The Sylvia Ardyn Boone Prize
2019 Boone Prize Recipient
This year, the Departments of African American Studies and History of Art awarded the 2019 Sylvia Ardyn Boone Prize to Claire Schwartz.
Her dissertation is titled, “A Sidelong Glance: Art, Archives, and Visions of Blackness in the Postmodern City.”
About the Sylvia Ardyn Boone Prize
The Sylvia Ardyn Boone Prize is awarded for the best written work by a Yale student on African or African-American art. The prize is jointly administered by the History of Art and African American Studies Departments. Students are nominated for the prize by faculty members and advisors.
The prize is given in memory of Sylvia Ardyn Boone, who was a noted scholar of African and women”s art and the first African-American woman granted tenure at Yale.
The Boone prize was established by Vera Wells, (’71), to honor the life and work of her close friend.
Photo of Sylvia Ardyn Boone: Yale Bulletin and Calendar
Learn more about Art Historian Sylvia Ardyn Boone
On February 20, 2017, the President’s Women of Yale Forum featured the program, “ ‘The Life and Work of Sylvia Ardyn Boone’: A Conversation between Peter Salovey and Vera Wells.” Wells (‘71) was among the first class of women admitted to Yale College. She is a former student of Boone’s and became a friend and mentee. After Boone passed away, Wells served as literary executor of Boone’s estate.
Watch “The Life and Work of Sylvia Ardyn Boone” (1:11:24)
Additional sources on Sylvia Ardyn Boone:
- “Yale Announces First Sylvia Ardyn Boone Prize in Art History,” Yale News, August 23, 1996
- ”Program recalls contributions of late art historian,” Yale Bulletin and Calendar, February 9, 2001, Volume 29, Number 18
Books by Sylvia Ardyn Boone
Updated June 7, 2019