Prix Blumenthal

The Prix Blumenthal (or Blumenthal Prize) was a grant or stipend awarded through the philanthropy of Florence Meyer Blumenthal (1875–1930) – and the foundation she created, Fondation franco-américaine Florence Blumenthal (Franco-American Florence Blumenthal Foundation) – to discover young French artists, aid them financially, and in the process draw the United States and France closer together through the arts.

Winners were designated by seven juries in the fields of the literature, painting, sculpture, decorative arts, structure, engraving and music – to receive a purse of six thousand francs per year, given for two years. The purse increased in 1926 until Blumenthal's death in 1930 to ten thousand francs for two years.

Jurors included philosopher Henri Bergson; novelist Roland Dorgelès; novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright Jean Giraudoux; writer Anna de Noailles; poet and essayist Paul Valéry; painter Paul Signac, painter and printmaker Édouard Vuillard, sculptor Paul Landowski, painter and sculptor Aristide Maillol, architect Auguste Perret, composer Paul Dukas, composer Maurice Ravel and composer/conductor Guy Ropartz.

Composer Georges Migot served as vice-president and subsequently as president (1931–1935) of the foundation, as well as the archivist of the winners.

Beginning in 1919 the foundation awarded nearly two hundred grants, and on April 11, 1937, the Prix Blumenthal was declared d'utilité publique ("of public service"), giving it a special tax classification. Awards were given through 1954. At the time of the foundation's dissolution in 1973 it was under the direction of Georges Huisman, director of the école des Beaux-Arts, along with author André Maurois and novelist Roland Dorgelès.

In 2010 (May 14 – June 5), the Médiathèque of Haguenau hosted an exhibit of the Florence Blumenthal archives.