The 33rd Annual George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award was presented at the annual conference of the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) held in Pasadena, California April 25-29, 2013. The award was established in 1980 to honor the memory of the premier New York City art book dealer and publisher George Wittenborn. The award is given each year to a North American art publication which represents the highest standards of content, documentation, layout and format in art publishing.

One outstanding book published in 2012 was selected to receive the 33rd Annual George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award: Nineteenth-century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Sarah Lees, Richard Tand and Sandra L. Webber. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2012. 2 vols. Xxix, 989 pages isbn: 9781935998099

Eighteen contributors worked for a ten-year period to produce these two volumes documenting the Clark’s collection of 374 nineteenth-century paintings. Every entry is illustrated and carries a scholarly apparatus including critical remarks on earlier writing about the pictures. Across all the essays and entries, there is a nice uniformity of style, color and clarity; as a physical object, the book glows with the alchemy of ink, paper, printing and layout.

Members of the 33rd Annual George Wittneborn Memorial Book Award Committee: Lamia Doumato, National Gallery of Art (chair), John Hagood, National Gallery of Art, Kathryn Phillips, Smithsonian Freer-Sackler Gallery of Art, Kristen Regina, Hillwood Estate and Gardens, Alex Hodges, American University.

Founded in 1972, the Art Libraries Society of North America is a dynamic, international organization of over 1,000 individuals devoted to fostering excellence in art and design librarianship and image management in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The membership includes architecture and art librarians, visual resources professionals, artists, curators, educators, publishers, students, and others interested in visual arts information. To serve this diverse constituency, the Society provides a wide range of programs and services within an organizational structure that encourages participation at all levels.