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Turner Prize greatest hits
Louise Jury, Evening Standard1 Oct 2007
The Turner Prize has caused controversy for nearly a quarter of a century, with works such as Damien Hirst's cut-up cows and Martin Creed's on-off light.
Now visitors to Tate Britain will be able to remind themselves what all the fuss was about.
Nearly all the key works by the Turner Prize winners since the award began in 1984 have been brought together for a retrospective show.
It includes No Woman, No Cry, one of Chris Ofili's most famous paintings incorporating cow dung, Hirst's Mother And Child, Divided (the one with a bisected cow and calf in formaldehyde) and Grayson Perry's pots.
The show is being presented while this year's Turner Prize exhibition moves to Liverpool for a year to mark its term as European Capital of Culture.
Katharine Stout, Tate curator, said the retrospective should convince even those who had been the Turner Prize's staunchest critics.
"What is interesting is how incredibly strong the work looks," she said.
"A lot of it, certainly work from the early years, hasn't been seen here for a long time but it feels as vibrant and exciting as it did at the time.
"It's a slice of history. There are many other artists who were shortlisted who are equally strong and have gone on to have fantastic careers, but it is a reminder of why each of these artists won at the time."
She said Tate Britain had targeted key works from each winner.
"It's all about the work the artists made in that period, not about the scandals or the mechanics of the prize.
"The only work I can say we were slightly disappointed not to get was Rachel Whiteread's Room, which is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and is too fragile."
Ms Stout said it was possible to detect shifts in practice as more artists embraced multi-media and video.
For instance, Douglas Gordon's victory in 1996 signalled the serious arrival of film and video work. "Many developments that were considered so new at the time are now accepted," she said.
"The Turner Prize has embraced these developments."
The prize was founded to bring contemporary art to a wider audience and has had troubled periods. It did not take place at all in 1990 because of problems with sponsorship.
Many established names of today have won the award, such as Howard Hodgkin, Antony Gormley and Anish Kapoor. Many are due to visit the show today, including the first winner, Malcolm Morley, who is flying over specially from his home in America.
• Turner Prize: A Retrospective opens 1 Oct and runs until 6 January.
