The American Academy in Rome mourns the loss of Cynthia Hazen Polsky, who passed away on October 22, 2024. Polsky was a visionary artist and a longtime patron of the American Academy in Rome where she played an instrumental role in nurturing the institution’s mission, serving as a Trustee between 1993 and 2004 and thereafter as a Trustee Emerita.
In 1995 Cynthia, with her husband Leon Polsky, established the Joseph H. Hazen Rome Prize in Visual Arts—named in memory of her father—and the Cynthia Hazen Polsky/Metropolitan Museum of Art Visiting Curator. Five years later they initiated the Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon Polsky Rome Prize in Design. Through these fellowships and her support of the Academy, Polsky has enabled artists and curators to come together in a cross-disciplinary community, expanding their practices and ideas.
The Academy is grateful to have been one of many organizations who benefitted from Polsky’s intellectual curiosity and generous spirit. We are honored to continue her work sustaining artists and scholars who immerse themselves in Rome’s rich cultural and historical landscape.
Here are the names of the fellows that Polsky supported at the American Academy in Rome.
Joseph H. Hazen Rome Prize Fellows in Visual Arts
Polly Apfelbaum
Shimon Attie
Michael Ray Charles
Abigail Child
Sarah Crowner
Tim Davis
Lucky DeBellevue
Nona Faustine
David Fludd
María Elena González
Todd O. Gray
Gary Hill
Marie S. Lorenz
Cynthia Madansky
Beverly McIver
Joshua Mosley
Michael Queenland
Mary Reid Kelley
Reynold Reynolds
David Schutter
Maureen Selwood
Carrie Mae Weems
Karen Yasinsky
Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon Polsky Rome Prize Fellows in Design
Nicholas Blechman
Mary Ellen Carroll
Kyle deCamp
David C. Erdman
Molissa Fenley
Dylan Fracareta
Colin W. Gee
Carin Goldberg
Jasmine Hearn and Athena Kokoromis
Dennis Y Ichiyama
Roberto Lugo
Catie Newell
Steve Parker
Woody Pirtle
Amy Revier
Tricia Treacy
Adrian D. Van Allen
Allan P. Wexler
Elizabeth Whelan
J. Meejin Yoon
Cynthia Hazen Polsky/Metropolitan Museum of Art Visiting Curators
Maryan Ainsworth
Carmen C. Bambach
Andrea J. Bayer
Peter J. Bell
Keith R. Christiansen
Paola D’Agostino
James David Draper
Helen C. Evans
Sean Hemingway
Elizabeth Johnston Milleker
Elizabeth R. Kornhauser
Alisa T. Lagamma
Sarah Lepinski
Christopher Lightfoot
Kent Lydecker
Asher E. Miller
J. Kenneth Moore
Jeffrey H. Munger
Nadine Monica Orenstein
Doralynn Pines
Martina Rugiadi
Marjorie Shelley
Gary Tinterow
Thayer Tolles
Limor Tomer
Akili Tommasino