CPW Awards Honorees
2020 Vision Award: Carrie Mae Weems
About CPW’s Award
s
Each year, the Center for Photography at Woodstock recognizes an outstanding figure in the photography community with the Vision Award. Established in 2004, past honorees have included Anne Wilkes Tucker, Dr. Deborah Willis, Nathan Lyons, Vince Aletti, Kathy Ryan, Sandra S. Phillips, Willis E. Hartshorn, Fred Baldwin & Wendy Watriss, the photo agency VII, W.M. Hunt, Lilo Raymond, Neil C. Trager, Kenro Izu, Howard Greenberg, John Dugdale, and Colleen & Kathleen Kenyon. In 2016, a second award – the Affinity Award – was added to acknowledge organizations and individuals who have significantly contributed to the organization. The first recipient of the Affinity Award was Bill Mindlin.
Due to the covid-19 pandemic, CPW will be awarding the 2020 Vision Award to Carrie Mae Weems as part of the virtual forum, Race, Activism and Photography, which will examine recent societal injustices, systemic racism, and the continued underrepresentation in the art world through the lenses of art and activism. The forum will take place December 3-5, 2020. Registration begins on November 9.
2020 Vision Award: Carrie Mae Weems
CPW is pleased to celebrate Carrie Mae Weems’ considerable career and contributions to the field with our highest recognition, the Vision Award. Considered one of the most influential contemporary American artists, Carrie Mae Weems has investigated family relationships, cultural identity, sexism, class, political systems, and the consequences of power. In a New York Times review of her retrospective, Holland Cotter wrote, “Ms. Weems is what she has always been, a superb image maker and a moral force, focused and irrepressible.”
Through image and text, film and performance, and her many convenings with individuals across a multitude of disciplines, Carrie Mae Weems has created a complex body of work that centers on her overarching commitment to helping us better understand our present moment by examining our collective past. Major solo exhibitions of Weems’s work include Carrie Mae Weems: The Museum Series,Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, and Carrie Mae Weems: Three Decades of Photography and Video, Frist Art Museum, Nashville, and traveled to: Portland Art Museum, Portland; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland; Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford University; and the Guggenheim Museum, New York. She is represented in public and private collections around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Tate Modern, London, England; the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Weems was selected as the inaugural speaker for CPW’s Arnold Newman Lectures at Woodstock, and she is being celebrated as the 2020 honoree of CPW’s highest recognition, the Vision Award. Weems lives in Syracuse, New York, with her husband, Jeffrey Hoone, who is the Executive Director of Light Work.
Photograph by Audoin Desforges for Rolex
2019 Vision Award: Dawoud Bey
CPW is pleased to acknowledge Dawoud Bey with the 2019 Vision Award in recognition of his remarkable achievements and dedication as a photographer, advocate, educator and mentor. He is renowned for his large-scale color portraits of adolescents and other often marginalized subjects. Dawoud is the recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Genius Award, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, regional fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts, and more.
His photographs can be found in major collections throughout the US and internationally. In 2018, University of Texas Press published a major monograph on Dawoud Bey, Seeing Deeply, which has been received with critical acclaim.
Dawoud Bey began his career as an artist in 1975 with a series of photographs, Harlem, USA, that were later exhibited in his first one-person exhibition at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 1979. His works have since been exhibited at institutions such as the Addison Gallery of American Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Brooklyn Museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art, NY, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Gallery of Art, and other museums worldwide where his works are also included in institutional collections.
In 1995 the Walker Art Center organized a mid-career survey of his work, Dawoud Bey: Portraits 1975-1995, that was curated by Kellie Jones and traveled to institutions throughout the United States and Europe. Class Pictures: Photographs by Dawoud Bey was published by Aperture in 2007. A traveling exhibition of this work toured to museums throughout the country from 2007 to 2011. Harlem, USA was published by Yale University Press in conjunction with the Art Institute of Chicago in 2012, where the work was exhibited in its entirety for the first time since it was first shown at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 1979. A survey exhibition of his work, Picturing People, opened at the Renaissance Society of the University of Chicago in 2012, and traveled to museums around the country.
