# Widener Gold Medal

The George D. Widener Memorial Gold Medal was a prestigious sculpture prize awarded by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1913 to 1968. Established in 1912, it recognized the "most meritorious work of Sculpture modeled by an American citizen and shown in the Annual Exhibition." PAFA's annual exhibitions were open to all American sculptors, but an individual could be awarded the medal only once. Sculptors Paul Manship, Albin Polasek, Malvina Hoffman, Carl Paul Jennewein, Anna Hyatt Huntington, William Zorach and Leonard Baskin were among its recipients.
George Dunton Widener had been a Philadelphia businessman and a director of PAFA. He and his son Harry died in 1912 aboard the RMS Titanic.
The Widener Gold Medal was retired in 1968. Beginning in 1969, PAFA devoted its annual exhibitions solely to work by students in its school.

## List of Recipients

| Year | Sculptor | Work | Medium | Collection | Notes |
| 1913 | Charles Grafly | Head of Thomas Pollock Anshutz | bronze | Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts | |
| 1914 | Paul Manship | Duck Girl | bronze | Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia | |
| 1915 | Albin Polasek | Aspiration | bronze | Detroit Institute of Arts | A seated female nude holding musical pipes and kissing a cherub. |
| 1916 | Edward McCartan | The Spirit of the Woods | bronze | "Welwyn" (Harold Pratt estate), Glen Cove, Long Island, New York | A nude female figure dancing with a baby. Another example is at the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College. |
| 1917 | Attilio Piccirilli | The Flower of the Alps | marble | | A bronze version was auctioned at Sotheby's NY, October 2, 2015. |
| 1918 | Albert Laessle | Penguins | bronze | Philadelphia Zoo, West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia | Other examples are at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Brookgreen Gardens, and elsewhere. |
| 1919 | Jess M. Lawson (later Jess Lawson Peacey) | Belgium, 1914 | | | First woman sculptor awarded the Widener Gold Medal. Also awarded the 1918 Barnett Prize from the National Academy of Design. |
| 1920 | Malvina Hoffman | The Offering | bronze | Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta, Canada | |
| 1921 | Evelyn Beatrice Longman | The Future | bronze | Nashville Parthenon, Centennial Park, Nashville, Tennessee | A standing female nude. Also awarded the 1918 Shaw Prize from the National Academy of Design, and the 1919 French Gold Medal from the Art Institute of Chicago. |
| 1922 | Beatrice Fenton | A Sea-Weed Fountain | bronze | Horticultural Hall, West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia | Another example is at Brookgreen Gardens. |
| 1923 | Brenda Putnam | Sea Horse Sundial | bronze | Private collection, Williamstown, Massachusetts | Also awarded the 1922 Barnett Prize from the National Academy of Design. |
| 1924 | Arthur Lee | Volupté Voluptuousness | marble | Metropolitan Museum of Art | Other examples are at the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Yale University Art Gallery, and in private collections. |
| 1925 | Walker Hancock | Toivo | bronze | St. Louis Art Museum | A bust of a Finnish youth. Another bronze example is at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. |
| 1926 | Adolph Alexander Weinman | Narcissus | bronze | Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida | A marble example is at Brookgreen Gardens. |
| 1927 | Katherine Lane Weems | Narcisse Noir Black Whippet | bronze | Museum of Fine Arts, Boston | Other examples are at the Reading Public Museum and the Museum of Science (Boston). |
| 1928 | Albert Stewart | Silver King Polar Bear | silvered bronze | Metropolitan Museum of Art | Also awarded the 1927 Speyer Prize from the National Academy of Design. |
| 1929 | Bruce Moore | Black Panther | bronze | Smithsonian American Art Museum | Other examples are at the Whitney Museum, and elsewhere. |
| 1930 | Mitchell Fields | Torso (Naomi} | marble | Wilfrid Israel Museum, Hazorea, Israel | |
| 1931 | Gladys Edgerly Bates | Eve | | | |
| 1932 | Carl Paul Jennewein | Indian and Eagle Monument to the American Dead | gilded bronze plaster | Tours War Memorial, Tours, France | The sculpture is the centerpiece of a fountain. Jennewein's plaster model is at the Pérez Art Museum Miami. Another bronze example is at Brookgreen Gardens. |
