Associate Professor Tenley Bick was awarded the 2025 American Association for Italian Studies (AAIS) Book Prize, in the category of Visual Studies, for her first book, Michelangelo Pistoletto: Figuration and Cultural Politics (Yale University Press, 2025). The category of Visual Studies honors work from a range of fields, including art history, media studies, and film studies. As described by the AAIS, “this prestigious award is bestowed upon distinguished scholars who have demonstrated exceptional expertise, originality, and scholarly rigor in the field of Italian Studies.”
In a press release, the AAIS describes the impact of Dr. Bick’s book:
“Rich in archival research and critical insight, Michelangelo Pistoletto: Figuration and Cultural Politics sheds new light on representation, politics, and the social role of art through its nuanced examination of Pistoletto’s practice and enduring influence on contemporary debates. Through careful and compelling new readings of Pistoletto’s work across painting, sculpture, installation, performance, and social practice, Tenley Bick offers both a comprehensive account of a key figure of Arte Povera and twentieth-century Italian art and an incisive analysis of the relationship between art and politics from the 1960s to the present. What distinguishes this study is its dual ambition: to recover the particular conditions of Pistoletto’s practice with scholarly precision and to use that practice as a lens through which to rethink longstanding questions about figuration, subjectivity, and art’s capacity to intervene in social and political life. The result is a book that will be essential reading not only for specialists in postwar Italian art, but for anyone working at the intersection of art history, visual culture, and political thought. This is a deeply engaged and genuinely original study that makes a significant and lasting contribution to scholarship on postwar Italian visual culture.
On behalf of the American Association for Italian Studies, we extend our heartfelt congratulations to Tenley Bick for her remarkable contribution to the field of Italian Studies. This prestigious recognition not only acknowledges their exemplary scholarship but also symbolizes our enduring commitment to promoting academic excellence and fostering a deeper understanding of Italian culture and heritage.”
