Programs » Awards for Distinction

Charles Rufus Morey Book Award

The Charles Rufus Morey Book Award, named in honor of one of the founding members of CAA and first teachers of art history in the United States, was established in 1953. This award honors an especially distinguished book in the history of art, published in the English language. Preference is given to books, including catalogues raisonnés, by a single author, but major publications in the form of articles or group studies may be included. Publication of documents or inventories, unless specifically in the context of an exhibition, are also eligible.

2024 WINNER 

Matthew Francis Rarey, Insignificant Things: Amulets and the Art of Survival in the Early Black Atlantic, Duke University Press, 2023

PAST WINNERS

The first Morey award went to H. W. Janson in 1956 for Apes and Ape Lore in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. He also received the award again in 1961 for Sculpture of Donatello. A three-time winner, Erwin Panofsky, was recognized for Early Netherlandish Painting (1957), Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art (1964), and Tomb Sculpture (1968). Since then, a wide range of books covering all areas and periods of art history have been awarded, including, most recently, Anthony J. Barbieri-Lo’s Artisans in Early Imperial China (2009), Elizabeth C. Mansfield’s Too Beautiful to Picture: Zeuxis, Myth, and Mimesis (2008), and Peter Selz’s Art of Engagement: Visual Politics in California and Beyond (2007).

2023, Sylvia Houghteling, The Art of Cloth in Mughal India, Princeton University Press, 2022
Jury: Lisa Schrenk, University of Arizona, Chair; John Cunnally, Iowa State University; Laura Anne Kalba, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; J. P. Park, University of Oxford; Andrew Wasserman, American University.

2022, Elina Gertsman, The Absent Image: Lacunae in Medieval Books, Penn State University Press, 2021
Jury: Dorothy Wong, University of Virginia, chair; Lisa D. Schrenk, University of Arizona; Laura Anne Kalba, University of Minnesota; Christina Hellmich, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; John Cunnally, Iowa State University. 

2021, Charles L. Davis II, Building Character: The Racial Politics of Modern Architectural Style, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2019  

2021, Nicole R. Fleetwood, Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration, Harvard University Press, 2020

Jury: Dorothy Wong, University of Virginia, chair; Lisa D. Schrenk, University of Arizona; Dana Leibsohn, Smith College; Christina Hellmich, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Megan R. Luke, University of Southern California  

2020, J.P. Park, A New Middle Kingdom:Painting and Cultural Politics in Late Chosŏn Korea (1700–1850) (University of Washington Press, 2018) 
Jury: Saundra Weddle, Drury University, chair; Dana Leibsohn, Smith College; Christina Hellmich, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Dorothy Wong, University of Virginia; and Megan R. Luke, University of Southern California 

2019, Zeynep Çelik Alexander, Kinaesthetic Knowing: Aesthetics, Epistemology, Modern Design (University of Chicago Press, 2017) 
Jury: Saundra Weddle, Drury University, chair; Gregor Kalas, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Megan R. Luke, University of Southern California; Dana Leibsohn, Smith College; and Morgan Thomas, University of Cincinnati

2018, Benjamin Anderson, Cosmos and Community in Early Medieval Art (Yale University Press, 2017)
Jury: David M. Sokol, University of Illinois at Chicago, chair; Gregor Kalas, The University of Tennessee , Knoxville; Morgan Thomas, University of Cincinnati; Saundra Weddle, Drury University; and Yukio Lippit, Harvard University

2018, Laura Anne Kalba, Color in the Age of Impressionism: Commerce, Technology, and Art (Penn State University Press, 2017)
Jury: David M. Sokol, University of Illinois at Chicago, chair; Gregor Kalas, The University of Tennessee , Knoxville; Morgan Thomas, University of Cincinnati; Saundra Weddle, Drury University; and Yukio Lippit, Harvard University

2017 Kishwar Rizvi, The Transnational Mosque: Architecture and Historical Memory in the Contemporary Middle East (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2015)
Jury: David M. Sokol, University of Illinois at Chicago, emeritus, chair; Gregor Kalas, University of Tennessee; Yukio Lippit, Harvard University; Lisa Pon, Southern Methodist University; and Morgan Thomas, University of Cincinnati.

