BOSTON (April 29, 2026)—The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), has announced the relaunch of the Maud Morgan Prize, with Laurel Nakadate as the 2026 recipient. Established in 1993, the award honors a Massachusetts woman who has worked as an artist for at least 10 years, demonstrated creativity and vision, and made significant contributions to the contemporary arts landscape. The reestablished prize will be awarded biennially, offering a $15,000 grant to an artist whose work has been or is planned to be acquired by the Museum.
“Artist Maud Morgan represents all of the innovation, excellence, and remarkable spirit of so many of the women who continue to inspire us at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. With the relaunch of this important recognition for local women artists, we are proud to continue to recognize their daring, innovative spirits and their priceless contributions to our local art scene.” said Pierre Terjanian, Ann and Graham Gund Director.
"In reinaugurating the storied Maud Morgan Prize as a true reward for a talented local woman, we wanted to provide a substantial, unrestricted cash grant that matches her dedication and impact. The MFA's Department of Contemporary Art and I are thrilled to name Nakadate as the first awardee for this newly configured honor, an artist who has contributed so much to her students and to the art community of Greater Boston over many years,” said Ian Alteveer, Beal Family Chair of Contemporary Art.
Nakadate (American, born 1975) is a photographer, filmmaker, video and performance artist who was born in Austin, Texas and raised in Ames, Iowa. She is currently based in Boston, where she serves as Director of Graduate Studies and teaches in the photography area at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. Nakadate’s work is in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Yale University Art Gallery, the Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, Princeton University Art Museum, Smith College Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, and many private collections in the U.S. and abroad. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and her master’s degree in photography from Yale University. Nakadate is represented by Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects in New York and Galerie Tanja Wagner in Berlin.
Nakadate’s first feature film, Stay the Same Never Change, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to be featured in New Directors/New Films at The Museum of Modern Art and Lincoln Center. Her second feature film, The Wolf Knife, premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival, and was nominated for a Gotham Independent Film Award, and an Independent Spirit Award. Her 10-year survey show, Only the Lonely, premiered at MoMA PS1 in 2011, and her photo series Strangers and Relations opened the 2015–2016 season at The Des Moines Art Center. Nakadate’s most recent projects include the photo series The Kingdom, and the critically acclaimed group show Mother, which she co-curated with Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects in New York City.
The MFA acquired Nakadate’s 2018 series The Kingdom, comprising 34 works, in 2024 from Praise Shadows Gallery. It is currently on view—presented in four rotations—in the exhibition Counter Histories: Contemporary Art from the Collection. The poignant series features vernacular images of Nakadate’s mother, who passed away in 2016, spanning her life in photographs. Each image has been altered by a stranger in order to place Nakadate’s infant son posthumously in the arms of his grandmother, who was never able to hold him. These constructed photographs imagine a history and a future that cannot exist, and merge this reimagining with longing.
“I'm so honored to receive the Maude Morgan Prize from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which has been a deeply important space for my life and practice,” said Nakadate. “I first came to Boston in 1995 as an art student and the MFA was an integral part of my earliest research. To have my work enter the collection and to be awarded this prize is profoundly meaningful.”
Nakadate is the 18th artist to receive the Maud Morgan Prize, which has evolved since its inception in 1993. The award was established in recognition of the spirit of adventure and independence embodied by noted Boston-based artist Maud Morgan (1903–1999). During her most active years as an artist and instructor in Massachusetts, Morgan represented a voice of recognition for women committed to a career in the arts. She was associated with some of the most distinguished artists of the 1930s and studied at the Art Students League in New York with Hans Hoffman. Morgan exhibited with the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York in the company of Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko before instructing students of studio art, including Frank Stella and Carl Andre with her then-husband, painter Patrick Morgan, at Abbot Academy and Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. At the age of 92, she published her autobiography, Maud’s Journey: A Life from Art. Throughout her career, Morgan was a source of inspiration for many artists, young and old.
About the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The MFA brings many worlds together through art. Showcasing masterpieces from ancient to contemporary, our renowned collection of more than half a million works tells a multifaceted story of the human experience—a story that holds unique meaning for everyone. From Boston locals to international travelers, visitors from all over come to experience the MFA—where they reveal connections, explore differences and create a community where all belong.
Open six days a week, the MFA’s hours are Saturday through Monday, 10 am–5 pm; Wednesday, 10 am–5 pm; and Thursday–Friday, 10 am–10 pm. Admission is $30 for adults; $14 for youths ages 7–17; and free for University Members and youths ages 6 and younger. The Museum offers $5 minimum, pay-what-you-wish admission after 5 pm on the third Thursday of every month, as well as free admission for Massachusetts residents on four open houses throughout the year (Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, and Indigenous Peoples' Day). Plan your visit at mfa.org.