The Turner Prize is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist, organised by the Tate Gallery. Named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, it was first presented in 1984, and is one of the United Kingdom's most prestigious,[1] [2] [3] but controversial, art awards.[4] [5] [6] Initially, the prize was awarded to the individual who had "made the greatest contribution to art in Britain in the previous twelve months", but it now celebrates "a British artist under fifty for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in the twelve months preceding".[7] The winner is chosen by a panel of four independent judges invited by the Tate and chaired by the director of Tate Britain. The prize is accompanied by a monetary award of £25,000,[8] although the amount has varied depending on the sponsor. For example, between 2004 and 2007, while sponsored by Gordon's, the total prize fund was £40,000; £25,000 was awarded to the winner and £5,000 to the losing nominees.[7]
A shortlist of finalists is drawn up and usually published about six months before the prize is awarded in November or December each year, although shortlists were not made public in 1988 and 1990; in 1989, a list of seven "commended" artists was published.[7] Controversy surrounded the presentation of the inaugural prize to Malcolm Morley as some critics "questioned his relevance" to art in Britain; he had lived and worked in the United States for the previous 20 years. Since its inception, the prize itself has received considerable criticism.[9] In 2002, after Culture Minister Kim Howells described the Turner Prize as "conceptual bullshit", Prince Charles wrote a letter of support to him, stating "It has contaminated the art establishment for so long".[10] Since 2000, the Stuckists art group have protested against the prize;[11] in 2008, they gave out leaflets with the message "The Turner Prize is Crap", to protest at the lack of figurative paintings amongst the nominees' exhibitions.[12]
Considerable media pressure is applied to nominees and winners of the Turner Prize. The 2003 winner Grayson Perry stated that "Such media storms can be traumatising for someone who has laboured away for years in a studio, making art not news."[13] Some artists, including Sarah Lucas and Julian Opie, have decided not to participate in the event, regarding a nomination as "a poisoned chalice".[14] Stephen Deuchar, Director of Tate Britain suggested "We want the artists to be comfortable with media pressure. We have to shield them".[15]
Several winners of the prize have won other notable awards such as the Venice Biennale, and continue to present their works at various international exhibitions.[16] Winners' reactions to the award range from Damien Hirst's "A media circus to raise money for the Tate and Channel 4" to Jeremy Deller's "It blew me away, people's hunger to see what I'd done".[17] Auction prices for works by previous winners have generally increased. The award has also seen some unexpected results: Tracey Emin's My Bed, was overlooked in 1999 despite drawing large crowds to the Tate.[9] [18] The Chapman brothers and Willie Doherty lost out to Grayson Perry in 2003 – Perry accepted the award dressed as a girl while Jake Chapman described "losing the Turner prize to a grown man dressed as a small girl" as his "most embarrassing moment".[19]
| Year | Winner | Format | Nominees | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | [20] | Painting | Richard Deacon Gilbert and George Howard Hodgkin Richard Long | Inaugural prize winner, awarded £10,000[21] | |
| 1985 | [22] | Painting, printing | Terry Atkinson Tony Cragg Ian Hamilton Finlay Milena Kalinovska John Walker | — | |
| 1986 | Gilbert and George[23] | Photomontage | Art & Language Victor Burgin Derek Jarman Stephen McKenna Bill Woodrow | Nicholas Serota (pictured), Matthew Collings and Robin Klassnik were all commended. Gilbert and George were nominees in 1984.[24] | |
| 1987 | Sculpture | Patrick Caulfield Helen Chadwick Richard Long Declan McGonagle Thérèse Oulton | Richard Long was also a nominee in 1984. | ||
| 1988 | [25] | Sculpture | Lucian Freud Richard Hamilton Richard Long David Mach Boyd Webb Alison Wilding Richard Wilson | Richard Long was also a nominee in 1984 and 1987. | |
| 1989 | [26] | Sculpture | Gillian Ayres Lucian Freud Giuseppe Penone Paula Rego Sean Scully Richard Wilson | There was no shortlist, but the losing nominees were "commended". Lucian Freud and Richard Wilson were nominees in 1988. | |
| 1990 | — | — | — | Prize suspended due to lack of sponsor following the bankruptcy of Drexel Burnham Lambert | |
| 1991 | [27] | Sculpture | Ian Davenport Fiona Rae Rachel Whiteread | Prize was increased to £20,000 with sponsorship from Channel 4[28] | |
| 1992 | [29] | Sculpture | Damien Hirst David Tremlett Alison Wilding | — | |
| 1993 | [30] | Sculpture | Hannah Collins Vong Phaophanit Sean Scully | First female winner; also won the £40,000 K Foundation art award presented to the "worst artist of the year"[31] | |
| 1994 | [32] | Sculpture | Willie Doherty Peter Doig Shirazeh Houshiary | — | |
| 1995 | [33] | Installation, painting | Mona Hatoum Callum Innes Mark Wallinger | Damien Hirst: his exhibit included a bisected cow and calf in formaldehyde in a vitrine – Mother and Child Divided.[34] He was a nominee in 1992. | |