2016 Krista Thompson, Shine: The Visual Economy of Light in African Diasporic Aesthetic Practice (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2015)
Jury: Alan Wallach, The College of William & Mary, chair; Mary Coffey, Dartmouth College; Anne D. Hedeman, The University of Kansas; Yukio Lippit, Harvard University; and David M. Sokol, University of Illinois at Chicago, emeritus

2015 Megan Holmes, The Miraculous Image in Renaissance Florence
Jury: Alan Wallach, College of William and Mary, chair; Zainab Bahrani, Columbia University; Mary Coffey, Dartmouth College; Anne D. Hedeman, Kansas University, and Kristina Wilson, Clark University.

2014 Yukio Lippit, Painting of the Realm: The Kano House of Painters in 17th-Century Japan (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2012)
Jury: Alan Wallach, College of William and Mary, chair; Zainab Bahrani, Columbia University; Mary Coffey, Dartmouth College; Anne D. Hedeman, Kansas University; and Kristina Wilson, Clark University.

2013 Mary K. Coffey, How a Revolutionary Art Became Official Culture: Murals, Museums, and the Mexican State (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2012)
Jury: Cammy Brothers, University of Virginia, chair; Zainab Bahrani, Columbia University; Sarah Burns, Indiana University; Robert Randolf Coleman, University of Notre Dame; and Nina Rowe, Fordham University

2012 Alexander Nagel, The Controversy of Renaissance Art (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011)
Jury: Benjamin Withers, University of Kentucky, chair; Suzanne Blier, Harvard University; Cammy Brothers, University of Virginia; Sarah Burns, Indiana University; and Robert Randolf Coleman, University of Notre Dame

2011 Molly Emma Aitken, The Intelligence of Tradition in Rajput Court Painting (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010)
Jury: Elizabeth Mansfield, New York University, chair; Suzanne Blier, Harvard University; Cammy Brothers, University of Virginia; Robert Randolf Coleman, University of Notre Dame; and Benjamin Withers, University of Kentucky

2010 Cammy Brothers, Michelangelo, Drawing, and the Invention of Architecture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008)
Jury: David Sokol, University of Illinois, Chicago, chair; Suzanne Blier, Harvard University; Elizabeth Mansfield, New York University; Perri Lee Roberts, University of Miami; and Benjamin Withers, University of Kentucky

2009 Anthony J. Barbieri-Low, Artisans in Early Imperial China (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2007)
Jury: Carol Mattusch, George Mason University, chair; Elizabeth C. Mansfield, National Humanities Center and New York University; Susan Platt, independent scholar, Seattle; Perri Lee Roberts, Florida State University; Marianna Shreve Simpson, independent scholar, Baltimore; and David Sokol, University of Illinois, Chicago

2008 Elizabeth C. Mansfield, Too Beautiful to Picture: Zeuxis, Myth, and Mimesis (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007)
Jury: Carol Mattusch, George Mason University, chair; Susan Platt, independent scholar, Seattle; Perri Lee Roberts, University of Miami; Marianna Shreve Simpson, Johns Hopkins University; and David M. Sokol, University of Illinois, Chicago

2007 Peter Selz, Art of Engagement: Visual Politics in California and Beyond (Berkeley: University of California Press, in association with San Jose Art Museum, 2006)
Jury: William E. Wallace, Washington University in St. Louis, chair; Carol Mattusch, George Mason University; D. Fairchild Ruggles, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; and Susan Platt, independent scholar, Seattle

2006 Carol Mattusch, with Henry Lie, The Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum: Life and Afterlife of a Sculpture Collection (Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 2005)
Jury: Jonathan M. Bloom, Boston College, chair; Anne Dunlop, Yale University; Nancy G. Heller, University of the Arts; and Benjamin C. Withers, University of Kentucky

2005 Sarah Burns, Painting the Dark Side: Art and the Gothic Imagination in Nineteenth-Century America (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004)
Committee: Babette Bohn, Texas Christian University, chair; Jonathan M. Bloom, Boston College; Edward J. Sullivan, New York University; and Benjamin C. Withers, Indiana University, South Bend

