Mayer Library Vasari Awards Records

The Vasari Awards were granted to authors working in Texas whose book provided insight into works of art or aspects of art history and theory that enriched our understanding of visual arts. The Mildred R. and Frederick M. Mayer Library at the Dallas Museum of Art sponsored the Vasari Award from 1985 to 2008.

The Vasari Award was created by former Director Harry S. Parker III in 1985 with the intent of giving the DMA Library a higher profile in the scholarly community and encouraging art history scholarship in Texas. The award is named after Giorgio Vasari who is considered to be the father of modern art history with his volumes on Lives of Artists, written in 16th century Italy.

Selection criteria for the award included originality and depth of scholarship; significance to the literature of art history generally and in the particular subject field; clarity and skill of written expression; quality of book production and visual presentation of material; and nominee(s) must be primarily responsible for the intellectual content of the work (over 50% must be by author working in Texas). While the award was originally intended for art historians, consideration was given to the significance of the contribution to the literature of art history and closely related disciplines such as architecture. Each year, the award was given for publications with an imprint of the preceding year and was generally presented to the author at a reception later in the year. In later years, the award recipient was asked to deliver a lecture on the topic of the winning publication. Winners were selected by a jury containing previous winners, art history scholars and a DMA curator, usually Anne Bromberg serving as Head Juror and Chair of the Selection Committee.