De Niro Founding A $25,000 Prize For Painting, In Honor To Father
Robert De Niro commemorates his father’s lifelong commitment to the arts by sponsoring The Robert De Niro Sr. Prize, an annual award of $25,000 for celebrating mid-career American artists for their achievements in painting.
The prize will be adminstered by Tribeca Film Insitute – a nonprofit organization founded by De Niro in 2001 – and handed to the winner for the first time, next year. The artist who will win the award will be chosen by a panel of some yet unanounced judges – distinguished names in the art world – through a group exhibition that will be organized next year.
The announcement of the launching of the prize was made at a reception held by De Niro at his father’s studio in New York City, by the actor himself together with the board of Tribeca Film Insitute and the estate advisors – Megan Fox Kelly and Jeffrey Hoffeld. The funding of the award will be sponsored entirely by Robert De Niro, who expressed his desire for supporting the committed, passionate artists with “exceptional quality in painting”.
Robert De Niro, posing with the painting entitled Bust On Table With Yellow Chair, during an exhibition meant to honor his father. Source: en.artintern.net
Wednesday, Nov. 17 2010, New York - Robert De Niro and one of his father paintings, at the private event where the Robert De Niro Sr. Prize has been announced. AP Photo/Starpix, Dave Allocca.
The prize is also a way in which the great actor wishes to pay tribute to his late father, Robert De Niro Sr., a painter who mixed styles such as the Abstract Expressionist and the traditional, in his postwar work pieces. He attended art courses at the renowned Black Mountain College and had the chance to be colleague of Josef Albers or Hans Hofmann. His work was exhibited at Peggy Guggenheim’s famous gallery Art of this Century in 1945-1946, as well as the galleries thoughout the United States, during his career.
Robert De Niro Sr., January 17, 1922 – May 3, 1993, American Abstract Expressionist painter and father of the renown actor Robert De Niro
His paintings can be admired in collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Parrish Art Museum or Hirshhorn Museum.
A retrospective exhibition of Robert De Niro Sr.’s art work was presented this year in Nice, France – at the Musee Matisse.
Robert De Niro Sr. - Seated Woman, 1960 - Charcoal on paper, 24 3/4 x 18 7/8 in.
De Niro Sr.’s estate representatives are the DC Moore Gallery of NY and its advisors are Megan Fox Kelly and Jeffrey Hoffeld.
The Robert De Niro Sr. Prize selection of judges will be announced in the upcoming months.
Source for first photo: http://www.artinfo.com/news/enlarged_image/31591/151796/
