The Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, will honor collector and philanthropist Sharon Percy Rockefeller, artist Glenn Ligon, and scholar Tomás Ybarra-Frausto at its annual benefit in New York City on October 24, 2017. The Archives of American Art Medal, acknowledging distinguished members of the American art community, will be presented to Ms. Rockefeller by Dr. Earl A. Powell III, director of the National Gallery of Art, and to Mr. Ligon by contemporary artist Byron Kim. Professor Chon Noriega, director of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center,will present Dr. Ybarra-Frausto with the Lawrence A. Fleischman Award for Scholarly Excellence in the Field of American Art History, established in 1998 by Trustee Emerita Barbara G. Fleischman as a tribute to her late husband, who founded the Archives in 1954. 

Held at 583 Park Avenue, New York City, the festive evening begins with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres followed by a seated dinner in the ballroom. In addition to the Medal and Award presentations, samples from a new series of short videos based on artists' material from the Archives will be screened. All proceeds support the Archives of American Art's programs.

WHEN

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

7:00 pm Cocktails; 8:00 pm Dinner; Cocktail Attire

WHERE

583 Park Avenue, the historic event space at East 63rd Street, New York City

GUESTS

In addition to the Archives of American Art's Board Chair Martha J. Fleischman, Trustee Emerita Barbara G. Fleischman, Archives Director Kate Haw, Smithsonian Secretary David J. Skorton, and the honorees and presenters, approximately 200 guests are expected including Agnes Gund, Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder, Dorothy Lichtenstein, and other art-world luminaries and philanthropists. 

ARCHIVES OF AMERICAN ART

The Archives of American Art, headquartered in Washington, DC, is the preeminent institution documenting the history of art in America. Encompassing letters, sketchbooks, diaries, emails, photographs, and films, the collections span the 18th to the 21st centuries and continue to grow. It is the most comprehensive archive of its kind, representing generations of American artists, collectors, dealers, and scholars, including the largest inventory of art-related oral histories in the world. Broadening access to the Archives' collections on the virtual frontier has advanced digital humanities and will continue to expand research and discovery of our nation's rich cultural history.

SHARON PERCY ROCKEFELLER

Sharon Percy Rockefeller is a long-time collector of American art and has served the public broadcasting community for more than 30 years as a leader and policymaker. She has been president and CEO of WETA, Washington, DC's flagship public television and radio stations, since 1989. She continues to guide WETA to outstanding accomplishments in broadcasting and production, including WETA productions "PBS NewsHour," "Washington Week," and the films of Ken Burns and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. She is also President of the International Council of the Museum of Modern Art, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Gallery of Art, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

GLENN LIGON

Glenn Ligon explores American history, literature, and society across a body of work that builds critically on the legacies of modern painting and more recently conceptual art. He is best known for his landmark series of text-based paintings that draw on the writings and speech of diverse figures including James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, Gertrude Stein, and Richard Pryor. Ligon's subject matter ranges widely from the Million Man March to the aftermath of slavery to 1970s coloring books. His work is held in the permanent collections of museums worldwide including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; and the Tate Modern, London; among others. His awards and honors include a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship and the Studio Museum's Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize.

Tomás Ybarra-Frausto

Tomás Ybarra-Frausto is a pioneering scholar of Chicano and American Latino art and culture. He has been a tenured professor at Stanford University in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and was formerly the Associate Director of Creativity and Culture at the Rockefeller Foundation. In 1998, he was awarded the Henry Medal by the Smithsonian Institution for service to the Smithsonian. In 2007, the Mexican government bestowed the Order of the Aztec Eagle, the highest honor accorded to a non-Mexican citizen, on him for a lifetime career spent promoting bonds of cooperation and understanding between Mexico and the U.S. through the arts and humanities. He began donating his papers to the Archives of American Art in 1997. They comprise the definitive research resource on Chicano art and are among the most-used collections at the Archives.

PREVIOUS ARCHIVES

OF AMERICAN ART MEDAL RECIPIENTS

Previous recipients of the Archives of American Art Medal include 2016: Steve Martin and Catherine Opie; 2015: Ford Foundation and Robert Gober; 2014: Robert E. Meyerhoff and Claes Oldenburg; 2013: James Turrell and Alice Walton; 2012: Richard Serra and Melva Bucksbaum and Raymond Learsy; 2011: Cindy Sherman and the leadership of Ann L. Gund, Jo Carole Lauder, Wendy W. Luers, Carole Price, and Eden Rafshoon of the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies; 2010: Mark di Suvero, Sheila Hicks, and Dona and Mera Rubell; 2009: Richard Artschwager, Douglas S. Cramer, Jack Lenor Larsen; 2008: Ellen Phelan, Joel Shapiro, Joan T. Washburn, Virginia M. Zabriskie; 2007: John Baldessari; 2006: Paula Cooper; 2005: Barbara G. Fleischman and the Fleischman Legacy; 2004: Eli Broad; 2003: Rita Fraad and Margaret and Raymond Horowitz; 2002: André Emmerich; 2001: Wayne Thiebaud; 2000: salute to the founders of the Archives of American Art; 1999: Ellsworth Kelly; 1998: Robert Hughes; 1996: Chuck Close; 1994: Agnes Gund; 1993: Frank Stella; 1991: Roy Lichtenstein; 1990: Richard Manoogian; and 1988: Benjamin D. Holloway.

PREVIOUS LAWRENCE A. FLEISCHMAN AWARD RECIPIENTS

Previous recipients of the Lawrence A. Fleischman Award for Scholarly Excellence in the Field of American Art History include 2016: Thomas Crow; 2015: William H. Truettner; 2014: Teresa A. Carbone; 2013: Richard Powell; 2012: Morrison H. Heckscher; 2011: Dore Ashton; 2010: William H. Gerdts; 2009: Klaus Kertess; 2008: Neil Harris; 2007: H. Barbara Weinberg; 2006: Wanda Corn; 2005: Helen A. Cooper; 2004: Robert Storr; 2003: Barbara Haskell; 2002: Linda Ferber; 2001: Jules Prown; 2000: John K. Howat; 1999: Barbara Novak; and 1998: John Wilmerding.

INFO: Zoë Herrmann at the Archives of American Art, Washington, DC; +1 202-633-8768; AAABenefit@si.edu