As art prizes go, the Jerwood Painting Prize is scrupulously even-handed: over the past nine years since its establishment, its shortlists have been models of inclusiveness. In particular, they have managed to strike a balance between figurative and abstract art, and this year’s shortlist of six is no exception. It’s split between three abstract painters in very different styles – John Hoyland, Marc Vaux and Suzanne Holtom – and three figurative painters ditto – Shani Rhys James, John Wonnacott and Alison Watt.
As the UK’s most prestigious painting prize, with the biggest pot, the Jerwood is an interesting index to swings in fashion between abstraction and figuration. An analysis of the past six prizes since 1996 (no award was made in 2000) shows that the winners of the first three – John Hubbard, Gary Hume and Madeleine Strindberg – were all figurative painters, while the winners of the last three – Prunella Clough, Katie Pratt and Callum Innes – were all abstract.
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