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 (NEA), and ceremoniously presented by the President of the United States.
The medal was designed for the NEA by sculptor Robert Graham.

Contents

Controversy

Laureates

1980s

1990s

2000s

References

External links

Controversy

In 1997, poet Adrienne Rich refused her award as a protest against “inconsistencies” between art and “the cynical politics” of the Clinton White House administration.^[1]

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, Frederica von Stade, Czesław Miłosz, Frank Stella, Philip Johnson and Luis Valdez;

★ (patrons) The Texaco Philanthropic Foundation, James Michener, Philip Morris, The Cleveland Foundation, Elma Lewis and The Dayton Hudson Foundation.

1980s

'1985'

★ Elliott Carter, Jr. - composer

★ Ralph (Waldo) Ellison - writer

★ Jose Ferrer - actor

★ Martha Graham - dancer, choreographer

★ Louise Nevelson - sculptor

★ Georgia O'Keeffe - painter

★ Leontyne Price - soprano

★ Dorothy Buffum Chandler - arts patron

★ Lincoln Kirstein - arts patron

★ Paul Mellon - arts patron

★ Alice Tully - arts patron

★ Hallmark Cards, Inc. - corporate arts patron
'1986'

★ Marian Anderson - opera singer

★ Frank Capra - film director

★ Aaron Copland - composer

★ Willem de Kooning - painter

★ Agnes de Mille - choreographer

★ Eva Le Gallienne - actress, author

★ Alan Lomax - folklorist, scholar

★ Lewis Mumford - philosopher, literary critic

★ Eudora Welty - writer

★ Dominique de Menil - arts patron

★ Exxon Corporation - corporate arts patron

★ Seymour H. Knox - arts patron
'1987'

★ Romare Bearden - painter

★ Ella Fitzgerald - singer

★ Howard Nemerov - writer, scholar

★ Alwin Nikolais - dancer, choreographer

★ Isamu Noguchi - sculptor

★ William Schuman - composer

★ Robert Penn Warren - writer, poet

★ J. W. Fisher - arts patron

★ Dr. Armand Hammer - arts patron

★ Mr. and Mrs. Sydney Lewis - arts patrons

'1988'

★ Saul Bellow - writer

★ Helen Hayes - actress

★ Gordon Parks - photographer, film director

★ I.M. Pei - architect

★ Jerome Robbins - dancer, choreographer

★ Rudolf Serkin - pianist

★ Virgil Thomson - composer, music critic

★ Sydney J. Freedberg - art historian, curator

★ Roger L. Stevens - arts administrator

★ Brooke Astor - arts patron

★ Francis Goelet - music patron

★ Obert C. Tanner - arts patron
'1989'

★ Leopold Adler - preservationist, civic leader

★ Katherine Dunham - dancer, choreographer

★ Alfred Eisenstaedt - photographer

★ Martin Friedman - museum director

★ Leigh Gerdine - arts patron, civic leader

★ John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie - jazz trumpeter

★ Walker Hancock - sculptor

★ Vladimir Horowitz - pianist (posthumous)

★ Czesław Miłosz - writer

★ Robert Motherwell - painter

★ John Updike - writer

★ Dayton Hudson Corporation - corporate arts patron

1990s

'1990'

★ George Abbott - actor, playwright, producer, director

★ Hume Cronyn - actor, director

★ Jessica Tandy - actress

★ Merce Cunningham - choreographer, dance company director

★ Jasper Johns - painter, sculptor

★ Jacob Lawrence - painter

★ Riley "B.B." King - blues musician, singer

★ David Lloyd Kreeger - arts patron

★ Harris & Carroll Sterling Masterson - arts patrons

★ Ian McHarg- landscape architect

★ Beverly Sills - opera singer, director

★ Southeastern Bell Corporation - corporate arts patron
'1991'

