Duvall, Marsalis Among Arts MedalistsDuvall, Marsalis Among Arts Medalists

Duvall, Marsalis Among Arts MedalistsDuvall, Marsalis Among Arts Medalists

By Jacqueline Trescott
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 9, 2005; Page C02

Actor Robert Duvall, jazz musician Wynton Marsalis and country singer Dolly Parton are among the 10 recipients of the 2005 National Medal of Arts, President Bush announced yesterday.

Twelve National Humanities Medal honorees were named at the same time, including political scientist Walter Berns, professor emeritus at Georgetown University and a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute; Eva Brann, a classics professor at St. John's College in Annapolis; and etiquette columnist Judith Martin, also known as Miss Manners.

Actor Robert Duvall, one of 10 National Medal of Arts recipients. (Rebecca D'angelo)

The president is scheduled to present the awards in an Oval Office ceremony tomorrow morning, with a formal dinner that evening.

The arts and humanities medals are a coveted acknowledgment of groundbreaking work in arts and scholarship. The nominations are forwarded to the White House by the advisory councils of the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities.

"These individuals and organizations have all made significant and enduring contributions to the artistic life of our nation," said Dana Gioia, chairman of the NEA.

This year's arts medal recipients also include Louis Auchincloss, who has written nearly 60 books and is a former editor of the Yale Literary Review; and James DePreist, a former associate director of the National Symphony Orchestra. Also on the list are jazz musician Paquito D'Rivera, animator and artist Ollie Johnston, choreographer and dancer Tina Ramirez, and Leonard Garment, a Nixon White House counsel and saxophone player who has written and spoken eloquently on the role of arts in society. The arts medal also goes to a group or organization that has set standards in its field; the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the oldest school of fine arts in the country, is being saluted in its bicentennial year.

The humanities honorees include Col. Matthew Bogdanos, who led the investigation into the 2003 destruction of the Iraq Museum, an effort that has led to the recovery of 5,000 artifacts. Historian John Lewis Gaddis, legal scholar Mary Ann Glendon, historian Alan Kors, art historians and appraisers Leigh and Leslie Keno -- familiar to a broader public from "Antiques Roadshow" -- and history and museum patrons Richard Gilder and Lewis Lehrman are also being recognized. The editorial team that is working on George Washington's papers at the University of Virginia and has completed 52 volumes also will be cited.