Hockney, Pei Among Arts Award Winners

NEW YORK —  Painters Willem de Kooning and David Hockney and architect I. M. Pei were among the first six winners Friday of the Praemium Imperiale awards, which were created as the artistic equivalent of the Nobel Prizes.

The Dutch-born De Kooning, 75, and Hockney, 52, a Briton, were honored for their contributions to painting. Pei, 62, won the award for architecture, including the glass pyramid erected in front of the Louvre in Paris last summer.

The Praemium Imperiale Arts Prizes are awarded for lifetime contributions to the arts and are comparable to the Nobel Prizes in scope. Each winner is awarded $100,000 and a commemorative medal and will be presented with the award at a ceremony in Meiji Memorial Hall in Tokyo on Oct. 27.

French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez won the music award, French film and theater director Michael Carne will get the film and theater award and Italian Umberto Mastroianni won in the sculpture category.

The Japan Art Assn. announced establishment of the awards last year to “recognize artists whose dedication has most contributed to the world’s cultural development and to the unification of all mankind.”