NEW YORK.- The Association of Art Museum Curators announced the recipients of its third annual awards for Outstanding Book, Article and Exhibitions of 2005. The prizes, which honor the curators of significant exhibitions and publications, are the only ones awarded by curators to curators. “Each year, these prizes honor the impressive scholarly publications of curators across the United States and Canada. They also celebrate the exciting exhibitions organized by curators from coast to coast,” commented Carol S. Eliel, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Co-Chair of the AAMC Prize Committee. All prize recipients are members of the AAMC.

The prize for Outstanding Book of 2005 was awarded to Paul Schimmel of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles for his catalogue Robert Rauschenberg: Combines, which accompanies the survey exhibition of Rauschenberg's landmark works currently on view at MOCA.

Outstanding Article of 2005 was awarded to Maureen O’Brien of the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design for her article, "Performing Friendship: Edgar Degas's Six Friends at Dieppe,” published in the exhibition catalogue Edgar Degas: Six Friends at Dieppe. Exhibition prizes, voted on by the entire membership of the AAMC, were awarded as follows:

• Outstanding Exhibition in the Eastern Time Zone to Vincent van Gogh: The Drawings organized by curators Colta Ives and Susan Stein of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

• Outstanding Exhibitions in the Central Time Zone (tie) to two exhibitions from The Art Institute of Chicago, Hero, Hawk and Open Hand: American Indian Art of the Ancient Midwest and South organized by curator Richard Townsend; and Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre organized by curators Douglas Druick, Gloria Groom, and Mary Weaver Chapin of The Art Institute with guest curator Richard Thomson, University of Edinburgh. Organizing curator for the Washington D.C. venue of Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre was Philip Conisbee of the National Gallery of Art.

• Robert Rauschenberg: Combines, which Schimmel organized, was named Outstanding Exhibition in the Pacific/ Mountain Time zone. Organizing curator for the New York City venue was Nan Rosenthal of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “The critical work of curators in producing scholarly catalogues based on their museums’ permanent collections and in organizing exhibitions that advance scholarship as well as attract the public is often overlooked and unacknowledged. We hope that the AAMC prizes encourage museums to continue to support the many aspects of curatorial work and will raise the public’s awareness of the important role curators play in contemporary culture,” says Eliel.