Emergence of Award The Drexel Years The 1991 Re-launch
Established in 1984 by the Tate Gallery's Patrons of New Art (PNA), The Turner Prize was an attempt to encourage public debate about developments in British art. On the founding committee were Tate director Alan Bowness, architect Max Gordon who suggested an annual award, Oliver Prenn who anonymously funded its first 3 years, and controversial advertising giant Charles Saatchi,[3] who's heavy handed presence in the art world continues to cause consternation.
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From its inception, there were doubts surrounding the necessity or appropriateness of such an award. At the time journalists noted that the idea of a prize for something as uncompetitive as painting or sculpture, was invidious and absurd, and unlike recipients of Oscar, Emmys, Baftas or the Booker Prize, on which the Turner was modeled, the award was unlikely to achieve increased sales or improved box-office ratings. What was feared, perhaps in retrospect, prophetically, was the development of a market-driven mentality and one wherein art became increasingly more populist.[4] |
The 1st Turner Exhibition, Tate Gallery 1984
What's in a name?
The name of the Tate's new award was
contested right up until the launch of the prize. An unpopular
choice, it was decided the that the spirit if Britain's most celebrate painter J
W M Turner was an appropriate reference point. In another sense, it alleviated grievances
which were felt in the way
Turner's original provision for a young artist's prize, left in his will, had
been ignored. Others argued that the Prize had little to do with Turner at all,
but critic Waldemar Janusczak defended the title, claiming that in his own day,
Turner had been dismissed as a fraud, and that it was therefore appropriate that
Turner should be associated with an award whose ambition was to 'encourage and
champion new art in Britain'. [5]
| Initially the prize was to be given to 'the person who, in the opinion of the jury, has made the greatest contribution to art in Britain in the previous 12 months'. This broad criteria allowed for the inclusion of critics, administrators, curators as well as artist. Despite Saatchi's withdrawal from the PNA, he was accused of pulling strings when Morley won the first Turner Prize. The choice of Morley raised questions of who could be catergorised as British, for Morley had been resident in the US for some 25 years. The prize remained somewhat foggy and undefined until the late 1980s. By 1987 the phrase 'greatest contribution' has been changed to 'outstanding contribution' and removing the unacknowledged implication that it was in effect hounouring a lifetime's achievement. 1987 also saw a change of Sponsor, with US corporate Drexel Burnham Lambert International Inc providing the £10,000 a year prize money, as well as making provision for a considerable boost in publicity. However, the 'Drexel years' proved to be turbulent. [6] |
Malcolm Morley, |