2004 John Beldon Scott, In Architecture for the Shroud: Relic and Ritual in Turin (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003)
Committee: Babette Bohn, Texas Christian University, chair; Jonathan M. Bloom, Boston College; Edward J. Sullivan, New York University; and Benjamin C. Withers, Indiana University, South Bend

2003 Jonathan M. Bloom, Paper Before Print: The History and Impact of Paper in the Islamic World (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001)
Committee: Fred S. Kleiner, Boston University, chair; Babette Bohn, Texas Christian University; Faya Causey, National Gallery of Art; and Edward J. Sullivan, New York University

2002 Dale Kent, Cosimo de’ Medici and the Florentine Renaissance: The Patron’s Oeuvre (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000)
Committee: Fred S. Kleiner, Boston University, chair; Catherine B. Asher, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; Babette Bohn, Texas Christian University; and Richard Shiff, University of Texas at Austin

2001 Leonard Barkan, Unearthing the Past: Archaeology and Aesthetics in the Making of Renaissance Culture
Committee: Linda C. Hults, College of Wooster, chair; Catherine Asher, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; Fred Kleiner, Boston University; and Richard Shiff, University of Texas at Austin

2000 Jeffrey F. Hamburger, The Visual and the Visionary: Art and Female Spirituality in Late Medieval Germany
Committee: Susan L. Huntington, Ohio State University, chair; Linda Hults, College of Wooster; Fred Kleiner, Boston University; Richard Shiff, and University of Texas at Austin

1999 Marvin Trachtenberg, Dominion of the Eye: Urbanism, Art, and Power in Early Modern Florence
Committee: Susan Huntington, Ohio State University, chair; Linda Hults, College of Wooster; John Pinto, Princeton University; and Martica Sawin, independent scholar

1998 Elizabeth Cropper and Charles Dempsey, Nicolas Poussin: Friendship and Love of Painting
Committee: Larry Silver, University of Pennsylvania, chair; Susan Huntington, Ohio State University; John Pinto, Princeton University; and Martica Sawin, independent scholar

1997 Suzanne Preston Blier, African Vodun: Art, Psychology, and Power
Committee: Larry A. Silver, Northwestern University, chair; André Hayum, Fordham University; and Renata Holod, University of Pennsylvania

1996 W. J. T. Mitchell, Picture Theory: Essays on Verbal and Visual Representation
Committee: Larry A. Silver, Northwestern University, chair; Anne Markham Schultz, Brown University; Margaret Olin, Art Institute of Chicago; and Stephanie Barron, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

1995 Jeanette Favrot Peterson, The Paradise Garden Murals of Malinalco: Utopia and Empire in Sixteenth-Century Mexico (University of Texas Press)
Committee: Whitney Davis, Northwestern University, chair; Stephanie Barron, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Margaret Olin, School of the Art Institute of Chicago; and Anne Markham Schulz, Brown University

1994 John Shearman, Only Connect: Art and the Spectator in the Italian Renaissance (Princeton University Press)
Committee: Whitney Davis, Northwestern University, chair; Jack Brown, Art Institute of Chicago; Margaret Olin, School of the Art Institute of Chicago; and Anne Markham Schulz, Brown University

1993 Carol Armstrong, Odd Man Out: Readings of the Work and Reputation of Edgar Degas (University of Chicago Press)
Committee: Whitney Davis, Northwestern University, chair; Jack Brown, Art Institute of Chicago; and James Marrow, Princeton University

1992 Richard R. Brettell, Pissaro and Pontoise: The Painter in a Landscape (Yale University Press)
Committee: Paula Harper, University of Miami, chair; Jack Brown, Art Institute of Chicago; and Andrée Hayum, University of Delaware, Newark

1991 Andrée Hayum, The Isenheim Altarpiece: God’s Medicine and the Painter’s Vision (Princeton University Press); and Kenneth Silver, Esprit de Corps: The Art of the Parisian Avant-Garde and the First World War, 1914–1925 (Princeton University Press)
Committee: Debra Pincus, University of British Columbia, chair; Patricia Mainardi, Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York; and Gary Radke, Syracuse University

