Eyes on the Prize

Each year on December 10th, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awards the Nobel Peace Prize.

This year, the ceremony will honor former U.S. president James Earl Carter.

In his will, Alfred Nobel simply stated that prizes be given to those who, during the preceding year, "shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind" and that one part be given to the person who "shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

American statesman Ralph Bunche (1904–1971) won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950 for his mediation of the Palestine conflict. Carl Van Vechten took this portrait of Bunche. Artist Richard Benson reproduced Van Vechten's works as photogravures, which now form part of the SAAM collection.

Pictured: Richard Benson, born 1943, O Write My Name: American Portraits, Harlem Heroes, photogravure, Smithsonian American Art Museum. Photo © Estate of Carl Van Vechten. Gravure and compilation © Eakins Press Foundation.