An illustrated talk by Frank Woodgate
New Walk Museum and Art Gallery,
53 New Walk, Leicester LE1 7EA
8 October 2009 at 7.15pm
Regarded by many as a great showcase for British avant-garde art, and by others as conceptualist rubbish, the Turner Prize causes controversy every year. The exhibitions each autumn continue to draw larger and larger crowds. Many of its nominees have become household names and extremely popular amongst the general public. Antony Gormley (creator of The Angel of the North) won it in 1994, while the widely admired Lucian Freud (now, in his late 80s, considered a modern old master) failed to do so twice. This lecture looks at the great winners (and losers) from the past and clarifies the ideas behind the annual competition.
Frank Woodgate is a lecturer and guide at Tate Modern and Tate Britain