# Beck Gold Medal

Carol H. Beck Gold Medal (defunct) was a prestigious art prize awarded for the best oil portrait by an American artist submitted to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts's annual exhibition. It was named for PAFA alumna and painter/writer/critic Carol H. Beck (1859–1908), whose brother James M. Beck founded the award in her memory. The portrait had to have been painted within the prior three years, and an artist could be awarded the medal only once.
The first Beck Gold Medal was awarded in 1909. Recipients included John Singer Sargent, Robert Henri, George Bellows, John Sloan and Thomas Hart Benton. The last was awarded in 1968. Beginning in 1969, the annual exhibitions were dedicated exclusively to student work from PAFA's school.

## Recipients

| Year | Artist | Work | Collection | Notes |
| 1909 | John Singer Sargent | Miss Mathilde Townsend | National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. | First Beck Gold Medal awarded |
| 1910 | Adolphe Borie | Lady with Black Scarf | | |
| 1911 | Edmund Tarbell | Timothy Dwight, D.D., LL.D. | Yale University Art Gallery | |
| 1912 | Joseph de Camp | Francis I. Amory, Esq. | | |
| 1913 | J. Alden Weir | The Black Hat | Brooklyn Museum | |
| 1914 | Robert Henri | Herself | Art Institute of Chicago | |
| 1915 | Charles Hopkinson | H. H. (The Artist's Daughter Harriot) | Rhode Island School of Design Museum | Exterior, snow scene. Half-length. Harriot Hopkinson, about age 11 |
| 1916 | Douglas Volk | Dr. Felix Adler | Metropolitan Museum of Art | |
| 1917 | Joseph Thurman Pearson Jr. | The Twins: Virginia and Jane | James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania | The artist's daughters |
| 1918 | Leopold Seyffert | Fritz Kreisler | National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C. | |
| 1919 | Leslie P. Thompson | Portrait of a Girl | | |
| 1920 | Eugene Speicher | Portrait of a Russian Woman | | |
| 1921 | George Bellows | Eleanor, Jean and Anna | Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York | The artist's aunt, daughter and mother |
| 1922 | Ellen Emmet Rand | The Honorable Donald T. Warner | Private collection | First woman to be awarded a Beck Gold Medal |
| 1923 | Lilian Westcott Hale | Miss Margaret Williams | | |
| 1924 | Sidney E. Dickinson | Edward Dickinson | Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio | |
| 1925 | William James | Alice Howe Gibbens James | Private collection | |
| 1926 | Alice Kent Stoddard | Miss S. | | |
| 1927 | William C. Johansen | Elihu Root | | |
| 1928 | William Paxton | Mrs. Francis R. Strawbridge | | |
| 1929 | Richard Lahey | Madame Du Tarte | | |
| 1930 | Leon Kroll | Joie | | The artist's adopted daughter. |
| 1931 | John Sloan | Vagis, the Sculptor | Private collection | |
| 1932 | Saul | Child with Instrument | | |
| 1933 | William Glackens | Girl in Black and White | Whitney Museum of American Art | |
| 1934 | Raphael Soyer | Gittel | | |
| 1935 | John W. Beauchamp | Duck Hunter | | At 29, the youngest artist to be awarded a Beck Gold Medal |
| 1936 | Jean MacLane | Rev. G. A. Studdert-Kennedy | | |
| 1937 | Frank von der Lancken | My Mother | | |
| 1938 | Arnold Blanch | Portrait of a Man | | |
| 1939 | Leon Karp | My Wife | | |
| 1940 | George Grosz | Self-Portrait | Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas | |
| 1941 | Franklin C. Watkins | Misses Maude and Maxine Meyer de Schauensee | | |
| 1942 | No medal awarded | | | |
| 1943 | Thomas Hart Benton | Aaron | Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts | |
| 1944 | Louis Bouche | Les Fleurs sauvages (Wildflowers) | | Barefoot man with bouquet |
| 1945 | Sigmund Menkes | Tola | | |
| 1946 | Benton Murdoch Spruance | Mabel's Daughter | | |
| 1947 | Sueo Serisawa | Pierrot | | |
| 1948 | Alexander Brook | Young Pianist | | |
| 1949 | Philip Evergood | Her World | Metropolitan Museum of Art | |
| 1950 | Henry Mattson | Self-Portrait | | |
| 1951 | Henry Varnum Poor | The Artist in Summer (Self-Portrait) | | |
| 1952 | Gladys Rockmore Davis | Study of an Old Woman (Rosa Jacobs) | | |
| 1953 | Elsie Manville | The Yellow Hat | | |
| 1954 | John King | Kathryn | | |
| 1955 | Student exhibition | | | |
| 1956 | No medal awarded | | | |
| 1957 | Student exhibition | | | |
| 1958 | Robert Brackman | Peter Freuchen | The Explorers Club, New York City | |
| 1959 | Student exhibition | | | |
| 1960 | No medal awarded | | | |
| 1961 | Student exhibition | | | |
| 1962 | Balcomb Greene | Man in the City | ex coll. Vassar College | |
| 1963 | Student exhibition | | | |
| 1964 | Paul Georges | Wife and Children | | |
| 1965 | Student exhibition | | | |
| 1966 | Ben Benn | Portrait of Velida (The Artist's Wife) | | Auctioned at Shannon's, Milford, Connecticut, October 23, 2003; sold for $1,500. |
| 1967 | Student exhibition | | | |
| 1968 | Richard Diebenkorn | Large Woman | | Last Beck Gold Medal awarded |