Winner of the Midwest Art History Society Award
for Outstanding Catalogue, 2009
Chance Aesthetics
By Meredith Malone
Kemper Art Museum, Washington University, St. Louis

The Midwest Art History Society Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Chance Aesthetics is the winner of the Midwest Art History Society Award for Outstanding Catalogue for 2009. It was the unanimous decision of the Outstanding Catalogue committee to present this award to the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum/Washington University in St. Louis. The catalogue was judged on the basis of scholarly contributions to the field, the quality of writing and design. Chance Aesthetics is exemplary on all accounts. Its author Meredith Malone, who curated the exhibition for which the catalogue was produced, wrote an introduction and an essay. Other essays were written by Susan Laxton and Janine Mileaf, with catalogue entries by Bradley Bailey and Emily Hage.

The Midwest Art History Society Award for Outstanding Catalogue committee was headed by Leesa Fanning, Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Joseph Becherer, Director of the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park and Tricia Paik, Assistant Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art, St. Louis Art Museum also served on the committee.

This represents the sixth year of the Award for Outstanding Catalogue. The Call for Nominations for catalogues produced in 2010 will be sent out this November, with a deadline for submissions in February 2011. The winner of the award is announced at the annual Midwest Art History Society Conference the following spring.

Leesa Fanning
Member, Board of Directors of the Midwest Art History Society and Awards & Outstanding Catalogue Committees