Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy

The Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy
Awarded for	Global achievement in Arts and Philosophy
Location	Kyoto, Japan
Presented by	Inamori Foundation
First awarded	1985
Official website	kyotoprize.org

The Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy is awarded once a year by the Inamori Foundation for lifetime achievements in the arts and philosophy. The Prize is one of three Kyoto Prize categories; the others are the Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology and the Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences. The first Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy was awarded to Olivier Messiaen in 1985, the "greatest composer to have emerged from 20th century France".^[1] The Prize is widely regarded as the most prestigious award available in fields which are traditionally not honored with a Nobel Prize.^[2]

Prizes

A Kyoto laureate is awarded a gold medal, a diploma, and a prize money of 50 million yen (US$530,000 or €413,000 as of March 2013), making it one of the richest literary prizes in the world.

Kyoto laureates in Arts and Philosophy

The Kyoto Prize is awarded annually in three categories: Advanced Technology, Basic Sciences, and Arts and Philosophy. The category Arts and Philosophy consists of four fields which are awarded in alternating cycles: Music, Arts, Theater and Cinema, and Thought and Ethics.

Laureates

Music

Year	Laureate		Country
1985		Olivier Messiaen	France	1908–1992	A Composer Who Left a Significant Mark on the 20th Century Music with His Original Theoretical Framework Fundamentally Dependent upon Catholicism[3]
1989		John Cage	United States	1912–1992	A Composer Who Established a New Style of Contemporary Music by His New Concept of "Chance Music" and Non-Western Musical Thought[4]
1993		Witold Lutosławski	Poland	1913–1994	A Composer Who Opened New Possibilities of a Contemporary Musical Expression of Atonality and Aleatory Influenced by East European Folk Music[5]
1997		Iannis Xenakis	France	1922–2001	A Composer Who Created a Totally New Music Using Computer-Aided Approach by Viewing Music Statistically as a Set of "Sound Elements"[6]
2001		György Ligeti	Austria	1923–2006	A Composer with Superb Originality and Firm Commitment to Innovation who Continues to Present New Challenges[7]
2005		Nikolaus Harnoncourt	Austria	born 1929	A musician of exceptional creativity who has contributed to the establishment of the historically informed performance of European early music, and who has extended his principles and interpretation to modern music[8]
2009		Pierre Boulez	France	1925–2016	A Musician Who Has Consistently Set Trends through His Composition, Conducting, Writing, and Organizational Operation[9]
2013		Cecil Taylor	United States	born 1929	An Innovative Jazz Musician Who Has Fully Explored the Possibilities of Piano Improvisation[10]

Arts

Year	Laureate		Country
1986		Isamu Noguchi	United States	1904–1988	An Artist Who Fused Eastern and Western Tradition not only in Sculpture but also in Broad Areas of Physical Design[11]
1990		Renzo Piano	Italy	born 1937	An Architect Who Elicited a New Potentiality for Architecture by Lifting Technology to the Realm of Fine Art[12]
1995		Roy Lichtenstein	United States	1923–1997	A Painter Whose Pop-Art Motifs Continuously Challenged Established Concepts of Art Its Role in Modern Society[13]
1998		Nam June Paik	United States	1932–2006	An Artist Who Launched the Field of ”Media Art” With His Inventive Use of Image Media in Modern Art[14]
2002		Tadao Ando	Japan	born 1941	An architect who explored the limits of humankind's relationship with nature through his original forms and structures[15]
2006		Issey Miyake	Japan	born 1938	A designer who has made great contribution to the innovative development of clothing by fusing Eastern and Western cultures and applying cutting edge technology[16]
2010		William Kentridge	South Africa	born 1955	An Artist Who Has Created an Original Art by Fusing Traditional Drawings with Animation and Other Media[17]
2014		Fukumi Shimura	Japan	born 1924	An Artist in Constant Pursuit of the Fundamental Human Value of Harmonious Coexistence with Nature through the Artistic Creation of Tsumugi Kimono on the Basis of Folk Wisdom[18]

Theater, cinema

Year	Laureate		Country
1987		Andrzej Wajda	Poland	1926–2016	A Film Director Who Kept a Firm Eye on the Tumultuous Era of Poland in the 20th Century and Has Depicted Liberty, Courage and Dignity of Human Beings[19]
1991		Peter Stephen Paul Brook	United Kingdom	born 1925	A Stage Director, Who Has Inspired New Anima to Classic Repertories through His Innovative Rendering Which Amalgamates Essential Expressions of West and East Theatre Traditions[20]
1994		Akira Kurosawa	Japan	1910–1998	A Film Director Who Has Pursued the Humanity with an Acute Insight and Highly Original Images[21]
1999		Maurice Béjart	France	1927–2007	A Choreographer Who Has Contributed the Dance to Regain Its Status as Fine Art through His Major Performances such as the ”Sacre du Printemps” and the ”Bolero”[22]
2003		Tamao Yoshida	Japan	1919–2006	The Foremost Master Puppeteer in Bunraku, a Major Classical Performance Art of Japan[23]
2007		Pina Bausch	Germany	1940–2009	A choreographer who has broken down the boundaries between dance and theater and pioneered a new direction for theatrical art[24]
2011		Tamasaburo Bando V	Japan	born 1950	A Creator of Elegant Beauty Whose Artistry with Kabuki at Its Core Crosses Many Genres of Performing Arts[25]
2015		John Neumeier	United States	born 1942	A Creator of Elegant Beauty Whose Artistry with Kabuki at Its Core Crosses Many Genres of Performing Arts[26]

Thought and ethics

Year	Laureate		Country
1988		Paul Thieme	West Germany	1905–2001	One of the Most Eminent Indologists of the 20th Century Who Made a Significant Contribution to the Comprehension of Indo-Aryan and the Ancient Indian Philosophy through His Detailed Studies of Vedic[27]
1992		Karl Raimund Popper	United Kingdom	1902–1994	A Philosopher Who Gave a Great Impact on the Intellectual World of Natural and Social Science by What He Calls Falsifiability Criterion and Advocated the Realization of Open Society Based on the "Critical Rationalism"[28]
1996		Willard Van Orman Quine	United States	1908–2000	A Philosopher Who Made Significant Contribution to the Development of Contemporary Philosophy by Rejecting the Method of Analytic-Synthetic Distinction and Naturalizing Epistemology Based on a Holistic and Systematic Linguistic Framework[29]
2000		Paul Ricœur	France	1913–2005	An Imposing Construct of Hermeneutic Phenomenology that Embraces a New Concept of Ethics[30]
2004		Jürgen Habermas	Germany	born 1929	Achievements in social philosophy, in particular establishment of the communicative action theory and discourse ethics, and its application in practical activities for a public-minded ideal society[31]
2008		Charles Margrave Taylor	Canada	born 1931	Construction of a Social Philosophy to Pursue the Coexistence of Diverse Cultures[32]
2012		Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak	India	born 1942	A Critical Theorist and Educator Speaking for the Humanities Against Intellectual Colonialism in Relation to the Globalized World[33]
2016		Martha Craven Nussbaum	United States	born 1947	A Philosopher Who Has Developed a New Theory of Justice Advocating the Capabilities Approach[34]

See also

• Kyoto Prize
• Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology
• Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences
• List of Kyoto Prize winners

References