Joyce Zelen, Cataloguer at the Rijksmuseum and PhD candidate at Radboud University, has been awarded the 2016 Schulman and Bullard Article Prize, given annually through the Association of Print Scholars (APS) to an article published by an early-career scholar that features compelling and innovative research on prints or printmaking. Zelen’s article, “The Venetian Print Album of Johann Georg I Zobel von Giebelstadt” appeared in the Rijksmuseum Bulletin. Please click here for a link to download Zelen’s article.

One honorable mention went to Jamie Gabbarelli, Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, whose article “Phillippe Thomassin and Giulio Mancini’s Art Collection” was published in Print Quarterly.

The three-member jury noted that Zelen’s “impressive article adds to our knowledge of early modern print collecting” by piecing together the print album assembled by the German humanist Johann Georg I Zobel von Giebelstadt around 1568. Sixteenth-century print collectors, like Zobel, normally pasted or mounted their acquisitions into special albums, which over time have been disassembled for sale as individual prints. The Zobel album was unusual because the patron’s family kept it intact for many years and only dispersed it in 1999. Zelen masterfully reconstructed the album’s subject matter, its physical structure, and the artists and publishers Zobel purchased through careful study of individual prints, many of which are now at the Rijksmuseum. As possible, she tracked down prints at other institutions, and the album’s folios are listed in a detailed appendix.

APS would like to thank this year’s jurors for their time and work reading this year’s submissions: Shelley Langdale, Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings, Philadelphia Museum of Art; Lisa Pon, Associate Professor of Art History and Director of Graduate Studies, Rhetorics of Art, Space, and Culture (RASC/a), SMU Meadows School of the Arts; and Harriet Stratis, Senior Research Conservator, Department of Prints and Drawings, The Art Institute of Chicago.

The Schulman and Bullard Article Prize, which carries a $2,000 prize, is generously sponsored by Susan Schulman and Carolyn Bullard. Zelen will also receive an intaglio- and screen- printed “certificate” by artist Liz Zanis to commemorate her award. Following the mission of APS, articles can feature aspects of printmaking across any geographic region and all chronological periods. APS is currently accepting submissions for the 2017 prize up to the deadline of January 31, 2017. Please visit the APS website for more details about submitting an article for consideration.

Launched in 2014, APS is a nonprofit members’ group for enthusiasts of printmaking that brings together the diverse community of curators, collectors, academics, graduate students, artists, conservators, critics, independent scholars, and art dealers. APS’s goals are to encourage innovative and interdisciplinary study of printmaking and to facilitate dialogue among its members. Over 400 people from all over the world are currently members.

Please contact Angela Campbell, APS Grants Coordinator, at angela@printscholars.org with any questions regarding this announcement.