BBC art show snubs Hirst

HE’S the most provocative figure in modern art who has amassed £270 million from his formaldehyde-preserved animals and diamond-clad skull.

But Damien Hirst has been snubbed by the BBC’s landmark Civilisations series, a survey of the most important practitioners in contemporary art — despite his dominance of the scene for more than 25 years.

The finale instead features a painting of President Trump, crouching between the legs of a man in a KKK robe, defecating on the floor, by the black American artist Kara Walker.

Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, Ghanaian bottle-top sculptor El Anatsui and Cai Guo- Qiang, the Beijing Olympics’ director of visual and special effects, also feature.

Brit Tracey Emin fails to make the cut. Are she and Hirst too ‘white and European’ for the show, which is being sold to international broadcasters?