Writing’s on the wall as classics kept off top spot
IT’S A result which traditionalists may well view as the final nail in the coffin for fine art. In a poll of the nation’s favourite artwork, renowned paintings by Turner and Constable were kept off the top spot by the notoriously secretive street artist Banksy.
which appeared overnight on the wall of a Shoreditch shop in 2002, was the clear winner in the survey which asked 2,000 people to choose from a shortlist drawn up by editors and writers.
Second place went to John Constable’s 1821 Romantic landscape Jack Vettriano’s came third and JMW Turner’s
was relegated to fourth.
A quick glance at the final list also shows a north-south divide. Of the top 20 favoured artworks, 12 were made by artists born or based in the south of the country, two were born abroad and one hails from Scotland. Among the five artists to count the north of England home, Yorkshire does make its mark though. Bradfordborn David Hockney’s
by Andy Goldsworthy – who grew up in Leeds – and
by Castleford’s most famous artistic son Henry Moore all make it onto the list.
However, there is one glaring admission. In the top 20 there are just two works by women and neither of them are Wakefieldborn Barbara Hepworth. Simon Wallis, director of The Hepworth Wakefield, which was recently named Art Fund Museum of the Year, said: “It is sad that there are so few female artists represented.”
The poll was carried out to mark the launch of Samsung’s new television, The Frame, which can be turned into a work of art when not being used as a TV.