| 1933 | John Gregory | Lyric Love Monument for an Aviator's Grave | Carrara marble | Armstrong Browning Library, Baylor University, Waco, Texas | A winged female figure, partially nude. |
| 1934 | Concetta Scaravaglione | Mother and Child | plaster | Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia | |
| 1935 | Heinz Warneke | Wild Boars | marble | Smithsonian American Art Museum | Another marble example is unlocated. |
| 1936 | Vincent Glinsky | The Awakening | marble | Brookgreen Gardens | A female nude reclining on a rock. |
| 1937 | Anna Hyatt Huntington | Greyhounds Playing | bronze | Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts | |
| 1938 | Anthony de Francisci | Gilda, the Artist's Daughter | plaster | Smithsonian American Art Museum | Bas relief head. |
| 1939 | Harry Rosin | Eugenie | | Philadelphia Museum of Art | Head of a Tahitian model. |
| 1940 | Carl L. Schmitz | (Model for) Foreign Trade | painted plaster | Smithsonian American Art Museum | Foreign Trade is a limestone relief panel on the exterior of the Federal Trade Commission Building, Washington, D.C. |
| 1941 | Dorothea Greenbaum | Tiny | bronze | Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey | A standing female nude. |
| 1942 | Janet de Coux | Deborah's Song | | | |
| 1943 | Henry Kreis | The Birth of a Nation | limestone | Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial Sculpture Garden, Fairmount Park, Kelly Drive, Philadelphia | Located along the east bank of the Schuylkill River. |
| 1944 | Cecil de Blaquiere Howard | American Youth | Plaster | Private collection | Cecil Howard posing in US Army uniform in his New York studio in 1944, before his departure for London with the OSS. He stands by his daughter Line's portrait bust and "American Youth," also entitled "The Sacrifice," his sculpture symbolyzing the American Army's entry into war. |
| 1945 | José de Creeft | Head of Rachmaninoff | lead | Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts | |
| 1946 | Waldemar Raemisch | Pietà | | | |
| 1947 | Adolph Dioda | Crucifix | | | |
| 1948 | Herbert Lewis Kammerer | Head and Shoulders with Bent Arms | | | |
| 1949 | Mitzi Solomon (later Mitzi Cunliffe) | A Voluptuous Object | pink marble | | |
| 1950 | Hugo Robus | Dawn | plaster | Fonderia Battaglia, Milan, Italy | A life-size female nude yawning and stretching. Bronze examples are in private collections. |
| 1951 | Oronzio Maldarelli | Bianca, No. 2 | bronze | Metropolitan Museum of Art | Other examples are at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. |
| 1952 | Jacques Lipchitz | Prometheus Strangling the Vulture | bronze | Philadelphia Museum of Art | PMA bought Lipchitz's plaster model, and commissioned him to cast it in bronze, 1953. Another example is at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. |
| 1953 | Anthony Lauck | Monk at Prayer | limestone | Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio | Rev. Lauck was a Roman Catholic priest and an art instructor at the University of Notre Dame. |
| 1954 | Koren Der Harootian | Descent from the Cross | | | |
| 1955 | Student exhibition | | | | |
| 1956 | Theodore Roszak | Hound of Heaven | steel with nickel and copper | Museum of Modern Art, New York City | |
| 1957 | Student exhibition | | | | |
| 1958 | Kahlil Gibran | Voice in the Wilderness | welded iron | Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts | |
| 1959 | Student exhibition | | | | |
| 1960 | Lee Bontecou | Bird | bronze | Chase Manhattan Bank, New York City | |
| 1961 | Student exhibition | | | | |
| 1962 | William Zorach | Puma | plaster | University Gallery, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware | Other examples in bronze and granite are at Fairmount Park, Philadelphia; National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson Hole, Wyoming; and in private collections. |
| 1963 | Student exhibition | | | | |
| 1964 | Geraldine McCullough | Phoenix | | | Other works include: Martin Luther King, Jr sculpture in Springfield, IL, Pathfinder in Oak Park, IL, and Our King, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Chicago, IL |
| 1965 | Student exhibition | | | | |
| 1966 | Leonard Baskin | Seated Woman | carved oak | Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts | |
| 1967 | Student exhibition | | | | |
| 1968 | Seymour Lipton | Gateway | nickel and monel metal | National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. | |