The book 鈥�Chasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner鈥� by Dr. Natalie Dykstra, professor emerita of English at Hope College, has received the 2024 Marfield Prize from the Arts Club of Washington.
The Marfield Prize, or the National Award for Arts Writing, has been given annually since 2006 to the author of a nonfiction book about the visual, literary, media or performing arts. As explained by the Arts Club in its , 鈥淓stablished to generate broader interest in the arts among general readers, the award celebrates prose that is clear, eloquent and inspiring, creating a strong connection with the arts and artists.鈥� The winning author, who receives a $10,000 prize, is invited to Washington, D.C., for a short residency that includes an awards ceremony, a presentation to a D.C. public high school, an interview at the Library of Congress, and a public reading at the Arts Club of Washington.
Published in 2024 by Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, 鈥淐hasing Beauty鈥� culminated Dykstra鈥檚 10-year quest to understand the complex creator of Boston鈥檚 acclaimed Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and tell her story. 鈥淐hasing Beauty鈥� has been praised by, among others, the New York Times, which has described it as 鈥渆xquisitely detailed and perceptive,鈥� and the Wall Street Journal, which has called it 鈥渁 sympathetic, impeccably researched biography.鈥�
Since it opened in 1903, the museum has been an enduring reflection of Gardner鈥檚 aesthetic and vision. She designed the building, a four-story, Venetian-style palazzo, and even watched over its construction. She filled it with artwork 鈥� paintings, tapestries, prints, porcelain, rare books, manuscripts and fine furniture 鈥� from Europe, Asia and America that she collected and arranged. She endowed it 鈥� with the stipulation that it never change 鈥� for the public to enjoy in perpetuity.
Dykstra followed in Gardner鈥檚 footsteps in France and Italy as Gardner (1840-1924) encountered the masterworks of art and places that inspired her, and in New York and Boston as Gardner navigated 鈥� and sometimes scandalized 鈥� the elite social circles in which she moved. Continuing the project after retiring in 2020, Dykstra complemented her travels with countless hours of research in a variety of archives, uncovering previously unknown sources that helped shed light on the events and relationships that shaped Gardner鈥檚 life.
Dykstra was a member of the Hope faculty for 20 years before retiring, and today lives near Boston with her husband. She became interested in Gardner while conducting research in Boston for a previous book, 鈥�Clover Adams: A Gilded and Heartbreaking Life,鈥� published in 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. She received external support for 鈥淐hasing Beauty鈥� including a 2018 Public Scholar Program Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities and a 2018 Robert and Ina Caro Research/Travel Fellowship from Biographers International Organization. She was assisted in her research by Hope students, not only on campus but in Boston and France, work funded by Mellon Foundation grants and Jack Nyenhuis summer faculty fellowships from Hope.
For her work on Clover Adams, she had also received an NEH fellowship, as well as grants from the Schlesinger Library and the Massachusetts Historical Society, where she was elected a Fellow in 2011. 鈥淐lover Adams: A Gilded and Heartbreaking Life鈥� was named a Must-Read book of 2013 in the 13th Annual Massachusetts Book Awards 鈥� and featured in 鈥淏ooks 麻豆视频 Curious Minds, Recommended for the Curious Minded鈥� in The New York Times.
Founded in 1916, promotes and celebrates the visual, performing and literary arts in the nation鈥檚 capital. Both a private membership organization and a 501(c)3 nonprofit, the club presents public programming including art exhibitions; concerts; events focusing on writing, dance and theatre; and studio classes in visual arts. Its home is a historic Federal-era mansion that was once the residence of James Monroe 鈥� and for a time his official presidential residence.
Selection for the Marfield Prize is by an independent panel of judges following an initial phase during which volunteers read and rate dozens of books. This year鈥檚 competition also recognized five finalists: 鈥�3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool,鈥� by James Kaplan; 鈥淐ocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who鈥檚 Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,鈥� by Philip Gefter; 鈥淭he Playbook: A Story of Theater, Democracy, and the Making of a Culture War,鈥� by James Shapiro; 鈥淕et the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See,鈥� by Bianca Bosker; and 鈥淒rawn Testimony: My Four Decades as a Courtroom Sketch Artist,鈥� by Jane Rosenberg.