Awards

Recognizes the best journal article or essay in English from an exhibition catalogue or book published on the decorative arts in the previous year. Both debut and seasoned authors are welcome to submit. This award is in memory of Dr. Robert C. Smith, who taught the art and architecture of the United States, Spain, Portugal and South America at the University of Pennsylvania. The award follows in the tradition he established for clearly presented, original and innovative research. The Award was first presented for works published in 1978.

2024

Chris Pickerell, “Origins and Evolution of the Early American Oyster Jar,” Ceramics in America, 2024 

2023

Diane C. Ehrenpreis, “‘Threads & clues of it’: Thomas Jefferson’s New York Furniture,” American Furniture, 2023

Edward S. Cooke, Jr., “Eco-Aesthetics as an Organizing Principle in Global Material Culture: The Example of Green Woodworking,” Winterthur Portfolio 57, nos. 2-3, Summer/Autumn, 2023 (Honorable Mention)

2017–2022

No Awards Given

2016

Tess Korbkin, “The Greek Slave and Materialities of Reproduction,” Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide 15, no. 2, Summer, 2016

2015

Lisa Minardi, “Sulfur Inlay in Pennsylvania German Furniture: New Discoveries,” American Furniture, 2015

Andrea Pappas, “‘Each Wise Nymph that Angles for a Heart’ in the Politics of Courtship in the Boston ‘Fishing Lady’ Pictures,” Winterthur Portfolio 49, no. 1, Spring, 2015

2014

Freyja Hartzell, “A Renovated Renaissance: Richard Riemerschmid’s Modern Interiors for the Thieme House in Munich,” Interiors 5, Issue 1, 2014

2009–2013

No Awards Given

2008

Stephen G. Harrison, “Artistic Luxury in the Belle Époque,” Artistic Luxury: Fabergé, Tiffany, Lalique, 2008, exhibition catalogue

Margaretta M. Lovell, “The Forest, the Copper Mine, and the Sea: The Alchemical and Social Materiality of Greene and Greene,” A New and Native Beauty: The Art and Craft of Greene & Greene, 2008, exhibition catalogue

2007

Christopher Long, ”The Vienna Secessionsstil and Modern American Design,” Studies in the Decorative Arts 14, no. 2, 2007

2006

Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, “The Most Artistic House in New York City: The Tiffany House at Seventy-Second Street and Madison Avenue,” Louis Comfort Tiffany and Laurelton Hall, 2006, exhibition catalogue

2005

Jewel Stern, “Modernism in America, 1925” and “A New Look in Silver, 1950-2000,” Modernism in American Silver: 20th-Century Design, 2005, exhibition catalogue

2004

Donald G. Carpentier and Jonathan Rickard, “The Little Engine That Could: Adaptation of the Engine-Turning Lathe in the Pottery Industry,” Ceramics in America, 2004

Barbara J. Bloemink and Joseph Cunningham, respective essays, Design is not Art: Functional Objects from Donald Judd to Rachel Whiteread, 2004, exhibition catalogue

2003

Charissa Bremer-David, “French & Company and American Collections of Tapestries, 1907-1959,” Studies in the Decorative Arts, Fall-Winter, 2003-2004

Christine W. Laidlaw, “Painting with Silken Thread: Fanny Dixwell Holmes and Japanism in Nineteenth-Century Boston,” Studies in the Decorative Arts, 10, no. 2, Spring-Summer, 2003

2002

Ellen Paul Denker, “Parian Porcelain Statuary: American Sculptors and the Introduction of Art in American Ceramics,” Ceramics in America, 2002

2001

Roberta A. Mayer and Carolyn K. Lane, “Disassociating the ‘Associated Artists’: The Early Business Ventures of Louis C. Tiffany, Candace T. Wheeler and Lockwood de Forest,” Studies in the Decorative Arts 8, no. 2, Spring-Summer, 2001

2000

No Award Given

1999

Jessie Poesch, “Arthur Wesley Dow and Art Pottery: The Beauty of Simplicity,” Arthur Wesley Dow & American Arts and Crafts, 1999

1998

Peter M. Kenny, “Lannuier’s Life and Work in New York, 1803-1819” and “The Essence of Lannuier: Connoisseurship of His Known Work,” Honore Lannuier, Cabinetmaker from Paris, 1998, exhibition catalogue

1997

Susan Solny, “Some Unusual Stylistic Preferences in New York Cellaret Design, 1810-1834,” Studies in the Decorative Arts 5, no. 1, Fall-Winter, 1997-1998