His most recent project Night Coming Tenderly, Black references the presence of The Underground Railroad in the Cleveland, OH, landscape. The work debuted in a site-specific installation at the FRONT International Triennial in Cleveland in 2018, and at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2019 for its first museum showing.
Born in New York, NY, Dawoud Bey earned his MFA from Yale University School of Art, and is currently Professor of Art and a former Distinguished College Artist at Columbia College Chicago. He has been honored with numerous fellowships over the course of his long career, including a recent MacArthur “Genius Award” Fellowship, as well as a United States Artists Fellowship, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, among many others.
A 40-year retrospective monograph of his work, Dawoud Bey: Seeing Deeply, was published in 2018 by the University of Texas Press.
Bey’s work will be the subject of a retrospective exhibition in 2020 that will open at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, travel to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and end at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.
Photograph by Whitten Sabbatini.
2019 Affinity Award: Alan Siegel
It is our pleasure to recognize Alan Siegel (1935-2019) with the 2019 Affinity Award. Alan has been a close friend to CPW since our early years. We approached Alan about this award back in December. As usual, his enthusiasm was infectious as we developed plans for the award presentation. Those plans were abruptly interrupted, when Alan passed away in March. While we are deeply saddened not to be able to present him with this well-deserved award in person, we will forever be grateful for his kindness, initiative and friendship.
Alan served on CPW’s board and supported CPW through generosity, compassion and advice. At the helm of The Thompson Family Foundation, he provided a helping hand in small and large ways to numerous art organizations, all the while staying personally engaged in the arts as an accomplished painter and photographer.
The Thompson Family Foundation has provided major support to the historic Seventh Regiment Armory, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Morgan Library & Museum and many art initiatives in New York City and beyond.
“Alan’s intense passion for life and beauty was unfailing.” As perfectly described in the Woodstock Times, Alan Siegel (1935-2019) “was a voracious reader, a talented photographer, an avid painter, and a true lover and patron of the visual and performing arts.” 1
Alan was born in Cleveland, OH, and grew up in Bayonne, NJ. Pursuing an early passion for law, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, and the New York University Law School specializing in business, corporate, securities and international law. He distinguished himself in a long career that included becoming a partner in the New York office of Baker & McKenzie and later a partner in the law firm Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLC.
Never shy to take on committee work, Alan served as the non-executive chairman of The Wet Seal and as director on the board of Thor Industries. He also served on many boards for non-profit and arts organizations. In New York, he served as a trustee of the Museum of the City of New York, and a director of both the American Committee of the Weizmann Institute of Science, as well as Pioneer Works in Brooklyn.
In Woodstock, where he and his wife Sandy maintained a home for over 40 years, Alan served as a director of the Center for Photography at Woodstock, before becoming a director and treasurer of the Woodstock School of Art and a trustee of Maverick Concerts.
Most recently, Alan served as director, secretary and treasurer of The Thompson Family Foundation, positions he held until his passing in March 2019. The private foundation was created by Wade F.B. Thompson, the founder of Thor Industries. The foundation has been instrumental in the renovation of the Park Avenue Armory in New York, and has provided significant grants for the arts, cancer research and neurological studies. Among many acknowledgements, the Thompson family and Alan Siegel were named the 2016 Outstanding Philanthropists by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
In 2018, the Woodstock School of Art celebrated the naming of The Thompson Family Foundation/Alan and Sandy Siegel Studio for Graphics and Works on Paper, thereby creating a lasting legacy in Woodstock, NY.
Alan Siegel and The Thompson Family Foundation lent their support to Woodstock organizations, such as CPW, Maverick Concerts, Opus 40, Woodstock Artists Association & Museum, Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock Day School, Woodstock Film Festival, Woodstock Land Conservancy, Woodstock School of Art, and more. In the last few years, the foundation helped CPW to purchase an artist house for the artist-in-residence program, Woodstock AIR, and supported a digitization project for CPW’s Permanent Print Collection.
See also New York Times (March 27, 2019).
1 Woodstock Times, March 26, 2019
2018 Vision Award: Anne Wilkes Tucker
CPW is pleased to recognize Anne Wilkes Tucker with the 2018 Vision Award for her tremendous accomplishments as curator and writer.
