Tyler Mitchell Wins $250K Don Tyson Prize; Virginia Anderson Joins National Gallery of Art
Tyler Mitchell, a photographer originally from Atlanta and currently based in New York, has been awarded the Don Tyson Prize for the Advancement of American Art by Crystal Bridges, which comes with a $250,000 cash prize. Renowned for his portrayals of Black subjects, Mitchell has worked on campaigns for major brands such as Beyoncé, Loewe, Nike, and Marc Jacobs. Previous recipients of this honor include Nicholas Galanin and Deborah Willis. Virginia Anderson has been appointed as the senior curator of American Art at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, after her tenure at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Additionally, Sharif Bey is the first recipient of the 2026 Spector Craft Prize, while Steven Shearer has won the $100,000 Audain Prize for the Visual Arts. Yona Lee has been awarded the 2027 Judy Wheeler Commission, and Solange Knowles is set to unveil a sculpture at Chelsea Market Passage from September 24-27.
Key facts
- Tyler Mitchell won Crystal Bridges's Don Tyson Prize for the Advancement of American Art, which carries a $250,000 cash award.
- Mitchell is an Atlanta-born, New York-based photographer known for depicting Black sitters in pastoral settings and domestic interiors, and for shooting Beyoncé's Vogue cover.
- Previous Don Tyson Prize winners include Nicholas Galanin, Deborah Willis, and the nonprofit Project Row Houses.
- Virginia Anderson was named senior curator of American Art and head of Art of the Americas at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, coming from the Baltimore Museum of Art.
- Scholar Steven Nelson's essay "Soft Censorship" accused the National Gallery of Art of canceling a symposium on race to avoid provoking Trump.
- Sharif Bey is the inaugural winner of the 2026 Spector Craft Prize; Merryn Omotayo Alaka, Japheth Asiedu-Kwarteng, Demetri Broxton, Vivian Chiu, and Luke-Thomas Tokimasa Henderson won its Emerging Artists prize.
- Steven Shearer received the 2026 $100,000 Audain Prize for the Visual Arts, honoring artists from British Columbia.
- Yves Goldstein will step down as director of the Kanal-Centre Pompidou two days after its November 28 opening in Brussels.
Entities
Artists
- Tyler Mitchell
- Beyoncé
- Nicholas Galanin
- Deborah Willis
- Virginia Anderson
- Steven Nelson
- Sharif Bey
- Merryn Omotayo Alaka
- Japheth Asiedu-Kwarteng
- Demetri Broxton
- Vivian Chiu
- Luke-Thomas Tokimasa Henderson
- Steven Shearer
- Cédric Fauq
- Yves Goldstein
- Yona Lee
- Danh Vo
- Yohji Yamamoto
- Solange Knowles
- Johnny Depp
- Rod Bigelow
Institutions
- Crystal Bridges
- Don Tyson Prize for the Advancement of American Art
- Vogue
- Loewe
- Nike
- Marc Jacobs
- Project Row Houses
- National Gallery of Art
- Baltimore Museum of Art
- Spector Craft Prize
- Audain Prize for the Visual Arts
- Moderna Museet
- Kanal-Centre Pompidou
- Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts
- Judy Wheeler Commission
- Isamu Noguchi Award
- Google Chrome
- Hyperallergic
- John Michael Kohler Arts Center
- Crystal Bridges Museum
- Gagosian
- ArtReview
- Don Tyson Prize
- Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
- Tyson Foods
Locations
- Atlanta
- United States
- New York
- Washington, DC
- Baltimore
- Stockholm
- Sweden
- Brussels
- Belgium
- British Columbia
- Canada
- Perth
- Australia
- Chelsea Market Passage
- Brooklyn
- Georgia
Sources
- Hyperallergic —
- ArtReview —
- Artsy —