The Logan Medal of the Arts was an arts prize initiated in 1907 and associated with the Art Institute of Chicago, the Frank G Logan family and the Society for Sanity in Art. From 1917 through 1940, 270 awards were given for contributions to American art.
The Medal was named for arts patron Frank Granger Logan (1851–1937), founder of the brokerage house of Logan & Bryan, who served over 50 years on the board of the Chicago Art Institute. He founded the Logan Museum of Anthropology at Beloit College where he was a trustee.[1] He and his wife, Josephine Hancock Logan, administered the award consistent with their patronage of the Society for Sanity in Art, which they founded in 1936, and the theme of her 1937 book Sanity in Art. The Logans strongly opposed all forms of modern art, including cubism, surrealism, and abstract expressionism. It was not unknown for the Society of Sanity in Art to award a prize (e.g. in 1938 to Rudolph F. Ingerle) in competition with the official award by the exhibition prize committee of a prize the Logans had already sponsored. The Logan's were the in-laws of the renowned Chicago financier, Frank C. Rathje
The Logans sponsored several prizes in their name. The Mr and Mrs Frank G Logan prize was awarded to a jury-selected exhibit at the American Paintings and Sculpture Exhibitions held in Chicago, and a similarly named prize was awarded to a local artist at the annual Chicago and Vicinity Exhibition for a selected exhibit. Frank G Logan prizes were also awarded at exhibitions of prints by the Chicago Society of Etchers, the annual International Watercolor Exhibition and the annual International Lithography and Wood Engraving Exhibition, all held at the Chicago Art Institute. Logan prizes were also awarded by the Society for Sanity in Art at exhibitions in California. Recipients of these prizes are listed below.