The Edward MacDowell Medal is an award which has been given since 1960 to one person annually who has made an outstanding contribution to American culture and the arts. It is given by MacDowell, the first artist residency program in the United States.

Background

The award is named for composer Edward MacDowell, who, with pianist Marian MacDowell, his wife, founded the MacDowell artist residency (formerly known as The MacDowell Colony) in 1907. The residency exists to nurture the arts by offering creative individuals of the highest talent an inspiring environment in which to produce enduring works of the imagination. Each year, MacDowell welcomes more than 300 architects, composers, filmmakers, interdisciplinary artists, theatre artists, visual artists, and writers from across the United States and around the globe

History of the award

Established in 1960 with the first award going to Thornton Wilder, the award is given to one artist each year, from among seven artistic disciplines, "architecture, visual art, music composition, theater, writing, filmmaking and interdisciplinary art."

Composer Aaron Copland was the second recipient of the award in 1961. Copland had been a resident of the artist's residency eight times between 1925 and 1956, and served as MacDowell's president from 1962 to 1968.

Painter Georgia O'Keeffe received the award in 1972. O'Keeffe, who was then 84 years old, decided not to attend, and asked art historian Lloyd Goodrich to accept the award on her behalf. Goodrich explained that O'Keeffe believed that her paintings were more important than her words.

When writer Mary McCarthy won the award in 1984, The New York Times sent culture reporter Samuel G. Freedman to interview McCarthy and cover the ceremony. McCarthy commented that if she knew that her nemesis, writer Lillian Hellman had won the award in 1976, she would have "probably not" accepted it. McCarthy conceded that the fact that her former husband, writer Edmund Wilson, had received the award in 1964 lent credibility to the honor.

Composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein won the award in 1987. Bernstein observed that it was the first award he had received solely for musical composition. Bernard Holland, writing in The New York Times, noted that Bernstein had "made full use of the quiet and solitude of this venerable refuge for artists" three times previously, having been a resident there in 1962, 1970 and 1972.

Award winner and writer William Styron spoke at the 1988 awards ceremony. He said that the group of previous winners "represents the brightest constellation of American talent that could be assembled in the latter half of this century", and that "their work has been of supreme value to the world".

Composer Stephen Sondheim, who won the award in 2013, was the first winner with a background in musical theater.

When California artist Betye Saar won the 2014 award, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times commented that she was "joining an elite roster of honorees."

Jazz composer and musician Gunther Schuller was scheduled to receive the 2015 award on his 90th birthday. However, Schuller died June 21, 2015, before he could receive the award.

Medal Day The Edward MacDowell Medal has been awarded during a free, public ceremony at MacDowell grounds in Peterborough, New Hampshire, to such figures as Aaron Copland (1961), Robert Frost (1962), Georgia O'Keeffe (1972), Leonard Bernstein (1987), Stephen Sondheim (2013), and Betye Saar (2014). The MacDowell chairperson—currently MacDowell fellow and author Nell Irvin Painter—hosts the ceremony typically held on a summer Sunday in July or August beginning at noon. Following the award ceremony, guests can have picnic lunches before open studio tours, which are hosted by MacDowell artists-in-residence.

List of recipients and speakers Year Medalist Speaker 1960 Thornton Wilder Edward Weeks 1961 Aaron Copland Irving Kolodin 1962 Robert Frost Aaron Copland 1963 Alexander Calder Meyer Shapiro 1964 Edmund Wilson Aaron Copland 1965 Edgard Varese Milton Babbitt 1966 Edward Hopper Lloyd Goodrich 1967 Marianne Moore Glenn Wescott 1968 Roger Sessions Edward T. Cone 1969 Louise Nevelson John Canaday 1970 Eudora Welty Elizabeth Janeway 1971 William Schuman Aaron Copland 1972 Georgia O'Keeffe Eric Larrabee 1973 Norman Mailer John Leonard 1974 Walter Piston Michael Steinberg 1975 Willem de Kooning Dore Ashton 1976 Lillian Hellman John Hersey 1977 Virgil Thomson Alfred Frankenstein 1978 Richard Diebenkorn John Canaday 1979 John Cheever Elizabeth Hardwick 1980 Samuel Barber Charles Wadsworth 1981 John Updike Wilfred Sheed 1982 Isamu Noguchi William Lieberman 1983 Elliott Carter Michael Steinberg 1984 Mary McCarthy Elizabeth Hardwick 1985 Robert Motherwell Varujan Boghosian 1986 Lee Friedlander John Szarkowski 1987 Leonard Bernstein Ned Rorem 1988 William Styron George Plimpton 1989 Stan Brakhage John Hanhardt 1990 Louise Bourgeois Robert Storr 1991 David Diamond Joseph Polisi 1992 Richard Wilbur Richard Howard 1993 Harry Callahan Anne Tucker 1994 Jasper Johns Kirk Varnedoe 1995 George Crumb Christopher Rouse 1996 Joan Didion Elizabeth Hardwick 1997 Chuck Jones John Canemaker 1998 I. M. Pei J. Carter Brown 1999 Ellsworth Kelly James Cuno 2000 Lou Harrison Dennis Russell Davies 2001 Philip Roth William Styron 2002 Robert Frank Philip Brookman 2003 Merce Cunningham Meredith Monk 2004 Nam June Paik John Hanhardt 2005 Steve Reich David Lang and Richard Serra 2006 Alice Munro Virginia Barber 2007 Les Blank Frederick Wiseman 2008 Thom Mayne Robert Campbell 2009 Kiki Smith Lynne Tillman 2010 Sonny Rollins Gary Giddins 2011 Edward Albee Mike Nichols 2012 Nan Goldin Lucy Sante 2013 Stephen Sondheim Frank Rich 2014 Betye Saar Lowery Stokes Sims 2015 Gunther Schuller (posthumous) Yehudi Wyner and Terrance McKnight 2016 Toni Morrison Peter Sellars 2017 David Lynch Kristine McKenna 2018 Art Spiegelman Hillary Chute 2019 Charles Gaines Thelma Golden2021Rosanne CashKurt Andersen2022Sonia SanchezWalter Mosley2023Alanis ObomsawinJesse Wente2024Yoko OnoNell Irvin Painter The 2021 recipient had been announced in 2020.

References

External links Yale University Library - Photo:Thornton Wilder receiving the first Edward MacDowell medal at Colony Hall, MacDowell Colony Medal Day History and List of medalists, MacDowell First posthumous Edward MacDowell Medal, Keene Sentinel Medal Day 2014, Keene Sentinel Medal Day 2013, Monadnock Center