Purchase Prize | DMA Staging Content Management System

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

A purchase prize was a monetary award granted to an artist for the institutional purchase of his or her artwork, which was deemed superior to all other artworks within its category by the juried panel of the exhibition.

Adapted from

Alexandra Wellington, "Supporting Texas Artists," DMA website.

NOTES

The General Description definition was pulled from the longer text passage below:

Purchase Prizes

The first Dallas annual, the Allied Arts Exhibition of Dallas County, was held April 14-28, 1928. The exhibition, which was organized by the Dallas Art Association, showcased 626 works of art made from various media in the Fair Park Fine Arts building. The exhibition gave artists the opportunity to display their works for publicity purposes or to offer them for sale, in which case the artwork was accompanied by a price tag. As time progressed, exhibition organizers refined the qualifications for artwork entries, scaled down the number of works on view, and increased the duration of the exhibitions. Beginning in 1929, one- to three-person juries were appointed to grant awards to outstanding works of art. In some instances, artworks received “honorable mention” in recognition of the artist’s skill or innovative techniques. The most sought after award, however, was the “purchase prize.”

A purchase prize was a monetary award granted to an artist for his or her artwork, which was deemed superior to all other artworks within its category by the juried panel of the exhibition. Jurors were often, but not always, professional artists, university art teachers, or museum directors or curators with established reputations. Exhibition organizers often invited jurors from both within and outside of Texas so as to provide artists with fair judgment of their works. The money for the purchase prizes came from private donors, art clubs, or corporate organizations highly active in the Dallas art community. Sometimes the donor specified a category for the award, as seen with the Dallas Print and Drawing Society Purchase Prize, awarded to Bertha M. Landers’ Soldiers Without Uniform (1943.12) at the Fourteenth Annual Dallas Allied Arts Exhibition in 1943. In other cases, purchase prizes were awarded to artworks based exclusively on the jurors’ discretion. All works that received purchase prizes automatically entered into the museum’s permanent collection.

Purchase prizes were especially important because they demonstrate how Texas works of art were received at the time of their production. They were the most admired works at the annual exhibitions and as such offered a valuable glimpse into the early life of the Dallas art community. During this time, Texas art was also donated to the museum, as was the case with Janet E. Turner’s Some Past is Present (1960.100), which was a gift of the artist. Artworks were also purchased using acquisition funds. Alexandre Hogue’s Drouth Stricken Area (1945.6), for example, was a Dallas Art Association Purchase. Thus Texas art was acquired through various channels during this formative period and, as a primary interest for public and private collectors, played a pivotal and active role in the early life of the museum.

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apply to objects where credit_line contains prize

General Description

A purchase prize was a monetary award granted to an artist for the institutional purchase of his or her artwork, which was deemed superior to all other artworks within its category by the juried panel of the exhibition.

Adapted from

Alexandra Wellington, "Supporting Texas Artists," DMA website.

Fun Facts

Archival Resources

Web Resources

Notes

The General Description definition was pulled from the longer text passage below:

Purchase Prizes

The first Dallas annual, the Allied Arts Exhibition of Dallas County, was held April 14-28, 1928. The exhibition, which was organized by the Dallas Art Association, showcased 626 works of art made from various media in the Fair Park Fine Arts building. The exhibition gave artists the opportunity to display their works for publicity purposes or to offer them for sale, in which case the artwork was accompanied by a price tag. As time progressed, exhibition organizers refined the qualifications for artwork entries, scaled down the number of works on view, and increased the duration of the exhibitions. Beginning in 1929, one- to three-person juries were appointed to grant awards to outstanding works of art. In some instances, artworks received “honorable mention” in recognition of the artist’s skill or innovative techniques. The most sought after award, however, was the “purchase prize.”

A purchase prize was a monetary award granted to an artist for his or her artwork, which was deemed superior to all other artworks within its category by the juried panel of the exhibition. Jurors were often, but not always, professional artists, university art teachers, or museum directors or curators with established reputations. Exhibition organizers often invited jurors from both within and outside of Texas so as to provide artists with fair judgment of their works. The money for the purchase prizes came from private donors, art clubs, or corporate organizations highly active in the Dallas art community. Sometimes the donor specified a category for the award, as seen with the Dallas Print and Drawing Society Purchase Prize, awarded to Bertha M. Landers’ Soldiers Without Uniform (1943.12) at the Fourteenth Annual Dallas Allied Arts Exhibition in 1943. In other cases, purchase prizes were awarded to artworks based exclusively on the jurors’ discretion. All works that received purchase prizes automatically entered into the museum’s permanent collection.

Purchase prizes were especially important because they demonstrate how Texas works of art were received at the time of their production. They were the most admired works at the annual exhibitions and as such offered a valuable glimpse into the early life of the Dallas art community. During this time, Texas art was also donated to the museum, as was the case with Janet E. Turner’s Some Past is Present (1960.100), which was a gift of the artist. Artworks were also purchased using acquisition funds. Alexandre Hogue’s Drouth Stricken Area (1945.6), for example, was a Dallas Art Association Purchase. Thus Texas art was acquired through various channels during this formative period and, as a primary interest for public and private collectors, played a pivotal and active role in the early life of the museum.