Japan announced the names of the Premium Imperial 2021 winners. The Nobel in art Famous Black and white photographer Sebastião and Cellist Yo-Yo Ma won the honour with James Turrell and Glenn Murcutt.
Japan Announced the names of Premium Imperial 2021 winners. On 15 September, the Japan Art Association announced the winners’ list.
The award is considered the most crucial prize in art and is sometimes referred to as the Nobel Prize.
From its induction in 1988, they gave the prize to artists and musicians at the top of their careers in five different categories.
This year the prize in the painting category goes to the Brazilian Painter Sebastião Salgado. In the music category, the award goes to US cellist and classical music pioneer Yo-Yo Ma.
Recognition in the sculpture and architecture category goes to the US artist James Turrel and Australian architect Glenn Murcutt.
The Young Artists Award wins Italy’s Advanced Training School for the Central Institute of Restoration (ICR). This year there are no awards in the theatre/film category due to the covid pandemic. Read More about
Sebastião Salgado
The 77-year-old Sebastião is famous for his black and white photography. His works focused on developing countries and their lifestyle, especially on the people’s lives in the marginal society.
Some of his famous photographs are scenes from the second gulf war, lives of indigenous peoples and gold miners in Brazil.
Sebastião has worked for various renowned photo agencies like Gamma in France and Magnum Photos.
His works have taken place in books and exhibitions all over the world. With much praise, he also won the 2019 Peace Prize for the German Book Trade.
Yo-Yo Ma
French-born American cellist Yo-Yo Ma is considered one of the most exceptional musicians and is known for his extraordinary technique and rich tone.
The 65-year-old Yo-Yo Ma wins 18 times Grammy. He started his musical journey at the age of five and played with many leading musicians.
Last year he released a music video, “Going Home,” viewed more than 18 million times.
From 2006 he has been a United Nations Messenger of Peace and won the National Medal of art in 2001. In 2020 Times Magazine included his name in the list of 100 most influential people.
James Turrell
The American light artist is known for his outstanding works with light and space movement. One of his great installation works, Aten Reign in the Guggenheim Museum, transformed the whole museum in 2013. 78-year-old James started his lights experiment’s in the mid-1960s.
In 1997 Turrell began a monumental project on an extinct volcano in northern Arizona called Roden Crater, which is scheduled to be completed in 2026.
James says, “With no object, no image and no focus…. You are looking at you looking.”
Glenn Murcutt
Australia’s most famous architect Glenn spent his architectural career designing sustainable buildings.
He works as a sole practitioner and builds within Australia. His eco-friendly building uses indigenous materials and cares about natural resources like wind direction, temperature. Glenn keeps his buildings modern.
He won the American Institute of Architects Gold medal in 2009 and currently teaches architectural studies at the University of North-South Wales, Australia.
Young Artist prize
The Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione ed il Restauro (ICR) won the Young Artist prize this year.
The institute was founded to preserve the cultural heritage of Italy in 1939. It is a body of the ministry of cultural heritage and activities and tourism in Rome.
This institute is one of the prestigious institutes in the field of art restoration and instruction. They provide five years of diploma courses and work on projects all over the world.
The winners of the Praemium Imperiale award received 15 million yen with a testimonial letter and medal.
They also award a grant for Young Artists to encourage young people in the field of art. Japan’s late Prince Takamatsu said about Premium Imperial “to contribute to enhancing and promoting the cultures and art of the world.”
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