1990 Svetlana Alpers, Rembrandt’s Enterprise: The Studio and the Market
Committee: Richard Brilliant, Columbia University, chair; Irene Bierman, University of California, Los Angeles; and Susan Nelson, University of Indiana, Bloomington

1989 Patricia Mainardi, Art and Politics of the Second Empire: The Universal Expositions of 1855 and 1867
Committee: Kathryn Linduff, University of Pittsburgh, chair; David Cast, Bryn Mawr College; and Jack Flam, Graduate Center, City University of New York

1988 Jack Flam, Matisse: The Man and His Art, 1869–1918
Committee: Alessandra Comini, Southern Methodist University, chair; Svetlana Alpers, University of California, Berkeley; and Charles Parkhurst, Williams College

1987 Thomas E. Crow, Painters and Public Life in Eighteenth-Century Paris
Committee: Linda Seidel, University of Chicago; and Linda Henderson, University of Texas at Austin

1986 Peter Fergusson, Architecture of Solitude: Cistercian Abbeys in Twelfth-Century England
Committee: Ilene Forsyth, chair; Marianne Martin; and Juergen Schulz

1985 Lorenz E. A. Eitner, Gericault: His Life and Work
Committee: Marilyn Aronberg Lavin, chair; Jaroslav Folda; and Irene Winter

1984 James Cahill, The Compelling Image: Nature and Style in Seventeenth-Century Chinese Painting
Committee: Meredith Lillich, chair; Herschel Chipp; and John Walsh Jr.

1983 Lucy Freeman Sandler and Moshe Barash, eds., Art, the Ape of Nature: Studies in Honor of H. W. Janson
Committee: A. Richard Turner, chair; Carol F. Lewine; and Richard Shiff

1982 Richard Krautheimer, Rome: The Profile of a City
Committee: John Shearman, chair; Svetlana Alpers; and Tom Mathews

1981 Fred Licht, Goya: The Origins of the Modern Temper in Art
Committee: John Wilmerding, chair; Harrie A. Vanderstappen; Gillian Wilson; and Henri Zerner

1980 Award not presented
Committee: Alessandra Comini, chair; Wayne Dynes; and John R. Martin

1979 Anne Coffin Hanson, Manet and the Modern Tradition
Committee: Alessandra Comini, chair; Wayne Dynes; and John R. Martin

1978 Kurt Weitzmann, The Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mt. Sinai, the Icons, Volume I: From the Sixth to the Tenth Century
Committee: Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann, chair; Alessandra Comini; Leopold Ettlinger; and Egon Verheyan

1977 Marilyn Aronberg Lavin, Seventeenth Century Barberini Documents and Inventories
Committee: Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann, chair; Alessandra Comini; Leopold Ettlinger; and Egon Verheyan

1976 Alessandra Comini, Egon Schiele’s Portraits; and Millard Meiss, The Limbourges and Their Contemporaries
Committee: Oleg Grabar, chair; James Cahill; and Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann

1975 Award not presented

1974 Ilene H. Forsyth, The Throne of Wisdom; and John Rupert Martin, The Decorations for the Pompa Introitus Ferdinandi
Committee: Donald Posner, chair; Jean Boggs, and Millard Meiss

1973 Donald Posner, Annibale Caracci
Committee: Phyllis Bober; Lorenz Eitner; and Walter Cahn

1972 Seymour Slive, Frans Hals

1971 Germaine Seligman, Roger de la Fresnaye

1970 Paul A. Underwood, The Kariye Djami

1969 Richard Offner, The Corpus of the Florentine Paintings

1968 Erwin Panofsky, Tomb Sculpture

1967 Sydney J. Freedberg, Andrea Del Sarto

1966 George Kubler, The Art and Architecture of Ancient America

1965 James S. Ackerman, The Architecture of Michelangelo

1964 Erwin Panofsky, Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art

1963 No information available

1962 Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Architecture, 19th and 20th Centuries

1961 H. W. Janson, Sculpture of Donatello

1960 Richard Kutheim, Lorenzo Ghiberti

1959 Vincent Scully, The Shingle Style

1958 Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Early Victorian Architecture

1957 Erwin Panofsky, Early Netherlandish Painting

1956 H. W. Janson, Apes and Ape Lore in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance