Sculptor Alison Saar has been announced as the High Museum of Art’s 20th annual David C. Driskell Prize award winner.
She’ll be honored at a black-tie gala at the museum Sept. 20, where multiplatinum musician John Legend will perform.
The $50,000 Driskell Prize is the first national award established to celebrate a scholar or artist whose work makes a significant contribution to African American art or art history. It is named after African American artist and scholar David C. Driskell, whose work on the African diaspora spanned more than four decades.
Credit: Robb Cohen for the Atlanta Journ
Credit: Robb Cohen for the Atlanta Journ
Since its inception, proceeds from the Driskell Gala have helped the High Museum acquire 52 works by African American artists.
Los Angeles-based artist Saar is celebrated for her sculptures, installations and mixed-media works, which tell stories about the African American experience through references to American history, literature and mythology.
Credit: Courtesy of High Museum of Art
Credit: Courtesy of High Museum of Art
Her sculpture “Tobacco Demon” has been fixed in one of the High Museum’s galleries for decades. The High Museum also played a role in Saar’s rise by presenting one of her first solo museum exhibitions, “Fertile Ground,” in 1993.
“Saar’s work delves deeply into the histories of the African diaspora and its artistic traditions, exploring how they influence and connect to cultural identity today,” said High Museum of Art director Rand Suffolk in a press release.
Credit: frederic mauviel
Credit: frederic mauviel
Most recently, Saar’s “Soul Service Station” installation was featured as part of the Desert X 2025 art exhibition in Coachella Valley, California. And in 2024, she was selected by the International Olympic Committee and the city of Paris to create “Salon,” a sculpture commissioned for the Olympic Games now permanently displayed on the Champs-Élysées.
“At a time when many of the civil rights milestones achieved by previous generations — by our mothers and grandmothers — are being threatened or dismantled, the Driskell Prize empowers Black artists and art historians to push back,” said Saar in a press release. “When our art is removed from museum exhibitions or our shows are canceled, this prize offers not only validation, but also the support to continue making work that is courageous and truthful.”
Saar’s work has been featured at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Past Driskell Prize winners have included Ebony G. Patterson (2023), Amy Sherald (2018), Mark Bradford (2016) and Rashid Johnson (2012).
If you go
6:30 p.m. Sept. 20. High Museum of Art. 1280 Peachtree St. NE. Tables and ticket prices available by email at driskellprize@high.org. 404-733-4400, high.org/driskell-prize
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