Beck Gold Medal

Carol H. Beck Gold Medal (defunct) was a prestigious art prize awarded for the best oil portrait by an American artist submitted to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts's annual exhibition. It was named for PAFA alumna and painter/writer/critic Carol H. Beck (1859–1908), whose brother James M. Beck founded the award in her memory. The portrait had to have been painted within the prior three years, and an artist could be awarded the medal only once.^[1]

The first Beck Gold Medal was awarded in 1909. Recipients included John Singer Sargent, Robert Henri, George Bellows, John Sloan and Thomas Hart Benton. The last was awarded in 1968. Beginning in 1969, the annual exhibitions were dedicated exclusively to student work from PAFA's school.

[1]

Year	Artist	Work	Collection	Notes
1909	John Singer Sargent	Miss Mathilde Townsend^[2]	National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.	First Beck Gold Medal awarded
1910	Adolphe Borie	Lady with Black Scarf^[3]
1911	Edmund Tarbell	Timothy Dwight, D.D., LL.D.^[4]	Yale University Art Gallery
1912	Joseph de Camp	Francis I. Amory, Esq.^[5]
1913	J. Alden Weir	The Black Hat	Brooklyn Museum
1914	Robert Henri	Herself^[6]	Art Institute of Chicago
1915	Charles Hopkinson	H. H. (The Artist's Daughter Harriot)^[7]	Rhode Island School of Design Museum	Exterior, snow scene. Half-length. Harriot Hopkinson, about age 11
1916	Douglas Volk	Dr. Felix Adler^[8]	Metropolitan Museum of Art
1917	Joseph Thurman Pearson Jr.	The Twins: Virginia and Jane^[9]	James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania	The artist's daughters
1918	Leopold Seyffert	Fritz Kreisler^[10]	National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.
1919	Leslie P. Thompson	Portrait of a Girl
1920	Eugene Speicher	Portrait of a Russian Woman
1921	George Bellows	Eleanor, Jean and Anna^[11]	Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York	The artist's aunt, daughter and mother
1922	Ellen Emmet Rand	The Honorable Donald T. Warner	Private collection	First woman to be awarded a Beck Gold Medal
1923	Lilian Westcott Hale^[12]	Miss Margaret Williams^[13]
1924	Sidney E. Dickinson	Edward Dickinson	Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio
1925	William James	Alice Howe Gibbens James^[14]	Private collection
1926	Alice Kent Stoddard	Miss S.
1927	William C. Johansen	Elihu Root
1928	William Paxton	Mrs. Francis R. Strawbridge
1929	Richard Lahey	Madame Du Tarte
1930	Leon Kroll	Joie^[15]		The artist's adopted daughter.
1931	John Sloan	Varèse, the Sculptor	National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.
1932	Saul	Child with Instrument
1933	William Glackens	Girl in Black and White^[16]	Whitney Museum of American Art
1934	Raphael Soyer	Gittel^[17]
1935	John W. Beauchamp	Duck Hunter		At 29, the youngest artist to be awarded a Beck Gold Medal
1936	Jean MacLane	Rev. G. A. Studdert-Kennedy
1937	Frank von der Lancken	My Mother
1938	Arnold Blanch	Portrait of a Man^[18]
1939	Leon Karp	My Wife
1940	George Grosz	Self-Portrait	Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas
1941	Franklin C. Watkins	Misses Maude and Maxine Meyer de Schauensee
1942	No medal awarded
1943	Thomas Hart Benton	Aaron^[19]	Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
1944	Louis Bouche	Les Fleurs sauvages (Wildflowers)		Barefoot man with bouquet
1945	Sigmund Menkes	Tola
1946	Benton Murdoch Spruance	Mabel's Daughter
1947	Sueo Serisawa	Pierrot
1948	Alexander Brook	Young Pianist^[20]
1949	Philip Evergood	Her World^[21]	Metropolitan Museum of Art
1950	Henry Mattson	Self-Portrait
1951	Henry Varnum Poor	The Artist in Summer (Self-Portrait)
1952	Gladys Rockmore Davis	Study of an Old Woman (Rosa Jacobs)^[22]
1953	Elsie Manville	The Yellow Hat
1954	John King	Kathryn
1955	Student exhibition
1956	No medal awarded
1957	Student exhibition
1958	Robert Brackman	Peter Freuchen^[23]	The Explorers Club, New York City
1959	Student exhibition
1960	No medal awarded
1961	Student exhibition
1962	Balcomb Greene	Man in the City^[24]	ex coll. Vassar College
1963	Student exhibition
1964	Paul Georges	Wife and Children
1965	Student exhibition
1966	Ben Benn	Portrait of Velida (The Artist's Wife)^[25]		Auctioned at Shannon's, Milford, Connecticut, October 23, 2003; sold for $1,500.^[26]
1967	Student exhibition
1968	Richard Diebenkorn	Large Woman^[27]		Last Beck Gold Medal awarded

v t e Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Campus history	Furness-Hewitt building Samuel M.V. Hamilton building
Awards	Beck Gold Medal Cresson Traveling Scholarship Mary Smith Prize Temple Gold Medal Widener Gold Medal
People	Alumni Faculty
Presidents	Henry D. Gilpin (1852–1859) Edward Hornor Coates (1890–1906) Edward T. Lewis (2007–2009) David R. Brigham (2010–2020) Eric Pryor (2022–2025)

Beck Gold Medal

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