Jenny Holzer and Andy Goldsworthy win art world’s ‘Nobel Prizes’

The British land artist Andy Goldsworthy has won the 2026 Praemium Imperiale award for sculpture, while the US conceptual artist Jenny Holzer has taken the award for painting. Each receives a prize of ¥15m (around £70,000).

The awards, often described as the “Nobel Prizes of the Arts”, are made annually by the Japan Art Association under the honorary patronage of Prince Hitachi, the younger brother of the Emperor Emeritus. They are awarded to individuals and organisations working in five distinct artistic categories: painting, sculpture, architecture, music, and theatre/film.

The other recipients this year are the actor Cate Blanchett, known for films such as Blue Jasmine (2013) and Carol (2015) as well as her stagework; the conductor Herbert Blomstedt, who has held leading roles with orchestras such as the Oslo Philharmonic; and the architect Daniel Libeskind, whose past projects include the Jewish Museum in Berlin and the masterplan for the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site in Manhattan.

Truths displayed

Holzer is known for her often socially and politically potent text-based practice. For her Truisms series (1978-87), she wrote maxims such as “abuse of power comes as no surprise” and “categorising fear is calming”, which have been displayed on billboards, digital displays and in other locations. In 1989, selections from Truisms and other series were featured on a display spiralling up the rotunda of the Guggenheim in New York. More recent projects include a 2022 collaboration with the non-profit PEN America, for which quotes related to freedom of expression by cultural figures such as Salman Rushdie and Pussy Riot member Nadya Tolokonnikova were projected onto New York’s Rockefeller Center.

In 2017, she told The Art Newspaper’s correspondent Louisa Buck that using the words of others “lets me cover more subjects and offer a greater range of everything, from mood to style, than I could manage on my own”. Her work in painting includes Redaction Paintings (2005–present), a series of works that reproduce declassified US government documents, often relating to the country’s military activity in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Vulnerability with grandeur

Goldsworthy is one of the UK’s most famous exponents of land art. He is known for works that use organic, ephemeral materials such as wood, stone and ice to encourage viewers to consider their relationship to the landscape, and which often bring to mind nature’s simultaneous vulnerability and grandeur. His past projects include Rowan leaves laid around hole, October 25, 1987 (1987), a circle of fiery autumnal leaves punctured by a black chasm, which Goldsworthy captured on camera then left to decay. Others include Spire (2008), a soaring tower built from 37 Monterey cypress trunks in the Presidio of San Francisco, which was inspired by the regeneration of the park’s protected forest.

Christopher Patten, Praemium Imperiale’s international adviser in the UK, says: “This year’s laureates share an immense passion for their respective craft as well as the land and people that inspire their art. Together their body of work celebrates the beauty and transformative power of art for the individual and the society. I applaud Japan Art Association’s dedication and generosity towards recognising the achievement of these great artists.”

Alongside the awards, La Source Garouste—an association that organises immersive artistic workshops for young people, especially “those in vulnerable social, economic, or academic situations”, according to its website—has been named as the recipient of the 2026 grant for young artists. The organisation, founded by the French contemporary artist Gérard Garouste and his wife, the interior designer Élizabeth Garouste, will receive a grant of ¥5m (£23,000), which is also presented by the Japan Art Association.

Previous winners of the Praemium Imperiale include the artists Marina Abramović, Sophie Calle, Olafur Eliasson and Mona Hatoum.