The Smithsonian American Art Museum is
pleased to announce that Cécile Whiting will receive the 2009 Charles C.
Eldredge Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in American Art for her book
“Pop L.A.: Art and the City in the 1960s” (University of California
Press, 2006). Whiting’s book is being recognized for its
“impeccable yet adventurous research, which invites a reconceptualization
of pop art and opens a discussion about a region and a period that has needed
further exploration.”
The three jurors who awarded the $3,000
prize were Patricia Hills, acting chair of the department of art history and
professor of American art at Boston University; Joy Kasson, professor of
American studies and English at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill;
and Margaretta M. Lovell, the Jay D. McEvoy Professor of the history of art at
the University of California, Berkeley.
The jurors wrote, “Through
Whiting’s analysis of the city of
Whiting is chair of the department of art
history and a member of the faculty in the graduate program in visual studies
at the
On Thursday, Dec. 3, at 4 p.m., Professor
Whiting will present the annual Eldredge Prize lecture in the
The Eldredge Prize, named in honor of the
former director of the museum (1982-1988), is sponsored by the American Art
Forum, a patrons’ support organization. This annual award, initiated in
1989, seeks to recognize originality and thoroughness of research, excellence of
writing and clarity of method. Single-author, book-length publications in the
field of American art history appearing within the three previous calendar
years are eligible. December 1 is the deadline for 2010 nominations. For a list
of past winners and more information about the prize, please visit www.americanart.si.edu/research/awards.