2009 Alfred H. Barr, Jr., Award
Tim Barringer, Gillian Forrester, and Barbaro Martinez-Ruiz, eds., Art and Emancipation in Jamaica: Isaac Mendes Belisario and His Worlds
While a great deal of discussion about the ascendancy of visual culture takes place within the field of art history, rarely do the curators of exhibitions and authors of their accompanying catalogues meet the challenge of employing innovative methodologies to animate extraordinary objects and their historical contexts. Through a highly successful collaboration, the consortium of academics and curators responsible for
Art and Emancipation in Jamaica has set forth a narrative of conflict, assimilation, and survival in an arena integral to, though rarely admitted into, the study of eighteenth-century British art. The set of Belisario lithographs (reproduced in the catalogue in striking facsimile) serves as the nexus for a wide-ranging group of exhibited objects, and for a series of richly nuanced essays. Remaining attentive to the material objects, the authors advance bold arguments to elucidate a complex network of colonial interchange, and in the process address subjects as seemingly disparate as English slavery, Jamaican Jewry, and hybrid traditions of performance. A model of interdisciplinary study and cross-collection exchange,
Art and Emancipation in Jamaica offers a striking new perspective on a remarkable set of objects and a pivotal venue at a volatile moment in history and in the history of art.
Jury: Teresa Carbone, Brooklyn Museum, chair; Anna Chave, Queens College and Graduate Center, City University of New York; Susan Huntington, Ohio State University; David W. Penney, Detroit Institute of Arts; and Susan Sidlauskas, Rutgers University
2009 Alfred H. Barr, Jr., Award for Smaller Museums, Libraries, and Collections
Phillip Earenfight, ed., A Kiowa’s Odyssey: A Sketchbook from Fort Marion
In what has become a substantial body of art-historical study and literature on the topic of Plains Indian ledger book art, and on the drawings of the Fort Marion prisoners in particular,
A Kiowa Odyssey stands out owing to its comprehensive evocation of historical and ethnographic context and its astute visual analysis. Although the broad story has been told in print many times before, this volume ventures far deeper into the “mirror dance” of colonialist visual expression as told through the poignant experiences and powerful artistic expressions of the artist/prisoner, Etahdleuh, amid circumstances created by his patron/jailer, Lt. Richard Henry Pratt. The heart of the book is a facsimile of the sketchbook, unique for its Westernized narrative structure, assembled in its proper order. This significant contribution to the literature of ledger book art will set the standard for future study in the field and will serve as a model for progressive collaboration among institutions with related collection material.
Jury: Teresa Carbone, Brooklyn Museum, chair; Anna Chave, Queens College and Graduate Center, City University of New York; Susan Huntington, Ohio State University; David W. Penney, Detroit Institute of Arts; and Susan Sidlauskas, Rutgers University
