Art: Chaloner Prize

After six months of sober thought, judges and trustees of the Chaloner Prize Foundation last week finally made up their minds and awarded a three-year scholarship to lucky Robert E. Weaver, 24, of Peru, Ind. for a canvas entitled Circus Performers. Painted somewhat in the manner of Manhattan Artist Gifford Beal (one of the guest judges), it showed four shapely young women balanced on three bouncing white horses under the bright cone of a circus spotlight.

Ignored by far too many young U. S. °art students, the Chaloner Prize is actually one of the most valuable awards a young U. S. art student can win, more sought after by the knowing than the better publicized Prix de Rome. Founded in 1890, it provides a fund of approximately $2,000 a year for three years, a furnished studio rent-free, and a separate allowance for travel. One of the few restrictions is that at least one of the three years must be spent in foreign travel, which shall include a visit to Paris. Applicants must be under 30, residents but not necessarily citizens of the U. S. They are supposed to be unmarried, but this restriction can be got around.

Applicants for the Chaloner Prize must submit before March 1 every two years three 8-by-10-in. photographs of a full-length drawing from the nude, to test draughtsmanship; a painting of a nude torso, to test technique; a composition containing several figures, not necessarily complete. When these have been winnowed, semifinalists are asked to submit actual works and to come to Manhattan to meet the trustees and judges, for social qualifications, though not stressed, are important for the Chaloner Prize. Only 79 U. S. art students bothered to show up last spring.