★ Maurice Abravanel - music director, conductor

★ Roy Acuff - country singer, bandleader

★ Pietro Belluschi - architect

★ J. Carter Brown - museum director

★ Charles "Honi" Coles - tap dancer

★ John O. Crosby - opera director, conductor, administrator

★ Richard Diebenkorn - painter

★ R. Philip Hanes, Jr. - arts patron

★ Kitty Carlisle Hart - actress, singer, arts administrator, dancer

★ Pearl Primus - choreographer, anthropologist

★ Isaac Stern - violinist

★ Texaco Inc. - corporate arts patron
'1992'

★ Marilyn Horne - opera singer

★ James Earl Jones - actor

★ Allan Houser - sculptor

★ Minnie Pearl - Grand Ole Opry performer

★ Robert Saudek - television producer, Museum of Broadcasting founding director

★ Earl Scruggs - banjo player

★ Robert Shaw - orchestra conductor, choral director

★ Billy Taylor - jazz pianist

★ Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown - architects

★ Robert Wise - film producer, director

★ AT&T - corporate arts patron

★ Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund - foundation arts patron
'1993'

★ Walter and Leonore Annenberg - arts patrons

★ Cabell "Cab" Calloway - singer, bandleader

★ Ray Charles - singer, musician

★ Bess Lomax Hawes - folklorist

★ Stanley Kunitz - poet, educator

★ Robert Merrill - baritone

★ Arthur Miller - playwright

★ Robert Rauschenberg - artist

★ Lloyd Richards - theatrical director

★ William Styron - writer

★ Paul Taylor - dancer, choreographer

★ Billy Wilder - movie director, writer, producer
'1994'

★ Harry Belafonte - singer, actor

★ Dave Brubeck - pianist, bandleader, composer

★ Celia Cruz - singer

★ Dorothy DeLay - violin teacher

★ Julie Harris - actress

★ Erick Hawkins - dance choreographer

★ Gene Kelly - dancer, singer, actor

★ Pete Seeger - composer, lyricist, vocalist, banjo player

★ Catherine Filene Shouse - arts patron

★ Wayne Thiebaud - artist, teacher

★ Richard Wilbur - poet, teacher, critic, literary translator

★ Young Audiences - arts presenter

'1995'

★ Licia Albanese - opera singer

★ Gwendolyn Brooks - poet

★ B. Gerald and Iris Cantor - arts patrons

★ Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee - actors

★ David Diamond - composer

★ James Ingo Freed - architect

★ Bob Hope - entertainer

★ Roy Lichtenstein - painter, sculptor

★ Arthur Mitchell - dancer, choreographer

★ Bill Monroe - bluegrass musician

★ Urban Gateways - arts education organization
'1996'

★ Edward Albee - playwright

★ Sarah Caldwell - opera conductor

★ Harry Callahan - photographer

★ Zelda Fichandler - theater director, producer, educator

★ Eduardo "Lalo" Guerrero - composer, musician

★ Lionel Hampton - musician, bandleader

★ Bella Lewitzky - dancer, choreographer, teacher

★ Vera List - arts patron

★ Robert Redford - actor, director, producer

★ Maurice Sendak - writer, illustrator, designer

★ Stephen Sondheim - composer, lyricist

★ Boys Choir of Harlem - performing arts youth group
'1997'

★ Louise Bourgeois - sculptor

★ Betty Carter - jazz vocalist

★ Agnes Gund - arts patron

★ Daniel Urban Kiley - landscape architect

★ Angela Lansbury - actor

★ James Levine - opera conductor, pianist

★ Tito Puente - Latin percussionist, musician

★ Jason Robards - actor

★ Edward Villella - dancer, choreographer

★ Doc Watson - bluegrass guitarist, vocalist

★ MacDowell Colony - artist colony
'1998'

★ Jacques d'Amboise - dancer, choreographer, educator

★ Antoine "Fats" Domino - rock 'n' roll pianist, singer

★ Ramblin' Jack Elliott - folk singer, songwriter

★ Frank Gehry - architect

★ Barbara Handman - arts advocate

★ Agnes Martin - visual artist

★ Gregory Peck - actor, producer

★ Roberta Peters - opera singer

★ Philip Roth - writer

★ Sara Lee Corporation - corporate arts patron

★ Steppenwolf Theatre Company - arts organization

★ Gwen Verdon - actress, dancer
'1999'