| 1996 | [35] | Video | Craigie Horsfield Gary Hume Simon Patterson | Douglas Gordon was the first winner to be based outside of London and also the first artist to win the prize with a moving image work.[36] | |
| 1997 | [37] | Video | Christine Borland Angela Bulloch Cornelia Parker | The first all-female shortlist[38] | |
| 1998 | [39] | Multi-layered painting | Tacita Dean Cathy de Monchaux Sam Taylor-Wood | — | |
| 1999 | [40] | Video | Tracey Emin Steven Pippin Jane and Louise Wilson | Tracey Emin exhibited her bed, titled My Bed[41] | |
| 2000 | [42] | Photography | Glenn Brown Michael Raedecker Tomoko Takahashi | Wolfgang Tillmans is German, but is based in London.[43] | |
| 2001 | [44] | Installation | Richard Billingham Isaac Julien Mike Nelson | The prize was presented by Madonna.[45] | |
| 2002 | [46] | Installation, painting | Fiona Banner Liam Gillick Catherine Yass | The prize was presented by architect Daniel Libeskind.[47] | |
| 2003 | [48] | Pottery | Jake and Dinos Chapman Willie Doherty Anya Gallaccio | Grayson Perry, a cross-dresser, accepted the prize wearing a dress.[49] The prize was presented by Sir Peter Blake.[50] | |
| 2004 | [51] | Video, installation | Kutluğ Ataman Langlands and Bell Yinka Shonibare | Prize increased to £25,000; losing nominees awarded £5,000 each. The prize was presented by journalist Jon Snow.[52] | |
| 2005 | [53] | Installation | Darren Almond Gillian Carnegie Jim Lambie | The prize was presented by then Culture Minister David Lammy.[54] | |
| 2006 | [55] | Painting | Phil Collins Mark Titchner Rebecca Warren | Tomma Abts is German, but works in the UK. The prize was presented by Yoko Ono.[56] | |
| 2007 | [57] | Installation | Nathan Coley Zarina Bhimji Mike Nelson | Mark Wallinger (a nominee in 1995) won for State Britain. The award show and ceremony were held in Tate Liverpool, and the prize was sponsored by Milligan.[58] The prize was presented by Dennis Hopper.[59] | |
| 2008 | [60] [61] | Sculpture, film, sound, performance | Runa Islam Goshka Macuga Cathy Wilkes | No prize sponsor: funded by the Tate.[62] | |
| 2009 | Richard Wright | Site-specific painting | Enrico David Roger Hiorns Lucy Skaer | — | |
| 2010 | Susan Philipsz[63] | Sound installation | Dexter Dalwood Angela de la Cruz The Otolith Group (Anjalika Sagar and Kodwo Eshun)[64] | Susan Philipsz is the first sound artist to be nominated and the first to win. | |
| 2011 | [65] | Installation | Karla Black Hilary Lloyd George Shaw[66] | Exhibition at the Baltic Gallery in Gateshead from 21 October 2011 to 8 January 2012[67] | |
| 2012 | [68] | Video | Spartacus Chetwynd Luke Fowler Paul Noble | — | |
| 2013 | Laure Prouvost | Installation, collage, film | Lynette Yiadom-Boakye David Shrigley Tino Sehgal[69] | — | |
| 2014 | Duncan Campbell | Video | Ciara Phillips James Richards Tris Vonna-Michell | — | |
| 2015 | Assemble | Architecture and design | Bonnie Camplin Janice Kerbel Nicole Wermers[70] | — | |
| 2016 | Helen Marten | Installation | Michael Dean Anthea Hamilton Josephine Pryde[71] | — | |
| 2017 | Lubaina Himid[72] | Painting | Lubaina Himid Rosalind Nashashibi Hurvin Anderson Andrea Büttner[73] | The jury featured Dan Fox, Co-Editor at Frieze; Martin Herbert, art critic; Mason Leaver-Yap, Walker Art Center's Bentson Scholar of Moving Image in Minneapolis, and associate Curator at Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin; and Emily Pethick, Director, The Showroom, London. | |
| 2018 | Charlotte Prodger[74] | Video | Forensic Architecture Naeem Mohaiemen Luke Willis Thompson[75] | The 2018 jury comprises Oliver Basciano, art critic and International Editor at ArtReview; Elena Filipovic, Director, Kunsthalle Basel; Lisa Le Feuvre, Executive Director, Holt-Smithson Foundation; and Tom McCarthy, novelist and writer. | |
| 2019 | Lawrence Abu Hamdan Helen Cammock Tai Shani Oscar Murillo | Film, spoken word performance, and painting | Lawrence Abu Hamdan Helen Cammock Tai Shani Oscar Murillo.[76] | The prize was to be sponsored by Stagecoach South East but this was quickly dropped after criticism from the LGBT community.[77] The prize was shared by all nominees after they wrote a letter asking the judges not to choose a single winner.[78] The jury featured Alessio Antoniolli, Director, Gasworks & Triangle Network; Elvira Dyangani Ose, Director of The Showroom Gallery and Lecturer in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths; Victoria Pomery, Director, Turner Contemporary, Margate and Charlie Porter, writer. | |
| 2020 | Cancelled[79] | Bursaries: Oreet Ashery Liz Johnson Artur Shawanda Corbett Jamie Crewe Sean Edwards Sidsel Meineche Hansen Ima-Abasi Okon Imran Perretta Alberta Whittle Arika[80] | The 2020 prize was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. Instead a £10,000 bursary was given to ten artists. | ||
| 2021 | Array Collective[81] | Installation and theatre | B.O.S.S Cooking Sections Gentle/Radical Project Art Works | ||
| 2022 | Veronica Ryan[82] | Sculpture | Heather Phillipson Ingrid Pollard Sin Wai Kin | ||
| 2023 | Jesse Darling[83] | Sculpture | Ghislaine Leung Rory Pilgrim Barbara Walker[84] | The 2023 prize winner was announced on 5 December at Towner Eastbourne. | |
| 2024 | TBA | TBA | Pio Abad Claudette Johnson Jasleen Kaur Delaine Le Bas | Jury is Rosie Cooper, Ekow Eshun, Sam Thorne, Lydia Yee | |