For the first time, the Holberg Prize is awarded to an art historian

For the first time in the history of theHolberg Prize, the world’s largest award to those who have contributed to the development and study in the humanities, social sciences, the arts, law and theology, has been given to an art historian.

She is Griselda Pollock, who has devoted her career to raising awareness through her writings of the role of women artists in society over the centuries. A professor of art history at the University of Leeds, Canadian Griselda Pollock has influenced international research on feminist art history and cultural studies, particularly postcolonial studies, for more than four decades.

TheHolberg Prize was established by the Norwegian government in 2003 to reward those who have decisively influenced international research in one of the fields covered by the prize, and the winner receives six million kroner (Norwegian kroner).

The 2020 edition was awarded to the art historian for her leading role in art history, feminist film science, and Holocaust trauma studies.

In the 1970s, Pollock was one of the founders of feminist art history; she emphasized factors such as gender, class, and race in visual art. Her most famous writings include Old Mistresses: Women, Art and Ideology (1981), Vision and Difference (1988). More recently, she has played an important role in film science in trauma studies: the latter includes the Concentrationary Memories project, which examines representations of the Holocaust and the relationship between aesthetics and politics. In 2018 she dedicated a monograph to Charlotte Salomon, a young Jewish artist who died in Auschwitz.

“Griselda Pollock has always maintained the highest scholarly standard, challenging established knowledge and institutionalized hierarchies of thought and value. This is why she has been a guiding star for generations of art and cultural historians,” said Dame Hazel Genn, chair of the Holberg Committee.

Pictured is Griselda Pollock. Courtesy University of Leeds

For the first time, the Holberg Prize is awarded to an art historian

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