Edyta Frelik Is Awarded the 2013 Terra Foundation for American Art International Essay Prize

The Smithsonian American Art Museum has awarded Edyta Frelik the 2013 Terra Foundation for American Art International Essay Prize. Frelik’s winning essay, “Ad Reinhart: Painter-as-Writer,” offers a compelling account of the conceptual and structural linkages between Reinhardt’s extensive writings and the artist’s painting practice. Her text will be published in the fall 2014 issue of the museum’s scholarly journal American Art (vol. 28, no. 3).

Frelik is the fourth winner of the prize, which recognizes excellent research and writing by a scholar in the field of American art history based outside of the United States. The annual award, established in 2009, supports essays that advance the understanding of historical American art and demonstrate new findings and original perspectives.

 “I am inspired by the response the museum has received to the Terra International Essay Prize,” said Elizabeth Broun, The Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. “The diversity of the submissions indicates the richness of American art scholarship being conducted overseas.”

 Frelik, a Polish citizen, is an Americanist at Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, in Lublin, Poland. In April 2013 she defended her doctoral dissertation “Painter’s Word: Thomas Hart Benton, Marsden Hartley, and Ad Reinhardt as Writers.” Her principal teaching and research interests include American film and popular culture and contemporary American art, especially artists’ writings and the intersection of literature and the visual arts. She has presented scholarly papers on Thomas Hart Benton, Marsden Hartley, Ad Reinhardt and Jasper Johns at conferences in Poland and elsewhere. Her essays have appeared in volumes published in Poland, Germany and England.

The essay prize is supported by funding from the Terra Foundation for American Art. A complete list of past Terra Foundation for American Art International Essay Prize winners and additional information about the award are available at americanart.si.edu/research/awards/terra. The deadline for submissions for the 2014 prize is Jan. 15, 2014.

The Terra Foundation also supports fellowships at the museum for predoctoral, postdoctoral and senior scholars as well as biennial symposia. The upcoming Terra Symposia on American Art in a Global Context is “American Art in Dialogue with Africa and the African Diaspora,” which will take place Oct. 4-5. Additional information, registration and links to presentations from past symposia are available on the museum’s website, americanart.si.edu/research/symposia/.

American Art is part of the museum’s active publications program, which includes books and exhibition catalogs. It is produced by the museum’s Research and Scholars Center, which also administers fellowships for pre- and postdoctoral scholars and offers unparalleled research databases and extensive photographic collections documenting American art and artists. The journal is published for the museum by the University of Chicago Press. Information about subscribing, purchasing single issues or submitting articles to the journal is available at http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/journals/journal/amart.html.

About the Smithsonian American Art Museum

The Smithsonian American Art Museum celebrates the vision and creativity of Americans with artworks in all media spanning more than four centuries. Its National Historic Landmark building is located at Eighth and F streets N.W., above the Gallery Place/Chinatown Metrorail station. Museum hours are 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily (closed Dec. 25). Admission is free. Follow the museum on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, iTunes, ArtBabble, Pinterest and YouTube. Museum information (recorded): (202) 633-7970. Smithsonian Information: (202) 633-1000. Website: americanart.si.edu.

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