National Medal of Arts
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| National Medal of Arts | |
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| Presented by | National Endowment for the Arts |
| Country |  United States |
| First awarded | 1984 |
| Official website | |
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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 the award by the President of the United States.
The medal was designed for the NEA by sculptor Robert Graham.
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[edit] 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]
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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
[edit] 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, also known as the queen of salsa.
- 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
[edit] 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 - country singer-songwriter
2006
- William Bolcom, composer
- Cyd Charisse, dancer
- Roy DeCarava, photographer
- Wilhelmina Holladay, arts patron
- Interlochen Center for the Arts, summer arts camp and winter arts-focused boarding high school
- Erich Kunzel, conductor
- Preservation Hall Jazz Band, jazz ensemble
- Gregory Rabassa, literary translator
- Viktor Schreckengost, industrial designer/sculptor
- Ralph Stanley, bluegrass musician
2007
- Morten Lauridsen, composer
- N. Scott Momaday, author
- Craig Noel, director
- Roy Neuberger, arts patron
- Les Paul, electric guitar pioneer
- Henry Steinway, arts patron
- George Tooker, painter
- Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival (University of Idaho)
- Andrew Wyeth, painter
