Michael Kammen, the Newton C. Farr Professor of American History and Culture at Cornell University, has been honored by the Library of Virginia with an award for his 1999 nonfiction book, Robert Gwathmey: The Life and Art of a Passionate Observer , published by the University of North Carolina Press.

The award was presented Sept. 16 at the third annual Library of Virginia Awards, which honor Virginia authors and friends.

Recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in 1973 for his book People of Paradox , Kammen is the author or editor of more than 20 books.

Robert Gwathmey (1903-1988), an eighth-generation Virginian, was a social realist painter whose main themes were race relations in the South. He is considered one of the first white American painters to depict African Americans with empathy and respect.