Globe arts writer Feeney wins Pulitzer

Honored for range of critical essays

By Don Aucoin, Globe Staff  |  April 8, 2008

Boston Globe arts writer Mark Feeney yesterday was awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for criticism for work that reflected what Pulitzer judges called "his penetrating and versatile command of the visual arts."

It is the 20th time the Globe has won the Pulitzer, which is considered the most prestigious award in journalism.

Feeney, 50, won for 10 essays on visual arts that ranged from photography to painting to film. Feeney, who began working at the newspaper shortly after he graduated from Harvard in 1979, saluted colleagues past and present by name yesterday afternoon in remarks after the award was announced.

"So many of you out there make me proud to be here," Feeney told a packed newsroom. "This prize goes to all of us - all of us who are The Boston Globe."

The awards were announced at Columbia University in New York. The Washington Post dominated this year's Pulitzers, winning in six cate gories: public service, breaking news reporting, national reporting, international reporting, feature writing, and commentary. The public service medal went to the Post for its stories on the mistreatment of wounded veterans at Walter Reed Hospital.

Beth Daley, an environmental reporter for the Globe, was one of three finalists in the explanatory reporting category for her series on global warming. In addition, Globe business writer Binyamin Appelbaum, who joined the paper last year, was a finalist in the public service category for his work as a part of a team at The Charlotte Observer that examined the mortgage and housing crisis.

Feeney's Pulitzer represented the Globe's fourth in five years, and it was the second time in the past seven years that the newspaper has won the award for criticism; chief book critic Gail Caldwell won in 2001. Feeney was a Pulitzer finalist in 1994 for feature writing.

"Mark Feeney has delivered so much outstanding journalism to Globe readers for so long that it is impossible to resist one overriding thought on his Pulitzer victory: This prize is long overdue," said Globe Editor Martin Baron. "His erudition, his eloquence, and his extraordinary range have long made Mark one of the Globe's greatest assets."

In an interview, Globe Publisher P. Steven Ainsley said: "In a time when so many newspapers are having to weigh difficult decisions about what coverage is important, I'm very proud that the Globe and its newsroom have continued to stress the importance of arts coverage in a community that values it so highly. And I'm proud to have a fellow like Mark, who's toiled here for 30 years, be recognized for an extraordinary collection of work."

Feeney won the Pulitzer for critical essays that illustrate the depth of his knowledge and the brio of his writing style. He wrote of the "unheroic loneliness of everyday people" reflected in the paintings of Edward Hopper, the "pure visual kapow" of aerial photos by Bradford Washburn and Frank Gohlke, the collision between art and celebrity in the work of photographer Annie Leibovitz, the artistic trajectory traveled by filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, the sense of community in the work of photographer Charles "Teenie" Harris, and the "barely throttled urgency" that made Barbara Stanwyck so compelling.

"Mark imparts to the page a sense of presence: who each subject is, what each exhibit says, and why it all matters," said Fiona Luis, the Globe's assistant managing editor for features. "He does this, in part, through vivid writing, but more important, he does this by not getting in the way."

Feeney lives in Cambridge with his wife, Claire Silvers, and their son, William, both of whom were in the Globe newsroom yesterday for the announcement. He is the author of "Nixon at the Movies," published in 2004. He teaches journalism at Brandeis University.

In both arts and journalism, this year's Pulitzers had a distinct New England flavor.

Novelist Junot Diaz, who teaches writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, won the fiction Pulitzer for "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao." Philip Schultz, who won the poetry Pulitzer for a collection titled "Failure," has taught fiction and poetry at Tufts University and the University of Massachusetts at Boston. David Lang, a Yale graduate, won the Pulitzer in music for a composition titled "The Little Match Girl Passion." Jake Hooker, a New York Times reporter who won a Pulitzer for investigative reporting along with Times colleague Walt Bogdanich, is a native of Newton who attended Milton Academy and Dartmouth College. Former Globe sportswriter and foreign correspondent Steve Fainaru, now with The Washington Post, won the Pulitzer for international reporting. John Matteson, honored for his biography "Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father," is a graduate of Harvard Law School.

Concord (N.H.) Monitor photographer Preston Gannaway won the Pulitzer for feature photography for her work on a project that chronicled the death of a Concord woman and its impact on her family. It was the first ever awarded to the Monitor.

In remarks to the newsroom, Globe arts editor Scott Heller said Feeney is animated by what the late critic Pauline Kael once called a "belief in the audience." "Mark takes this to heart in every piece he writes," Heller said. "When he stands in front of a photograph, or watches a movie, and reports back to us, he is sharing - even proselytizing for - what he values about the world, beyond the frame."

In addition to being a career highlight for Feeney, the Pulitzer may help solve a personal dilemma. His mother, Agnes, who lives in Feeney's hometown of Reading, will turn 90 on Saturday.

"I've been at a loss as to what to get her for a present," Feeney said. "I guess I'm all set now."

Andrew Ryan of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Material from wire services was also used. Don Aucoin can be reached at aucoin@globe.com.