Sadly, there is, once again, no still photographer on this year's list of MacArthur Fellows. There often isn't, but for some reason this year it feels more elegiac—the recipients' list is often carefully crafted for inclusiveness, gender balance, and of course the coolness level and social significance of whatever the recipients are engaged in. Like a little microcosm of what enlightened intellectuals are finding worthy of approval in the present moment. Still photography has been conspicuously missing as a category for a while now—the last photographer to win a Fellowship was Dawoud Bey in 2017. And since then, crickets. Before that, there was one in 2015, 2013, two in 2012 (peak year of digital camera sales, as it turned out), 2009 (a photojournalist no less! You go, Lynsey), 2005, 2002, and so on.
I didn't go back much further than that, but surely we have had dry spells before. Yet it's beginning to seem accusatory, like our whole category is being deliberately overlooked as being obsolescent if not quite obsolete. (You know, like bloggers, which never was a category at the MacArthurs.) Sometimes we have to have other words added, like "...and Video Artist," plain old "Photographer" no longer being sufficient on its own. On the relevance front, people who make violins appear to be slowly catching up with us, which shouldn't worry me, but does. Benoît Rolland, "Stringed-Instrument Bow Maker," was a Fellow in 2012. Maybe I'm being sensitive, but that feels just a little specific.
A MacArthur is the best grant that rogues of our sort can possibly win. It currently pays $40,000 every three months for five years, with no strings attached. That's more coin than a lot of artists ever see in one pile.
And it might be too much responsibility for some of us, come to think. Consider that Raoul Hague had to have someone go with him when he drove around looking for wood to make into sculptures, because otherwise he would get hopelessly lost and not show up for dinner. Somebody had to be assigned to go with him who could keep track of his wanderings and help find the way home. Andrew Wyeth, when he got rich, got himself an "opulent shearling coat" from Europe and replaced his former "painting chair"—he would sit on the hood of a strategically positioned Jeep, resting his feet on the front bumper—with a gussied-up Stutz Blackhawk so that, when he wanted to paint or sketch outside in the intemperate months, he could keep the heater on, sit on the roof, and dangle his feet inside the car through the sunroof to keep his tootsies toasty.
Andrew Wyeth's coat and car. Give an artist money
and before you know it he looks like a pimp.
Artists don't tend to deal with money all that much better than athletes, is all I'm saying. Still, it will be a relief when this dry spell at the MacArthurs is finally broken. Even if it's only a matter of pride.
Mike
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Featured Comments from:
robert e: "Wow! A. Wyeth as pimp! Thanks for a mind-blowing treat! Anyway, while artist Wendy Red Star is not exclusively a still photographer, a significant portion of her body of work consists of still photography, and it seems that the majority of the rest of her work incorporates still photography in some way. I would vote her into the club, personally, but judge for yourself."
Mike replies: The zig-zag patterns of those backgrounds look a lot like AI, don't they?
Jozef: "I am from Belgium. I have a Masters degree in Fine Arts. I do not understand a single thing from this writing. What is this all about???"
Mike replies: "The MacArthur Fellowship is a $800,000, no-strings-attached award to extraordinarily talented and creative individuals as an investment in their potential." —From the MacArthur Foundation website.
They're colloquially called "genius grants," awarded every year without application by an anonymous committee. The money was left by John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur, an insurance billionaire and his wife. The Foundation is based in Chicago. There are usually two dozen or so "geniuses" awarded every year. They can come from any field. Although the MacArthur Foundation is only the 12th largest in the U.S., it's the one that gives the largest amounts to artists, much more than better-known institutions such as the Pulitzer Prize ($15,000) and the Guggenheim Fellowships ($30–55,000). A photographer get one of the grants every now and then. Someone on the committee really likes violin.
MacArthur didn't set up the genius awards himself. He endowed a foundation and appointed a board of directors, and famously told the directors, "I figured out how to make the money. You fellows will have to figure out how to spend it."
David L.: "I know a MacArthur Award winner. Her work ethic is unparalleled. And her generosity and kindness are in another league. It’s not a matter of luck; one has to excel like few others. She remains on an unreal creative schedule several years later. She embodies the talent and spirit that is needed."
Greg Heins: "Quite a while ago I was at a photographer's party with about a hundred other people. We were all given raffle tickets and the prize was one of the photographer's prints. When the winning number was read, there was a moment's silence and then a voice from the back, 'Oh my god, it's me! It's me! I never win anything! I can't believe it.' As the winner advances through the crowd, another voice comes out, 'dude, you got a MacArthur.' I was stunned to think I was in the same room as someone who had received a MacArthur. No idea who it was, though."
Dear Lord- I had NO idea it was that much... or for that long!!! Another good idea, taken too far. Share the joy...
Posted by: Stan B. | Wednesday, 02 October 2024 at 02:54 PM
Portland, Oregon, artist Wendy Red Star uses photography as a basis for much of her work. I tend to think of her as primarily a photographer, though that is possibly not quite true. Her work is weirdly beautiful, though, and worth a look. See, for example, Apsáalooke Feminist.
Posted by: Bob Keefer | Wednesday, 02 October 2024 at 03:46 PM
It's a shame that James "The Amazing" Randi had to give most of his MacArthur Grant money to Uri Geller.
Posted by: KeithB | Thursday, 03 October 2024 at 03:23 PM
I would consider Wendy Red Star a photographer and does very interesting work.
Posted by: James Popp | Thursday, 03 October 2024 at 08:54 PM
Architectural professor Samuel Mockbee used his $500,000 MacArthur grant (2000) to further the work of the Rural Studio:
https://www.amazon.com/Citizen-Architect-Samuel-Mockbee-Spirit/dp/B07G9N2TV8
Posted by: jp41 | Sunday, 06 October 2024 at 12:35 AM
Re Wendy Red Star: "Mike replies: The zig-zag patterns of those backgrounds look a lot like AI, don't they?"
You're probably referring to "Apsáalooke Feminist". It's not AI, but digitized patterns based on Pendleton blankets, an example of machine-made "trade blankets" that were marketed to American Indians, and which largely replaced traditional Indian blankets.
But do check out Wendy's "straight" photography: the mini series "Four Seasons" and "Indian Woman Sitting" and the single "The Last Thanks" are (as far as I can tell) theatrical studio portraiture in the vein of Cindy Sherman, and at least one of those looks to be on large format film.
By the way, the girl in "Apsáalooke Feminist" is Beatrice Red Star Fletcher, Wendy's daughter and frequent collaborator, though she's also busy producing her own podcast. Future MacArthur fellow?
More about their collaborations: https://www.craftcouncil.org/post/qa-wendy-red-star-and-beatrice-red-star-fletcher
I hadn't known of manufactured trade blankets before seeing Wendy's work-- opportunistic marketing that American Indian communities came to embrace: https://www.oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/historical-records/indian-woman-with-pendleton-blanket/
The Pendleton company is still in the business.
Posted by: robert e | Monday, 07 October 2024 at 04:17 PM