Jackson Hutchins,
Arthur Jafa, Yun-Fei Ji, Cheyenne Julien, Siobhan Liddell,
Medrie MacPhee, Karyn Olivier, Rona Pondick,
Nathlie Provosty, Betye Saar, Ibrahim Said,
Roger Shimomura, Henry Taylor,
Joan Thorne, Brian Wood, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY, March 5–April 5, 2020 

Exhibiting artists were chosen from over 150 nominees submitted by the members of the Academy, America’s most prestigious honorary society of architects, artists, composers, and writers. The recipients of the Academy’s 2020 Art and Purchase Awards will be selected from this exhibition.

ART AWARDS AND PURCHASE PROGRAM

The Academy’s art awards and purchase programs recognize artists at various stages of their careers. This year, ten participating artists will receive art awards. Additionally, paintings, works on paper, and sculpture are eligible for purchase and placement in museum collections nationwide through the Hassam, Speicher, Betts, and Symons Funds and the Academy’s general endowment. Among the eighteen artists whose works were purchased and placed last year were Peter Brown (Denver Art Museum, CO, and Cranbrook Art Museum, MI), Judy Cooke (Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, OR), Hermine Ford (Weatherspoon Art Museum, NC), Jenny Lynn McNutt (Yale University Art Gallery, CT), Rose Nestler (Frye Art Museum, WA), Jess Perlitz (Boise Art Museum, ID), and Stephen Westfall (Santa Barbara Museum of Art, CA). Since the purchase program’s founding in 1946, through the legacy of Childe Hassam, more than twelve hundred works have been purchased and donated to museums throughout the country. For further information, please click here.

THE ACADEMY

The American Academy of Arts and Letters was founded in 1898 as an honor society of the country’s leading architects, artists, composers, and writers. Early members include William Merritt Chase, Childe Hassam, Julia Ward Howe, Henry James, Edward MacDowell, Theodore Roosevelt, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, John Singer Sargent, Mark Twain, and Edith Wharton. The Academy’s 250 members are elected for life and pay no dues.

Installation Images of Jessica Jackson Hutchins work on view at the 2020 Invitational Exhibition of Visual Art on view at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY, March 5–April 5, 2020 (closed March 15 due to public health concerns)

From top to bottom:

Pithos, 2017, ceramic, plaster base 48 x 28 x 33 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York

Wild Core, 2019, glazed ceramic, glass, plastic chair 33 x 26 x 33 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York

Symposium, 2011, sofa, fiberglass, papier-mâché, collage, spray paint, marker, and glazed ceramic 47 x 115 x 78 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York

My Friend the Poet, 2019, ceramic, plaster, papier-mâché, chair, flashe 64 x 30 1/2 x 29 1/4 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York

Installation view of Pithos, Wild Core, and My Friend the Poet.