Actor Robert De Niro announced that artist R.H. Quaytman has won the 2016 Robert De Niro Sr. Prize, awarded to a mid-career painter for excellence and innovation. Quaytman, represented by Gladstone Gallery and Miguel Abreu Gallery, is known for mixed-media works on wood panels that blend photography, printmaking, and technology, often organized into series called "chapters." She will receive a $25,000 prize at a ceremony in New York on December 14. The selection committee included curators from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Whitney Museum.
The prize matters because it highlights Quaytman's significant standing in contemporary painting, supported by her inclusion in major institutions like the Whitney Biennial and solo shows at museums including MOCA Los Angeles and Kunsthalle Basel. It also underscores the role of artist-endowed awards in sustaining mid-career painters, with past winners including Stanley Whitney and Laura Owens. The award's connection to Robert De Niro Sr., himself a painter, adds a personal and cultural dimension to the recognition.