Anne Wilkes Tucker is the curator emerita of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, having, in 1976, become founding curator of the photography department for which she acquired over 30,000 photographs made on all seven continents. She curated or co-curated over 40 exhibitions, most with accompanying catalogues, including surveys on the Czech Avant-garde, a history of Japanese photography, and a history of war photography as well as exhibitions with catalogues on works of Robert Frank, Brassai, Catherine Wagner, Joel Sternfeld, Richard Misrach, Ray Metzker, Louis Faurer, George Krause, and Chen Changfan.
She has also contributed articles to over 150 magazines, books and other catalogues and has lectured throughout the North and South America, Europe and Asia. Her honors, fellowships, and awards include being selected as “American’s Best Curator” by Time Magazine in 2001 in an issue devoted to America’s Best as well as Randolph-Macon Woman’s College’s, Alumnae Achievement Award in 1993. She has been a trustee of FotoFest since 1990 and the Philip and Edith Leonian Foundation since 2016 and served as a trustee of Randolph College between 2008 – 2018.
Robert Morris, architect and painter, has been her partner for 15 years. She is joyful guardian for her brother’s middle son, Alexander Tucker. While continuing to work in retirement (friends have pronounced her a failure at retirement), she is an active gardener, Astros fan, movie buff, and reader.
2017 Vision Award: Dr. Deborah Willis
CPW recognizes Dr. Deborah Willis with the 2018 Vision Award for her outstanding dedication and service to the field as an advocate, artist, writer, curator and educator.
Deborah Willis, Ph.D, is University Professor and Chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and has an affiliated appointment with the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Social & Cultural, Africana Studies, where she teaches courses on photography and imaging, iconicity, and cultural histories visualizing the black body, women, and gender. Her research examines photography’s multifaceted histories, visual culture, the photographic history of Slavery and Emancipation, contemporary women photographers, and beauty.
She received the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship and was a Richard D. Cohen Fellow in African and African American Art, Hutchins Center, Harvard University, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow, and an Alphonse Fletcher, Jr. Fellow. She has pursued a dual professional career as an art photographer and as one of the nation’s leading historians of African American photography and curator of African American culture.
image: Hank Willis Sr.
2016 Vision Award: Nathan Lyons
In 2016 CPW recognized Nathan Lyons with the Vision Award for his outstanding dedication and service to the field of photography. It is with heavy hearts that we say goodbye to a friend, who inspired so many to see the potential of art photography and to envision that future in new ways.
Lyons was an integral part of almost every area of photography as photographer, educator, publisher, lecturer, author, and curator. He was the Founding Director Emeritus at Visual Studies Workshop (1969–2001) and Distinguished Professor Emeritus at SUNY Brockport.
Lyons held honorary doctorates from Rhode Island School of Design (2004), Corcoran School of Art (1995), and Alfred University (2006), and was named Honored Educator, Society for Photographic Education (1997). He was Associate Director and Curator of Photography, Editor of Publications, and Director of Extension Activities at the George Eastman House (1961–1969). He was a founder and first chairman of the Society for Photographic Education, and initiated the formation of Oracle, an annual meeting of photographic curators.
Lyons exhibited extensively with work represented in numerous collections. He was the recipient of the International Center of Photography Infinity Award for Lifetime Achievement in Photography (2000) and Friends of Photography Peer Awards in Creative Photography—Award for Distinguished Career in Photography (1989). He was recently chosen for the Lucie Visionary Award (2016). Lyons published four books of photographs, comprising an extended sequence of images begun in the early 1960s, including Notations in Passing (1974), Riding First Class on the Titanic (1999), After 9/11 (2003), and Return Your Mind to its Upright Position (2014). At the time of his death on August 31, 2016, Lyons was preparing for a retrospective exhibition of his work at the George Eastman Museum of Photography that will take place in 2018.