1996

Milo M. Naeve, “Louis Comfort Tiffany and the Reform Movement in Furniture Design: The J. Mattthew Meier and Ernest Hagen Commission of 1882-1885,” American Furniture, 1996

1995

Morrison H. Heckscher, “Copley’s Picture Frames,” John Singleton Copley in America, 1995, exhibition catalogue

1994

Barry R. Harwood, “Two Early Thonet Imitators in the United States: The Henry I. Seymour Chair Manufactory and the American Chair-Seat Company,” Studies in the Decorative Arts 2, no. 1, Fall, 1994

1993

Karal Ann Marling, “Elvis Presley’s Graceland or the Aesthetic of Rock ‘n Roll,” American Art, Fall 1993

1992

Janine E. Skerry and Jeanne Sloane, “Images of Politics and Religion on Silver Engraved by Joseph Leddel,” The Magazine Antiques, March 1992

1991

David Harris Cohen, “The Chambre des Portraits Designed by Victor Loyis for the King of Poland,” The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal 19, 1991

1990

Francis Gruber Safford and Ruth Wilford Caccavale, “E.J. Soligny, The Chaser of the Bryant Vase,” The Magazine Antiques, March 1990

1989

No Award Given

1988

Barbara McLean Ward, “‘In a Feasting Posture’: Communion Vessels and Community Values in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth- Century New England,” Winterthur Portfolio 23, no. 1, Spring, 1988

1987

No Award Given

1986

Michael Conforti, “Orientalism on the Upper Mississippi: John Scott Bradstreet,” Bulletin 65, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1986

1985

John Bivins, Jr., “Isaac Zane and the Products of Marlboro Furnace,” The Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts XI, no. 1, May 1985

1984

Luke Beckerdite, “Philadelphia Carving Shops: Part I, James Reynolds,” Antiques, 125, no. 5, May 1984

1983

Robert F. Trent and Andrew Passeri, two-part article, “American Classics, No. 5: Two New England Queen Anne Easy Chairs with Original Upholstery,” Maine Antiques Digest, April 1983 and “American Classics No. 6: Some Amazing Washington Chairs,” Maine Antiques Digest, May 1983

1982

Jules D. Prown, “Mind in Matter: An Introduction to Material Culture Theory and Method,” Winterthur Portfolio 17, no. 1, Spring 1982

1981

Martin Eidelberg, “Life and Works of E. Colona,” The Decorative Arts Society Newsletter VII, nos. 1, 2, 3, March, June, September, 1981

1980

No Award Given

1979

Gabriel Weisberg, “Baron Vitta and the Bracquemond/Rodin Hand Mirror,” Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, November 1979

1978

Henry Hawley, “Meissonier’s Silver for the Duke of Kingston,” Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, December 1978

Recognizes the scholar(s) whose first major publication in the field of American decorative arts is judged to be the most outstanding work published in the previous year. This award is in memory of Charles F. Montgomery, who was a director of the Winterthur Museum, Library and Garden; curator of the Garvan and related collections at the Yale University Art Gallery; and a professor of the history of art at Yale University—an inspirational teacher, creative curator and eminent scholar. The Award was first presented for works published in 1979.

2024                      

Robert Frishman, Edward Duffield: Philadelphia Clockmaker, Citizen, Gentleman, 1730-1803

2023                      

Andrea Pappas, Embroidering the Landscape: Women, Art and The Environment in British North America, 1740–1770

2015–2022

No Awards Given

2014

Derin T. Bray, Woodenware and Wooden Toys of Hingham: Bucket Town, Massachusetts, 1635-1945

2005–2013

No Awards Given

2004                                                          

Kristina Wilson, Livable Modernism: Interior Decoration and Design During the Great Depression

1999–2003

No Awards Given

1998

Jille Beute Koverman, ed., “I made this jar . . .”:  The Life and Works of the Enslaved African American Potter, “Dave”

1997

Russell Flinchum, Henry Dreyfuss: Industrial Designer

1996

No Award Given

1995

Kenneth Zogry, The Best the Country Affords: Vermont Furniture, 1765-1850

1994

Marcia Anderson, “Art for Life’s Sake: The Handicraft Guild of Minneapolis,” in Michael Conforti, Minnesota 1900:  Art and Life on the Upper Mississippi, 1890-1915

1993

Susan Montgomery, The Ceramics of William H. Grueby: The Spirit of the New Idea in Artistic Handicraft

