Among annual international awards for design, the Praemium Imperiale stands only a notch behind the pinnacle Pritzker Prize. Sponsored by the Japan Art Association, its honors are conferred on stellar achievement in five areas of the arts: Architecture, Painting, Sculpture, Music, and Theater/Film. Intended to recognize “lifetime achievement in those art categories not covered by the Nobel Prizes,” each is accompanied by a medal and 15 million yen (c. $136,000), The 2018 awards will be bestowed by Prince Hitachi in Tokyo on October 23.
Inaugurated in 1989, the Praemium had so far honored 149 artists, including the architects I.M. Pei (the first recipient), James Stirling, Kenzo Tange, Frank Gehry, Renzo Piano, Oscar Niemeyer, and Zaha Hadid. Honorees in other fields have included Leonard Bernstein, Federico Fellini, Louise Bourgeois, Stephen Sondheim, Elsworth Kelly, Arthur Miller, Sophia Loren, and Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Christian de Portzamparc: Designs for France and the World
Portzamparc is notable for designing a variety of prominent buildings in widespread locations. Born in Morocco in 1944 (when it was a protectorate of France), he won his architectural degree at the revered Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1969 and soon launched his own practice. His work from the 1970s includes apartment developments on the outskirts of Paris that were innovative in form, given their restrictive programs. His breakthrough to worldwide prominence was the Cité de la Musique in Paris, a complex of performing halls and teaching facilities completed in 1995, which forms a gateway to the daringly unconventional landscape of the Parc de la Villette (by the Swiss-American architect, Bernard Tschumi). In 1994, before that entire music complex had been opened, Portzamparc was awarded the Pritzker Prize.
In recent decades, Portzamparc has completed buildings and launched new projects in a number of major cities worldwide. In New York, he has designed the LVMH office building (1999), the 75-story One57 condominium tower (2013), and Prism residential tower (2016). He has also completed a residential development in Fukuoka, Japan (1991), the Philharmonie music complex in Luxembourg (2005), and a concert hall at the Cidade das Artes in Rio de Janeiro (2013). Last year, he completed an indoor stadium at Nanterre, on the outskirts of Paris, and he is currently at work on a theater in Casablanca, an opera house in Shanghai, and a cultural center in the nearby historic city of Suzhou, scheduled for 2019 completion.
Except for some of his residential developments, Portzamparc is known mainly for the virtuoso shaping of building forms and spaces â the characteristics behind the “star-chitecture” of recent decades by such designers as Gehry and Hadid. These structures typically stand out from their surroundings by bold contrast, rather than sensitive integration. A major exception among Portzamparc’s works is his 1995 CitĂ© de la Musique (which I have visited), which complements and enhances its Parc de la Villette setting. His cultural facilities in general can be seen as contributing to the good of entire cities, while his recent residential towers in New York appear to serve only narrow economic purposes, while defying in form and surface treatment their urban surroundings.
While Portzamparc was the first French architect awarded the Pritzker Prize, he has been preceded as a Praemium Imperiale laureate by French architects Jean Nouvel (2001) and Dominique Perrault (2015). Both of those predecessors have also designed structures in several countries, as well as various locations in France.
Fujiko Nakaya: Fog as Sculptural Medium
Known worldwide as “the fog artist,” Nakaya studied art at Northwestern University in Illinois and in 1966 joined the E.A.T. (Experiments in Art and Technology) group of artists. In 1970 she created her first “fog sculpture” as an element of the much admired world’s fair in Osaka. Since then her environmental fog works have been installed in some 80 locations worldwide. She has also created a variety of video art works and has supported young video artists around the world. Last year she installed a prominent fog work at the Tate Modern’s new building in London, and she is now working on projects in Japan, the Netherlands and the United States. The first large-scale retrospective of her work is to open in October at the Art Tower Mito in Japan.
Pierre Alechinsky: Exploring Techniques
Having reached the age of 90 last year, Alechinsky is linked to many of the art movements and influences of his lifetime. Born in Belgium, he studied art there and became an active member of the abstractionist CoBrA group (of Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam). His works have been shaped to a considerable extent by his studies of techniques such as traditional engraving and Japanese calligraphy. Today he works mainly in acrylics on paper, plus a variety of printing techniques. Having lived, worked and taught in Paris since 1951, he recently became a citizen of France. In 2016-17 he was the subject of large-scale retrospectives in Tokyo and Osaka.
Riccardo Muti: International Music-maker
Born in Naples in 1941, Muti has held conductor and music director positions at orchestras all over Europe and the United States. Having studied piano, composition and conducting in Italy, he took on early responsibilities for the annual Maggio Musicale in Florence. During his stellar career, he has been Music Director of the Philharmonia of London, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and La Scala opera in Milan. He is now the music director of the Chicago Symphony. His work is accessible in a vast catalogue of recordings of symphonic music, opera and contemporary compositions.
Catherine Deneuve: Gracing the Screen
Born in Paris as the daughter of stage actors, Deneuve was acting in films while still in high school. She rose to international stardom with her 1964 performance in The Umbrellas ofCherbourg, which was widely viewed around the world. Other notable starring roles among her more than 125 films were those in Belle de Jour(1967), The Last Metro(1980) and 8Women (2002). At the age of 74, she continues to appear in films.