LONDON.- The Association for Art History has announced the winners of its 2026 Curatorial Prizes for exhibitions and for curatorial writing.

The AAH Curatorial Prizes are selected by a panel of esteemed industry leaders, which this year included Tristram Hunt (Director, V&A Museum), Caroline Campbell (Director, National Gallery of Ireland), Fatoş Üstek (Independent Curator and Writer) and Sarah Munro (Artistic Director & CEO, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art).

Helen Chadwick: Life Pleasures at The Hepworth Wakefield is winner of the Curatorial Prize for Exhibitions, and the team also won the Curatorial Prize for Writing for the book of the same name which accompanied the exhibition.

The winning exhibition, curated by Laura Smith (Artistic Director, The Hepworth Wakefield) and Farah Dailami (Assistant Curator, The Hepworth Wakefield), was praised by the panel for the rigorous research and archival recovery work undertaken on Chadwick’s work and life, and how this informed an effective narrative within the exhibition. The visual coherence of the exhibition, as well as the overall excellence of the project, were highly regarded by the panel.

The exhibition’s accompanying publication, Helen Chadwick: Life Pleasures, edited by Laura Smith also won the Curatorial Prize for Writing. The catalogue was praised for its vigorous and new scholarly research presented in a very accessible way, with a variety of perspectives represented in the essays that, in sum, built up to a compelling picture of a compelling artist. The panel noted that the book broadened the subject and practice of art history in an important way.

The Exhibitions judging panel highly commended curators Zehra Jumabhoy, Lecturer in the History of Art, University of Bristol and Exhibitions Officer Katy Freer at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea, for the exhibition Tigers & Dragons: India and Wales in Britain. The panel cited the bold concept of the exhibition and the risks it took in addressing its subject matter, as well as the project's success in realising its scholarly ambitions. The exhibition was also praised for balancing academic seriousness with public accessibility, and for its thoughtful treatment of the complex relationships between Wales, England and South Asia.

In the Writing category, the panel highly commended As Hardly Found: Art and Tropical Architecture, edited by Albert Brenchat Aguilar, highlighting the quality of the writing and the presentation of the underlying research. The publication was praised for bringing overlooked histories of architecture, painting and sculpture out of the archive and to greater public attention.

The Association for Art History annual prizes acknowledge the achievements and contributions of art curators in public museums and galleries in the UK. They recognise the essential work of curators in creating knowledge and sharing research with varied audiences, as well as in providing expertise about collections and the history of art more generally.

Winners are selected by two expert panels - this year made up of:

Exhibitions Panel

• Caroline Campbell - Director, National Gallery of Ireland
• Tristram Hunt - Director, V&A Museum
• Sarah Munro - Artistic Director/CEO, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art
• Sook Kyung Lee - Director, Whitworth Art Gallery and Professor of Curatorial Practice, The University of Manchester

Curatorial Writing Panel

• Gillian Malpas - CEO, Modern Art Press
• Christine Riding - Director of Collections and Research, National Gallery
• Fatoş Üstek - Independent Curator and Writer
• Kamini Vellodi - Head of Painting, Royal College of Art