image: Neil Chowdhury
2016 Affinity Award: Bill Mindlin
Originally from San Francisco, Photograph magazine founder Bill Mindlin went to UC Berkeley during the tumultuous Sixties and then to Columbia University for graduate school, where he studied industrial social welfare. After working at one of New York City’s unions for ten years, he decided to take some time off. His first stop was Europe, but he eventually ended up in Jerusalem, where he enrolled in a photography program. New York remained close to his heart and he returned to the city in 1986, taking a job at the Photographer’s Place bookstore in SoHo and then at the Marcuse Pfeifer Gallery. It was during that time that Photograph magazine was conceived. Visitors regularly asked where they could find photography exhibitions around the city, so Mindlin created a mimeographed list of suggested shows. That grew into the indispensable gallery guide Photography in New York, and finally into Photograph magazine, which has steadily expanded its editorial and digital presence to become a vital publication for the world of photo-based art.
The magazine has an estimated readership of 17,500 and a visually engaging website, photographmag.com, that is a vital source for the latest information and news from the field. Photograph is active on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The magazine’s weekly e-newsletter brings readers a summary of each week’s openings, as well as news, reviews, profiles, and articles. Last month Mindlin announced his retirement, and Anthony Beale, who has been with the publication for the last 22 years, will be taking over the helm. Jean Dykstra, who has been affiliated with the magazine for more than 15 years, has been named the editor.
image: Anthony Beale
2015 Vision Award: Vince Aletti
“Vince’s generous and caring words have nurtured so many of us over the years, and he is one of the great characters of photography. I am extremely grateful to the Center for recognizing his profound contribution to the medium of photography.” — Fazal Sheikh
Vince Aletti reviews photography exhibitions for The New Yorker‘s “Goings on About Town” section and writes a regular column about photo books for Photograph.His work also appears in Aperture, Artforum, W, Art + Auction, photoworks, and more. He was the art editor of the Village Voice from 1994 to 2005, and the paper’s photo critic for 20 years. He is the winner of the International Center of Photography’s 2005 Infinity Award in writing. Aletti wrote half of the 101 descriptive essays that form the backbone of Andrew Roth’s The Book of 101 Books: Seminal Photographic Books of the Twentieth Century (2001) and has written introductions to books by Michael Thompson and Ingar Krauss (both 2005), Mark Cohen and Kohei Yoshiyuki (both 2007). His book Male features works from his collection and was published by Andrew Roth’s PPP Editions at the end of 2008, following exhibitions of that work at New York’s White Columns and Vancouver’s Presentation House.
2014 Vision Award: Kathy Ryan
Kathy Ryan, the Director of Photography at The New York Times Magazine, has been a pioneer at combining fine art photography and photojournalism in the pages of the Magazine.
She has worked with the publication for more than 25 years; in that time, the Magazine has been recognized with numerous photography awards. In fall 2011, a book edited by Ryan titled The New York Times Magazine Photographs, was published by Aperture. A traveling exhibition of photographs from the book, co-curated by Ryan, opened at the Rencontres d’Arles in July 2011, then went to Foam Museum in Amsterdam in spring 2012, and the Palau Robert in Barcelona in fall 2012. Ryan received the 1997 Picture Editor of the Year Award at the Visa pour l’Image photojournalism festival; a Lucie Award for Picture Editor of the Year in 2003; and a lifetime achievement award from the Griffin Photography Museum.
In 2010, the Magazine won its first Emmy for a series of videos, produced by Ryan and the Magazine’s visual team, featuring renowned actors. In fall 2013 she curated the 1/1 Aperture benefit and auction. In June 2011 she co-curated the LOOK3 photography festival in Charlottesville, VA, with Scott Thode. In 2008 she was a co-curator of the inaugural New York Photo Festival, and in the following year organized the exhibitions ‘Prune: Abstracting Reality’: for FOAM Museum in Amsterdam and Dutch Seen for the Museum of the City of New York and FOAM.
Last fall, Ryan co-curated the School of Visual Arts Alumni exhibition, Myths & Realities, with Scott Thode. Ryan lectures and has served on many photo juries. In spring 2012 she gave the Karsh Lecture in Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. She serves as a mentor and thesis adviser at New York’s School of Visual Arts.
Ryan is having lots of fun these days posting pictures of life at The New York Times Magazine on Instagram.