For Three Artists, $800,000 Apiece and No Conditions Attached

Christine Sun Kim, Rodney McMillian and Vincent Valdez are among this year's MacArthur fellows, the award better known as the "genius" grant. Each artist will get $800,000, and none of it comes with conditions on how it is spent. That kind of money does not require a proposal or a report and is not tied to a particular piece of work. Collectors are used to money moving toward art through a sale, a commission or a paddle raised in a salesroom. This money goes to the artists themselves, not to any one object. For readers who follow what changes hands, that is worth noticing. It is an honor for three careers, with the full sum left to each artist's judgment.

With reporting from ARTnews.