Artist and photographer Tyler Mitchell has been awarded the 2026 Don Tyson Prize for the Advancement of American Art, receiving an unrestricted $250,000 award from Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
Mitchell becomes the sixth recipient of the prize and the first since it was increased from $200,000 to $250,000 and moved from a biennial to an annual award. Established by the Tyson family in 2016, the prize recognises artists, individuals and institutions making significant contributions to American art.
Born in Atlanta in 1995 and now based in Brooklyn, Mitchell works across photography, film, publishing, fashion and exhibition-making, creating images that explore Black life through ideas of beauty, leisure, intimacy, community and self-determination.
His photographs frequently draw on the landscapes and domestic settings of his suburban Georgia childhood, using pastoral imagery to move between historical experience and imagined futures.
Mitchell reached a much wider public in 2018 when, at the age of 23, he became the first Black photographer to shoot a cover of American Vogue, photographing Beyoncé for its September issue.
“Our selection of Tyler Mitchell reflects the profound impact of his practice and the distinctive place his work holds in contemporary culture,”
said Rod Bigelow, Executive Director of Crystal Bridges.
“Through photography, film, publishing, fashion, and exhibition-making, Mitchell has created images and experiences that reach audiences well beyond traditional museum spaces.”
Previous winners of the Don Tyson Prize include Nicholas Galanin in 2024, Deborah Willis in 2022, Project Row Houses in 2020, vanessa german in 2018 and the Archives of American Art in 2016.
Willis, who has also been a mentor to Mitchell, described his work as reframing “perceptions of intimacy, style and the human form,” while drawing on memories of childhood, family and leisure.
The 2026 award also marks a significant expansion of the prize itself. What began as a $200,000 award presented every two years will now be awarded annually at $250,000, substantially increasing the amount of unrestricted funding distributed through the programme.
For Mitchell, it places one of the largest American art prizes behind a practice that has consistently moved between the museum, fashion, photography and popular culture — and helped shift how Black life and leisure are pictured within each.
MORE: crystalbridges.org/don-tyson-prize
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