Driskell Prize

18th Annual David C. Driskell Prize Gala

Friday, April 28, 2023 at 7 p.m.
High Museum of Art

For more information and tickets, please email driskellprize@high.org or call 404-733-4562. Tickets will be available for purchase on January 16.

For media inquiries, please call Marci Davis at 404-733-4585.

David C. Driskell, Doorway (detail) from Doorway portfolio, 2008, purchase with David C. Driskell African American Art Acquisition Fund, 2009.42.1.

• 2022 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Adrienne L. Childs,

  

  2022 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Adrienne L. Childs

  Scholar, art historian and curator Adrienne L. Childs is the 2022 recipient of the David C. Driskell Prize in recognition of her contributions to the field of African American art.

• 2020 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Jamal D. Cyrus,

  

  2020 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Jamal D. Cyrus

  Jamal D. Cyrus has been named the 2020 David C. Driskell Prize recipient. Cyrus works across media in a conceptual, research-driven practice that interrogates American history within the framework of black political movements, the influence of the African Diaspora and social struggle.

• 2019 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Dr. Huey Copeland,

  

  2019 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Dr. Huey Copeland

  Dr. Huey Copeland, award-winning writer and professor at Northwestern University, has been named the 2019 David C. Driskell Prize recipient.

• 2018 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Amy Sherald,

  

  2018 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Amy Sherald

  Artist Amy Sherald has been named the 2018 David C. Driskell Prize recipient.

• 2017 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Naima J. Keith,

  

  2017 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Naima J. Keith

  Naima J. Keith, the deputy director of exhibitions and programs at the California African American Museum (CAAM), has been named the 2017 David C. Driskell Prize recipient.

• 2016 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Mark Bradford,

  

  2016 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Mark Bradford

  Mark Bradford, known for his monumental, abstract collage works, has been named the 2016 David C. Driskell Prize recipient.

• 2015 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Kirsten Pai Buick,

  

  2015 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Kirsten Pai Buick

  Kirsten Pai Buick, an associate professor of art history at the University of New Mexico, has been named the 2015 David C. Driskell Prize recipient.

• 2014 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Lyle Ashton Harris,

  

  2014 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Lyle Ashton Harris

  Lyle Ashton Harris, who has cultivated a diverse artistic practice ranging from photographic media and collage to installation and performance, has been named the 2014 David C. Driskell Prize recipient.

• 2013 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, PhD,

  

  2013 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, PhD

  Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, PhD, widely recognized for her leadership, ambitious vision, and the significant exhibition agenda she established at Spelman College, has been named as the recipient of the 2013 David C. Driskell Prize.

• 2012 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Rashid Johnson,

  

  2012 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Rashid Johnson

  Rashid Johnson, an artist based in New York, has been named as the recipient of the 2012 David C. Driskell Prize.

• 2011 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Valerie Cassel Oliver,

  

  2011 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Valerie Cassel Oliver

  Valerie Cassel Oliver, senior curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, has been named as the recipient of the 2011 David C. Driskell Prize.

• 2010 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Renee Stout,

  

  2010 Driskell Prize Winner:
  Renee Stout

  Renee Stout, a Washington, D.C.-based artist who works in a variety of media from sculpture to printmaking, has been named as the recipient of the 2010 David C. Driskell Prize.

David C. Driskell
June 7, 1931–April 1, 2020

“David C. Driskell has meant so much to so many. He was an artist, scholar, mentor, devoted husband, a dear friend and life trustee of the High Museum of Art. For 16 years the David C. Driskell Prize has recognized artists and scholars who like him, have created a body of work that continues to define the field of African American art. He was a beacon for young artists, and he generously shared so much of himself with so many. His passing leaves a void in our community, but we will continue to honor his legacy through our own dedication to the art and scholarship he championed. We send our sincere condolences to his family and all the artists and students he touched during his lifetime.”

—Rand Suffolk, Nancy and Holcombe T. Green Jr., Director.

David C. Driskell was an artist and scholar whose work on the African Diaspora spanned nearly seven decades. The High Museum of Art’s relationship with Driskell began in 1977 when the Museum presented Driskell’s landmark exhibition, Two Centuries of Black American Art, the first traveling museum exhibition dedicated to works made exclusively by African American artists in the United States between 1750 and 1950. In 2000, the High Museum presented Driskell’s concurrent exhibitions To Conserve a Legacy: American Art from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Narratives of African American Art and Identity: The David C. Driskell Collection, both of which examined African American art within the broad historical context of modern and contemporary art in the United States.

Driskell was born in 1931 in Eatonton, Georgia, and kept roots here in the South even though he was based in Maryland, where he taught African American Art History at the University of Maryland, College Park. Driskell’s career as an artist and scholar, noted for its focus on the influence of the African diaspora, spanned nearly seven decades.