★ Irene Diamond - arts patron

★ Aretha Franklin - singer

★ Michael Graves - architect, designer

★ Odetta - singer, music historian

★ The Juilliard School - performing arts school

★ Norman Lear - producer, writer, director, advocate

★ Rosetta LeNoire - actress, producer

★ Harvey Lichtenstein - arts administrator

★ Lydia Mendoza - singer

★ George Segal - sculptor

★ Maria Tallchief - ballerina

2000s

'2000'

★ Maya Angelou - poet, writer

★ Eddy Arnold - country singer

★ Mikhail Baryshnikov - dancer, director

★ Benny Carter - jazz musician

★ Chuck Close - painter

★ Horton Foote - playwright, screenwriter

★ Lewis Manilow - arts patron

★ National Public Radio, cultural programming division - broadcaster

★ Claes Oldenburg - sculptor

★ Itzhak Perlman - violinist

★ Harold Prince - theater director, producer

★ Barbra Streisand - entertainer, filmmaker
'2001'

★ Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation - modern dance company and school

★ Rudolfo Anaya - writer

★ Johnny Cash - singer, songwriter

★ Kirk Douglas - actor, producer

★ Helen Frankenthaler - painter

★ Judith Jamison - artistic director, choreographer, dancer

★ Yo-Yo Ma - cellist

★ Mike Nichols - director, producer
'2002'

★ Florence Knoll Bassett - architect

★ Trisha Brown - artistic director, choreographer, dancer

★ Philippe de Montebello - museum director

★ Uta Hagen - actress, drama teacher

★ Lawrence Halprin - landscape architect

★ Al Hirschfeld - artist, illustrator

★ George Jones - country music composer, performer

★ Ming Cho Lee - theater designer

★ William "Smokey" Robinson - songwriter, musician
'2003'

★ Austin City Limits - PBS television program

★ Beverly Cleary - writer

★ Rafe Esquith - arts educator

★ Suzanne Farrell - dancer, choreographer, company director, educator

★ Buddy Guy - blues musician

★ Ron Howard - actor, director, writer, producer

★ Mormon Tabernacle Choir - choral group

★ Leonard Slatkin - symphony orchestra conductor

★ George Strait - country singer, songwriter

★ Tommy Tune - dancer, actor, choreographer, director

'2004'

★ Andrew W. Mellon Foundation - philanthropic foundation

★ Ray Bradbury - author

★ Carlisle Floyd - opera composer

★ Frederick Hart - sculptor

★ Anthony Hecht - poet

★ John Ruthven - wildlife artist

★ Vincent Scully - architectural historian and educator

★ Twyla Tharp - contemporary dance choreographer
'2005'

★ Louis Auchincloss - author

★ James DePreist - symphony orchestra conductor

★ Paquito D'Rivera - jazz musician

★ Robert Duvall - actor

★ Leonard Garment - arts advocate

★ Ollie Johnston - pioneering film animator and artist

★ Wynton Marsalis - jazz musician and educator

★ Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

★ Tina Ramirez - dancer and choreographer

★ Dolly Parton - singer-songwriter
'2006'

★ William Bolcom, composer

★ Cyd Charisse, dancer

★ Roy DeCarava, photographer

★ Wilhelmina Holladay, arts patron

★ Interlochen Center for the Arts, school of fine arts

★ Erich Kunzel, conductor

★ Preservation Hall Jazz Band, jazz ensemble

★ Gregory Rabassa, literary translator

★ Viktor Schreckengost, industrial designer/sculptor

★ Ralph Stanley, bluegrass musician

References

1. Adrienne Rich's letter to The National Endowment for the Arts

External links

★ National Endowment for the Arts