Turner Prize
The Turner Prize is an annual prize given to a British visual artist under 50, named after the painter J.M.W. Turner. It is organized by the Tate art gallery, and since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised art award. The prize money is £20,000.
Introduction
The build- up to the announcement of the winner, each year, receives intense attention from many branches of the media, much of it critical, addressing the question "what is art?". The artists themselves usually work in modern forms, including installation art and unconventional sculpture, though painters have also won.
Nominations for the prize are invited from the public, and the short-list (which since 1991 has been of four artists) is announced several months before the prize-giving. An exhibition accompanies the prize with works by each of the artists being shown at Tate Britain. The prize is not judged on these works alone, however, but on the artists' work as a whole over the previous year.
The exhibition and prize rely on commercial sponsorship. From 1987 this was provided by the company Drexel Burnham Lambert; their withdrawal led to the 1990 prize being cancelled. Channel 4, an independent television channel, stepped in for 1991, doubled the prize money to the current level, and supported the event with documentaries and live broadcasts of the prize-giving.
The media success of the Turner Prize arguably contributed to the success of the late 1990s phenomena of Young British Artists and Cool Britannia, and exhibitions such as the Charles Saatchi-sponsored Sensation.
Criticism of the Turner Prize
As well as typical essay-based criticism, there have been the following less formal attacks on the prize.
- In 1993, Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond of the K Foundation received media coverage for the award of the "Anti-Turner Prize", £40,000 to be given to the "worst artist in Britain", voted from the real Turner Prize's short-list. Rachel Whiteread, who won the real prize, also won the anti-Turner Prize. She refused to accept the money at first, but changed her mind when she heard the cash was to be burned instead, and gave £30,000 of it to artists in financial need and the other £10,000 to the housing charity, Shelter. The K Foundation went on to make a film in which £1 million appears to be burned.
- In 1999 two artists, Jian Jun Xi and Yuan Cai, jumped onto Tracey Emin's work, My Bed, stripped to their underwear, and had a pillow fight. Police detained the two, who called their performance Two Naked Men Jump Into Tracey's Bed.
- In 1999 a pro-painting group of artists known as the Stuckists was formed. They show particular antipathy towards the Turner Prize, describing it as an "ongoing national joke" and "a state-funded advertising agency for Charles Saatchi"; they continue: "the only artist who wouldn't be in danger of winning the Turner Prize is Turner", concluding that it "should be re-named The Duchamp Award for the destruction of artistic integrity".
- In 2002 culture minister Kim Howells pinned the following statement to a board in a room specially-designated for visitors' comments. "If this is the best British artists can produce then British art is lost. It is cold mechanical, conceptual bullshit. Kim Howells. P.S. The attempts at conceptualisation are particularly pathetic and symptomatic of a lack of conviction"
List of winners and short-listed artists
It should be noted that the 1988 short-list was not published at the time of the prize, and that there was no short-list as such in 1989, although a number of artists other than the winner were "commended".
- 1984 - Malcolm Morley, winner
- 1985 - Howard Hodgkin, winner
- 1986 - Gilbert and George, winner
- 1987 - Richard Deacon, winner
- 1988 - Tony Cragg, winner
- 1989 - Richard Long, winner
- 1990 - prize suspended
- 1991 - Anish Kapoor, winner
- 1992 - Grenville Davey, winner
- 1993 - Rachel Whiteread, winner
- 1994 - Antony Gormley, winner
- 1995 - Damien Hirst, winner
- 1996 - Douglas Gordon, winner
- 1997 - Gillian Wearing, winner
- 1998 - Chris Ofili, winner
- 1999 - Steve McQueen, winner
- 2000 - Wolfgang Tillmans, winner
- 2001 - Martin Creed, winner
- 2002 - Keith Tyson, winner
- 2003 - Grayson Perry, winner [1]
External link
See also
Referenced By
1998 in art | 2001 in art | 2002 in art | Alison Wilding | Anish Kapoor | Anthony Gormley | Antony Gormley | Anya Gallaccio | Art & Language | Art and Language | Beck's Futures | Britart | Catherine Yass | Cathy de Monchaux | Chapman Brothers | Chris Ofili | Civilian award | Contemporary Art | Damian Hirst | Damien Hirst | Declan McGonagle | Douglas Gordon | Gary Hume | George Passmore | Gilbert & George | Gilbert And George | Gilbert Proesch | Gillian Ayres | Gillian Wearing | Grayson Perry | Grenville Davey | Helen Chadwick | Howard Hodgkin | Ian Davenport | Ian Hamilton Finlay | J.M.W. Turner | J. M. W. Turner | JMW Turner | Jake and Dinos Chapman | John Walker | John Walker (painter) | Joseph Mallord William Turner | K Foundation | K Foundation art award | Keith Tyson | Kim Howells | Kim Scott Howells | List of United Kingdom-related topics | List of United Kingdom topics | List of awards | List of medals | List of prizes | List of prizes, medals, and awards | Lucian Freud | Lucien Freud | Malcolm Morley | Mark Wallinger | Martin Creed | Patrick Caulfield | Paula Rego | Peter Doig | RIBA Stirling Prize | Rachel Whiteread | Richard Deacon | Richard Long | Sean Scully | Steve McQueen (artist) | Stirling Prize | Tate Britain | Tate Gallery | Terry Atkinson | The Chapman Brothers | Therese Oulton | Thérèse Oulton | Tony Cragg | Tracey Emin | Tracy Emin | Trafalgar Square | Trafalgar Square, London, England | Turner | UK topics | United Kingdom/Basic Topics | Victor Burgin | Willie Doherty | Wolfgang Tillmans | Young British Artist | Young British Artists
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