The Smithsonian American Art Museum and the journal American Art have completed the final cycle of the Terra Foundation for American Art International Essay Prize, which was first awarded in 2010. The prize recognized excellent scholarship by a non-U.S. citizen working in the field of historical American art.
With generous support from the Terra Foundation for American Art, the biennial prize aimed to stimulate and actively support international scholars working on American art topics, foster the international exchange of new ideas, and create a broad, culturally comparative dialogue on American art.
Eight scholars representing Italy, Australia, France, Poland, Britain, Germany, and Thailand received the prize. Their winning articles were published in American Art, the peer-reviewed journal co-published by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the University of Chicago Press. Each winner also received a $1,000 cash award, with later recipients also enjoying the supplement of a travel stipend of up to $3,500 to give a presentation in Washington, DC, and meet with museum staff and the pre- and postdoctoral research fellows.
Thanks to the interest generated by Terra prize, the journal now regularly receives submissions from scholars working outside the United States. While the essay prize has reached its conclusion, scholars working in languages other than English are still encouraged to submit English-language manuscripts for publication in American Art. Manuscripts previously published in other languages are eligible for re-publication in English, if submitted in English translation. Authors are encouraged to review the journal’s guidelines on standard manuscript submissions. Questions or comments may be emailed to AmericanArtJournal@si.edu.
For more information on our journal, please visit the American Art journal webpage. For details on the Terra Foundation for American Art, please visit terraamericanart.org.
Terra International Essay Prize Recipients
2019: Paisid Aramphongphan, “An Artist in the Secular World: Paul Thek’s Relics,” Summer 2021 (vol. 35, no. 1). View press release | Read abstract
2017: Susanneh Bieber, “Going Back to Kansas City: The Origins of Judd’s Minimal Art,” Spring 2019 (vol. 33, no. 1). View press release | Read abstract
2015: Hadrien Viraben, “Constructing a Reputation: Achille Segard's 1913 Biography of Mary Cassatt,” Spring 2017 (vol. 31, no. 1). Read abstract
2014: John Fagg, “Chamber Pots and Gibson Girls: Clutter and Matter in John Sloan's Graphic Art,” Fall 2015 (vol. 29, no. 3): 28-57. Read abstract
2013: Edyta Frelik, “Ad Reinhardt: Painter-as-Writer,” Fall 2014 (vol. 28, no. 3): 104-25. Read abstract
2012: Sophie Cras, “Art as an Investment and Artistic Shareholding Experiments in the 1960s,” Spring 2013 (vol. 27, no. 1): 2-23. Read first page of article
2011: Alex J. Taylor, “Unstable Motives: Propaganda, Politics and the Late Work of Alexander Calder,” Spring 2012 (vol. 26, no. 1): 24–47. Read first page of article
2010: Sergio Cortesini, “Invisible Canvases: Italian Painters and Fascist Myths across the American Scene,” Spring 2011 (vol. 25, no. 1): 52–73. Read first page of article