National Medal of Arts

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National Medal of Arts

The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the Congress of the United States in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and patrons of the arts. It is the highest honor conferred to an individual artist on behalf of the people. Honorees are selected by the National Endowment for the Arts

National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is a United States federally funded and donation assisted program that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence....
(NEA), and ceremoniously presented the award by the President of the United States

President of the United States

The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition....
.

The medal was designed for the NEA by sculptor Robert Graham

Robert Graham (sculptor)

Robert Graham was a sculptor based in the U.S. state of California in the United States of America. His monumental bronzes commemorate the human figure and are featured in public places across America....
.

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Encyclopedia

National Endowment for the Arts

President of the United States

Robert Graham (sculptor)

Controversy

In 1997, poet Adrienne Rich

Adrienne Rich

Adrienne Cecile Rich is an United States poet, essayist and feminist. She has been called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the [20th] century" ....
refused her award as a protest against “inconsistencies” between art and “the cynical politics” of the Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the fifteenth Democrat elected to that office....
White House administration.

Laureates

In 1983, prior to the official establishment of the Medal, the following artists and patrons received a medal from President Reagan, arranged by the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities:

(artists) Pinchas Zukerman
Pinchas Zukerman

Pinchas Zukerman is a noted Israeli violinist, viola, and conducting who was appointed Music Director of Ottawa's National Arts Centre Orchestra in April 1998....
, Frederica von Stade
Frederica von Stade

Frederica von Stade , is an American mezzo-soprano. Born in Somerville, New Jersey, she acquired the nickname Flicka in her childhood. Miss von Stade attended the Mannes College of Music in New York City....
, Czeslaw Milosz
Czeslaw Milosz

Czeslaw Milosz ; was a Poles poet, prose and translator. From 1961 to 1978 he was a professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of California, Berkeley....
, Frank Stella
Frank Stella

Frank Stella is an United States Painting and printmaker. He is a significant figure in minimalism and post-painterly abstraction.He was born in Malden, Massachusetts....
, Philip Johnson
Philip Johnson

Philip Cortelyou Johnson was an influential American architect. With his thick, round-framed glasses, Johnson was the most recognizable figure in American architecture for decades....
and Luis Valdez
Luis Valdez

Luis Valdez is an United States playwright, writer and film director.He is regarded as the father of Chicano theater in the United States....
;
(patrons) The Texaco
Texaco

Texaco is the name of an United States petroleum retail brand. Its flagship product is its fuel,"Texaco with Techron". It also owns the Havoline motor oil brand....
Philanthropic Foundation, James Michener, Philip Morris
Altria Group

Altria Group, Inc. , based in Henrico County, Virginia, is the parent company of Philip Morris USA, John Middleton, Inc. and Philip Morris Capital Corporation, and is one of the world's largest tobacco corporations....
, The Cleveland Foundation, Elma Lewis
Elma Lewis

Elma Idna Lewis was the founder of the National Center of Afro-American Artists and the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts. She received the MacArthur Fellows Program in 1981....
and The Dayton Hudson Foundation.

National Medal of Arts

Controversy

Laureates

1980s

1990s

2000s

External links