Rome Prize winners are selected annually by juries of distinguished artists and scholars through a national competition. This year’s competition received 990 applications from applicants in 44 states, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, and 17 different countries.
Joining the 2025–26 Rome Prize winners throughout the fellowship year is a program of invited residents: artists and scholars of international standing who live and work at the Academy for periods ranging from one to three months. The fellows and residents will engage one another as they rethink and expand the boundaries of their disciplines, challenge assumptions, and cultivate ideas that resonate far beyond the institution’s walls. The residents are Emily Greenwood (ancient studies), Susan Chin (architecture), Lesley Lokko (architecture), Christiane Gruber (art history), Louis Menand (critic), Christine Sun Kim (design), Lorraine Wild (design), Stanley Nelson (film), Brent Leggs (historic preservation and conservation), Glenn LaRue Smith (landscape architecture), Roxani Margariti (medieval studies), Mason Bates (musical composition), Rhiannon Giddens (musical composition), Subhankar Banerjee (photography), Cindy Sherman (photography), Juan Felipe Herrera (poetry), and Tony Cokes (visual arts).
Professor Gruber’s work explores how images function within religious, cultural, and sociopolitical contexts, often challenging Western assumptions about Islamic aniconism.
The Chair of the History of Art department, Paroma Chatterjee, shared, "The prize is a testament to Professor Gruber’s work and an honor to the department."
