The Museum of Fine Arts has relaunched its local, women's artist prize, naming Cambridge's Wendy Jacob the first winner since 2006. Jacob will receive $10,000 and her work will be featured in the Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art when it opens Sept. 18.
The MFA had suspended the prize to, according to museum officials, reconsider it and also solidify funding for the award. But that decision angered many observers, including past winners, who said it was a symbol of the museum's lack of interest in local artists.
By reinstalling the prize, named after the late artist Morgan (1903-1999) and first awarded in 1993, the MFA hopes to send a strong message to local artists on the eve of the opening of the Linde Wing, said Edward Saywell, the head of the museum's department of contemporary art.
