2019 AWARE Prizes for Women Artists

The 2019 AWARE Prizes for Women Artists were awarded on March 18, at the French Ministry for Culture, to Hélène Bertin for the Prize, and Jacqueline de Jong for the Oustanding Merit Prize, in recognition of her exceptional career and her recently highlighted work.

The AWARE Prizes for Women Artists will enjoy the support of the French Ministry for Culture and the CHANEL Fund for Women in the Arts and Culture.

Hélène Bertin, winner of the Prize
Hélène Bertin (1989) studied at three institutions with different pedagogical approaches: Lycée Frédéric-Mistral in Avignon in the applied arts section, the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Lyon where she cofounded the Plafond collective, followed by the École nationale supérieure d’arts de Paris-Cergy, graduating in 2013. In the same year, alongside her DNSEP, she started research into the work of Valentine Schlegel that slowly but surely transformed her view of art. Her practice oscillates between sculpture, workshops, and research, a deliberately hybrid approach that positions her between artist, curator, and historian.

She works in Paris and Cucuron where she sends out invitations to work with her guests; Hélène Bertin develops her art in connection with others (artists, associations, artisans, families, etc.). Her sculptures and projects have been presented in alternative spaces (Pauline Perplexe, DOC) and public (CAC Brétigny, château d’Oiron) or private institutions (Fondation d’entreprise Ricard, Lafayette Anticipations).

Jacqueline de Jong, winner of the Outstanding Merit Prize
Born in the Netherlands, Jacqueline de Jong (1939) lives and works in Amsterdam and France. Marked by the CoBrA movement, she participated in the Situationist International. She has explored a wide variety of mediums and techniques ranging from gestural figurative painting to jewellery making. After personal exhibitions at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm (2012) and Les Abattoirs Musée – FRAC Occitanie Toulouse (2018), the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam) is currently devoting a retrospective to her work.

Her works are included in public collections in France and around the world, such as the CoBrA Museum voor Moderne Kunst (Amstelveen), the musée national d’Art moderne – Centre Georges-Pompidou, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Museum of Amherst University (Amherst, Massachusetts), the KunstCentret Silkeborg Bad (Silkeborg), the Lenbachhaus Museum (Munich), and the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter (Oslo). Her archives are part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut). She is represented by the gallery Dürst Britt & Mayhew (The Hague) and the gallery Château Shatto (Los Angeles).

In 2018, Nil Yalter and Vera Molnár received ex-aequo the Oustanding Merit Prize and Violaine Lochu the Prize.

Prizes devoted to expanding the visibility of women artists
The artist who emerges as the prize laureate will have one or more of their works acquired by the Cnap collections (Centre national des arts plastiques) and will enjoy a production grant for a solo exhibition to be held within the D.C.A. network (French Association for the Development of Contemporary Art Centres) and/or Platform (Cluster of Regional Contemporary Art Funds).

The winner of the Outstanding Merit Prize will enjoy a 10 000 grant and the publication of an original interview, for release in 2020. Éditions Manuella will devote a dedicated collection to the AWARE Outstanding Merit prize winners.