Brittenham awarded Arthur Kingsley Porter Prize

Claudia Brittenham, Associate Professor of Art History and the College, has been awarded the 2020 Arthur Kingsley Porter Prize by the College Art Association for her article, “Architecture, Vision, and Ritual: Seeing Maya Lintels at Yaxchilan Structure 23,” which was featured in the September 2019 issue of The Art Bulletin. The essay examines the carved decoration of the most famous of all Mesoamerican architectural programs, a series of lintels dedicated by Lady K’abal Xook, a queen of the Maya city of Yaxchilan, in 726 CE. In their original context, the lintels were hard to see, raising questions about the nature and dynamics of Maya vision. The essay argues that the lintels should be read as a cohesive program, guiding a performative engagement with the building at the moment of its dedication.

The Arthur Kingsley Porter Prize was established in 1957, in memory of a founding member of the CAA and one of the first American scholars of the discipline. This award seeks to encourage high scholarly standards among younger members of the profession. The prize is awarded for a distinguished article published in The Art Bulletin during the previous year by a scholar who is under the age of thirty-five or who has received the doctorate not more than ten years before acceptance of the article for publication.