On May 6, 2014, The Architectural League of New York presented its President’s Medal to artist Richard Serra. The President’s Medal is The Architectural League’s highest honor and is bestowed, at the discretion of the League’s President and Board of Directors, on individuals to recognize an extraordinary body of work in architecture, urbanism, art, or design.
Recent recipients of the President’s Medal include Renzo Piano, Amanda Burden, Massimo and Lella Vignelli, Hugh Hardy, Richard Meier, Ada Louise Huxtable, Robert A.M. Stern, Kenneth Frampton, Billie Tsien and Tod Williams, and Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown.
League President and architect Annabelle Selldorf
In presenting the award, Architectural League President Annabelle Selldorf read the following citation:
The Architectural League of New York honors Richard Serra for a body of work that challenges and engages all of the senses; work that has the capacity to subvert time and space, that keeps the viewer in perpetual motion mentally, emotionally, and physically. As his artistic practice has evolved from concerns of matter and materiality to more spatial preoccupations, the fascination for architecture has only increased. It is work in which nothing can be added or taken away, work that inspires all who encounter it to address its duality of simplicity and complexity. Serra has created some of the most powerful sculpture of our time.
The League honors Richard Serra for the work he has created and for the example he has set with his passionate and unwavering commitment to the highest level of artistic expression. With appreciation and admiration The Architectural League awards its 2014 President’s Medal to Richard Serra.
President's Medal Dinner
The Medal was presented to Serra at a dinner at the Metropolitan Club for over 300 guests. League President and architect Annabelle Selldorf, curator and early Serra patron Emily Rauh Pulitzer, and architects Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi made remarks celebrating Serra’s work and its profound influence on art and architecture. Texts of these remarks are available here.
Photos by Fran Parente.
Proceeds from the dinner help support the programs of The Architectural League.
Cocktails