1992

Jonathan Prown, “A Cultural Analysis of Furniture-making in Petersburg, Virginia,” Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts 18, no. 1, May 1992

1991

Catherine Zusy, Norton Stoneware and American Redware: The Bennington Museum Collection

1990

Leslie Greene Bowman, American Arts and Crafts: Virtue in Design

1989

Charles L. Venable, American Furniture in the Bybee Collection

1988

Katherine C. Grier, Culture and Comfort: People, Parlors, and Upholstery, 1850-1930

1987

Craig Gilborn, Adirondack Furniture and the Rustic Tradition

1986

Christopher Monkhouse and Thomas S. Michie, American Furniture in Pendleton House

1985

Morrison Heckscher, American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 2, Late Colonial Period: The Queen Anne and Chippendale Styles

1984

Brock W. Jobe and Myrna Kaye, New England Furniture: The Colonial Period

1983

Irving Jenkins, Hawaiian Furniture and Hawaiian Cabinetmakers

1982

Susan Detwiler, George Washington’s Chinaware

1981

No Award Given

1980

Catherine Lynn, Wallpaper in America: From the Seventeenth Century to World War I

1979

Robert B. St. George, “Style and Structure in the Joinery of Dedham and Medfield, Massachusetts,” Winterthur Portfolio 13, 1979

Recognizes the most distinguished contribution to the study of American decorative arts published in the English language by a North American scholar(s) in the previous year. This award is in memory of Charles F. Montgomery, who was a director of the Winterthur Museum, Library and Garden; curator of the Garvan and related collections at the Yale University Art Gallery; and a professor of the history of art at Yale University—an inspirational teacher, creative curator and eminent scholar. The Prize was first presented for works published in 1982.

2024                                                          

Sharon S. Darling, Women, Enterprise, Craft: Chicago’s Atlan Ceramic Art Club, 1893-1923

Sarah Archer, Colin Fanning, Ann Glasscock, Holly Gore and Emily Zilber, The Crafted World of Wharton Esherick (Honorable Mention)

2023

Susan Brown and Alexa Griffith Winton, Editors, A Dark, a Light, a Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes

2017–2022

No Awards Given

2016

Patricia E. Kane et al., Art and Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650-1830

2015

Leroy Graves, Early Seating Upholstery: Reading the Evidence

2014

Kemble Widmer et al., In Plain Sight: Discovering the Furniture of Nathaniel Gould

2009–2013

No Awards Given

2008

Charles Cunningham, The Artistic Furniture of Charles Rohlfs

2005–2007

No Awards Given

2004

Donald L. Fennimore, Iron at Winterthur

1999–2003

No Awards Given

1998

Patricia E. Kane et al., Colonial Massachusetts Silversmiths and Jewelers

1997

Ronald Hurst and Jonathan Prown, Southern Furniture, 1680-1830: The Colonial Williamsburg Collection

1996

Edward S. Cooke Jr., Making Furniture in Preindustrial America: The Social Economy of Newtown and Woodbury, Connecticut

Nancy Goyne Evans, American Windsor Chairs

1995

Martha Gandy Fales, Jewelry in America, 1600-1900

1994

Charles L. Venable, Silver in America, 1840-1940: A Century of Splendor

1993

Betty Ring, Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers and Pictorial Needlework, 1650-1850, 2 vols.

1992

David L. Barquist, American Tables and Looking Glasses in the Mabel Brady Garvan and Other Collections at Yale University        

1991

Graham Hood, The Governor’s Palace in Williamsburg: A Cultural Study

1990

Elisabeth Donaghy Garrett, At Home: The American Family, 1750-1870

1989

Francis J. Puig and Michael Conforti, eds., The American Craftsman and the European Tradition, 1620-1820

1988

John Bivins Jr., The Furniture of Coastal North Carolina, 1700-1820

1987

Benno M. Forman, American Seating Furniture, 1630-1730: An Interpretive Catalogue

1986

Dianne H. Pilgrim, Richard Guy Wilson, and Dickran Tashjian, The Machine Age in America

1985

Wadsworth Atheneum, The Great River: Art and Society of the Connecticut Valley, 1635-1820

1984

Sharon Darling, Chicago Furniture: Art, Craft, and Industry, 1833-1933

1983

Detroit Institute of Arts and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Design in America: The Cranbrook Vision, 1925-1950

1982

Jonathan L. Fairbanks and Robert F. Trent et al., New England Begins: The Seventeenth Century, 3 vols.

Is given on occasion to recognize those who have provided exceptional service to the field of decorative arts.