The Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis has won the 2024 best monograph award from the Midwest Art History Society (MAHS) for its exhibition catalog "Adam Pendleton: To Divide By." The catalog, published by the museum and distributed by the University of Chicago Press, was honored during the society's Outstanding Catalog Awards ceremony in Denver on April 4. Edited by Kemper curator Meredith Malone, the volume features essays by Malone, Joshua Chambers-Letson, Hal Foster, and a conversation between Pendleton and critic Isabelle Graw, along with transcripts of two film portraits by the artist.
The award recognizes the catalog's theoretical depth and attention to Pendleton's work, as well as its design by David Wise of Forthcoming Studio. The monograph accompanies the exhibition of the same name, which explored Pendleton's interest in cross-medium dialogue and abstraction's disruptive potential. This honor underscores the Kemper Art Museum's role in producing rigorous scholarly publications that advance discourse on contemporary art, and highlights the growing recognition of exhibition catalogs as significant contributions to art historical research.