From H-Amstdy:
The Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art has announced Rutgers Art History PhD candidate Christina Weyl as the winner of this year’s Graduate Research Essay Prize. Weyl’s essay, titled Networks of Abstraction: Postwar Printmaking and Women Artists of Atelier 17, was constructed with evidence and research primarily obtained through the Archives of American Art.
“In her essay, Weyl examines professional and personal relationships cultivated by six understudied women printmakers during the mid-20th century: Alice Trumbull Mason, Minna Wright Citron, Worden Day, Sue Fuller, Jan Gelb, and Anne Ryan. Weyl argues that together these women carved out a place for themselves in the art world and promoted postwar abstraction in the U.S. and internationally. Weyl created a dataset of more than 1,800 entries derived from archival materials, including exhibition catalogs. The jury noted that her essay reflects “a tour de force of research.” Weyl identified relationships, patterns, and paths by using ViewShare, an open-source platform for generating and customizing interactive maps and charts.
“Weyl is a doctoral candidate in art history at Rutgers University and one of the founders of Association of Print Scholars.” She received a cash prize of $1,000 and publication of her essay on the Archives’ website. The Graduate Research Essay Prize if funded through the Dedalus Foundation, which focuses on fostering public understanding of modern art and modernism through the support of research, publications, educational programs, and exhibitions.
“Founded in 1954, the Archives of American Art fosters advanced research through the accumulation and dissemination of primary sources, unequaled in historical depth and breadth, that document more than 200 years of the nation’s artists and art communities. The Archives provides access to these materials through its exhibitions and publications, including the Archives of American Art Journal, the longest-running scholarly journal in the field of American art.”
For more information about the Archives of American Art, visit the Archives’ website at www.aaa.si.edu.
Christina Weyl’s winning essay can be also be viewed on the Archives of American Art website.